165 - Man Bites Dog

[captainofbeef]

- New digital transfer, enhanced for widescreen televisions
- 1993 video interview with the filmmakers
- No C4 for Daniel-Daniel, a student short by the filmmakers
- Stills gallery
- Theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

[criterionmaster]

This is an amazing little film. Some very creative shots and direction for this film make it great. It is shot very documentary-like so it seems very real. Anyone seen this?

[captainofbeef]

I have obviously. One of my top 20 favorites.

[criterionmaster]

I think that is WAY too high. But when you see more films it will probably be knocked out.

[captainofbeef]

Maybe, maybe not.

[blackmoses]

Yes top 20 is to high IMO but this film is still GREAT!

[kiddo]

No, top 20 is NOT to high. This film is so perfect in what it lets out to be. It made me think so much I was afraid my brain would explode. A masterpiece from three genuinly creative Belgian filmmakers.

[captainofbeef]

^ I agree completly.

[captainofbeef]

Man Bites Dog. Chris' favorite movies # 13.
This film will always hold a special place in my heart. For it was the first Criterion film that I actually saw. This film was and is an extremely controversial film. The way that it depicts a film crew shooting a serial killer is very disturbing. But I couldn't keep my eyes off it. The film is enrapturing beyond belief. The black comedy and mocumentary style are executed perfectly.

Benoit Poelvoorde does a fantastic job of playing the killer. You do not really get the feel that this guy is a serial killer. He just seems like a regular guy. Until he starts killing people, then his real insanity is portrayed. The members who play the crew are fantastic also. They play out their roles in amazing fashion. You really believe that this is happening in real life, that it is not just a movie. The movie is very violent and has a pretty gruesome rape scene. But, the film does not uplay the violence. It trys to show us how ridiculous our culture is. And we understand how bad it is when we believe that this gruesome stuff actually happen.
100/100

[criterionmaster]

Director Dead!

[captainofbeef]

A shock, very young. RIP.

[Nomansvally]

Rest in peace! I really get inspired when I watch this film, not inspired to grab a gun but to get a camera and stat to film someone! Strong film and so well executed!

[ie]

It's a Top 50 movie at the least. It's not in my Top 20, but I could see why others would put it in theirs.


I liked how it was self-referential at times, such as when the crew mentioned that they were running low on funds.

SPOILER: Click to show

Also, the most shocking scene in the movie, for me, was the intro. You were just thrown in cold. The rape scene was not as shocking for me because even though I did not expect it to happen from the previous scene, I kind of knew the level they were operating on.

The concept for No C4 for Daniel-Daniel was just as great, although I had to really figure out what made it tick before coming to that conclusion. The idea is interesting, and although it might be hard to apply the trailer format to a feature length, it would be a really unique movie to watch.

[kiddo]

In some senses, Man Bites Dog showed me some of cinemas' possibilities. It's such a trustworthy glance at an "ordinary mass murderer", and it manage to evoke so many feelings in the spectator in just one and a half hour.

One of my favorite parts is when the guy operating the sound, gets shot (and the sound dissapear). Also the end, of course, which is just brilliantly executed.

One thing I was a little surprised about though, which I experienced after the watch (I've only seen it one time), was that so many people look upon it as a black comedy. I didn't laugh at any scene; I was just shocked and disgusted, but also in a hypnotic condition, because it all felt so real.

[ie]

Well, black comedy isn't always meant to be funny ha-ha. Most black comedy does tend to be comedic, but it doesn't always need to have that effect; it can also mean how a subject is treated.

So, you'd think that a documentary about a mass murderer would be like he'd be in prison and then the documentarians would be following his life. Not they're documenting the murders as they happen. That's black comedy because it's unexpected. It's more ironic, really.

[criterionmaster]

What really fucks with me is how much the character enjoys what he is doing, some scenes his happiness and just "another day of work"-feeling made me feel uneasy. And yes kiddo, it is a brilliant use of sound in the film, I love how the further away the person is the less sound and what not, it was really great.

[Clark Nova]

the most shocking thing of all, more shocking than the train strangulation, more shocking than the home invasion, more shocking than the rape scene, is just how damn likable Ben is. The "documentary" really shows that outside of killing people, he's a fairly "normal" person: well-spoken, a sense of humor, a loving relationship with his girlfriend and parents. it really gets down to the crux of how someone who kills isn't necessarily an evil being hell-bent on causing chaos...Ben didn't see anything wrong with what he did, and the movie portrays the murders as an ordinary thing for him, making it all the more shocking.

not to mention how Remy and Andre become less and less objective as it goes along, forgetting just how sickening their subject is. They, like us, start to identify with Ben as a normal person who just happens to kill people.

now THAT is black comedy.