From: max@frame.com (Max Hoffmann)
Subject: REVIEW: MAN BITES DOG
Reply-To: max@frame.com (Max Hoffmann)
Organization: Frame Technology Corp
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 20:02:27 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01708
Keywords: author=Hoffmann

			        MAN BITES DOG
		       A film review by Max Hoffmann
			Copyright 1993 Max Hoffmann

MAN BITES DOG, Not Rated
B/W 35mm 90 minutes (Belgium) in French w. subtitles
@ Roxi in San Francisco 16th/Valencia through  ???
U.S. Theatrical Premiere!!
Max Reax = 8.5 on scale of 0 --- 10
                           ^      ^
                           |      |
                          sux     must see

     If you are one sick puppy when it comes to "black humor", (e.g.,
you love "dead baby" jokes) this film is a "must see."  I'd give it a
10, but am downgrading it to 8.5 to account for my own perceptions,
warped by being born in a year that they were still conducting above
ground nuclear testing.

     CONCEPT: a professional hit man is followed during every waking
moment by a documentary film crew who want to "capture it all."
Including *brutally* realistic executions, a "Cold Blood" type killing
of a suburban family, and more.  Spice it up by making the subject of
the documentary an insufferable, mugging, poet-wanna-be and media
addict, with attitudes about women that went out with the Eisenhower
era, and who performs chamber music in his spare time.

     The grainy, shaky camerawork is eerily reminiscent of Marcel
Ophuls's epic, THE SORROW AND THE PITY.  Many of the supporting
characters are tongue in cheek portrayals of Belgium's answer to "family
values."  A lot of the humor is indescribable, (the long-suffering "I'm
not going to let this affect my demeanor" look on the mother's face when
the injured hit-man's hospital room mate goes berserk and starts singing
a song about "ka ka.")  The camera crew themselves occasionally end up
on film, for instance when the sound man stuffs the boom under his
arm-pit and helps stuff the slain taxi driver into the trunk.  After
drinks at a sleazy pub the hit man laments, "sheesh, I'm ready for bed
and forgot about the cab driver in the trunk ... now I'll have to head
out to the quarry first."  (Done in the vein of the old "please, Mother,
I'd rather do it *myself*" Anacin TV commercials.)

     Obviously filmed on a shoe-string, the camera-work is amazingly
versatile, and allows for nary a dull moment.  (Several times in the
film, the director confesses that they are running out of money, and the
hit man makes another "hit" to help pay for the film stock.)  Even in
dingy pubs, light by bare light bulbs, you can almost feel the grease on
the pressed tin wall panels.  Many of the settings are direct steals
from well-known films.  On one assignment, the hit man is chasing his
victim through an abandoned factory, and some shots are Xerox copies of
DOA or the bell tower scene of NIAGARA.  The brutal yet some-how
still funny slaying of a suburban family has black-hole hallways
straight out of IN COLD BLOOD.

     Although Benoit Peolvoorde (who at times has a spooky resemblance
to Lee Harvey Oswald) is thoroughly engaging as the star-struck hit man,
perhaps the most fascinating character is the camera itself.  Although
we never see the cameraman, we create our own images of what he must
look like.  Walking through factories and back streets, with praying
mantis-like side glances into rooms and dirty sinks ... we get a
slightly exaggerated portrayal of our *own* voyeurism.

     Supporting cast is composed entirely of the director's friends,
using their *real* names.

     The film *is* low-budget, and not without its rough spots.  (For
instance, Benoit's overblown posturing, with "solutions" outside a
housing project, that lapses so far into mugging that your index finger
starts itching to reach for your tonsils.)  But overall, it is a *very*
fresh and original package of entertainment.

     I recall reading an article in the SF CHRONICLE, something to the
effect that the film makers (they star and film) are dealing directly
with the few screens that will show this epic.  So if you see it listed
in *your* neighborhood, change your plans and go.  Although this film
wouldn't suffer terribly in the transition to the boob tube, I wouldn't
hold my breath waiting for it to show up at Blockbuster.

--
Max Hoffmann

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