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
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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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