#André Bonzel

[sesiondemadrugada]

Man Bites Dog (Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel & Benoît Poelvoorde, 1992).

[moviemosaics]

Man Bites Dog

directed by Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, and Benoît Poelvoorde, 1992

[cinemaobscura]

Man Bites Dog / It Happened Near Your Home | C'est arrivé près de chez vous (1992) dir. Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde

[starafterdeath]

C'est arrivé près de chez vous, better known in the West as Man Bites Dog, was a mocumentary about the daily life of a serial killer. It was strange, sometimes offputting, hilariously sadistic, and, most of all, very difficult to look away from. It managed to put the viewer into the uncomfortable position of a witness to multiple crimes of different variety, ranging from theft to gang-rape, all the while never failing to make us, the audience, feel like we're disturbingly amused by everything we see on screen despite ourselves, despite the immorality of it. Because the killer in question, the man named Benoit, is impossible (well, at the very least, not that easy) not to like. He's witty, charming, and suave, yet putting bullets through passers by comes as easy to him as ordering a coffee at a diner. Back when the movie came out, it managed to disgust the viewers, though not with the actions they've seen and not with the people performing them, but with themselves for rooting for these despicable people and craving more of their atrocities scene, after scene, after scene, after scene...

But that was back then. Today, any run-off-the-mill, bearded, AK-wielding murderer rapist is enough to woo the youngsters, and this makes me feel really old. Like I was born before modern history even started.

[hayaomiyazaki]

i added some v fun new things to my google drive that i really recommend! (ᴗᵔᴥᵔ)

films

le cercle rouge (1970) dir. jean-pierre melville

galileo (1975) dir. joseph losey

man bites dog (1992) dir. rémy belvaux, andré bonzel, benoît poelvoorde

rté documentaries – birdsong (2024) dir. kathleen harris

tv

fiasco, complete series with eng sub

...at the bbc – maya angelou

theatre

company by stephen sondheim (2006 revival) at the ethel barrymore theatre

national theatre live's man and superman by bernard shaw (2015), starring ralph fiennes

uncle vanya by anton chekov (2020) at the harold pinter theatre, starring toby jones and richard armitage

constellations by nick payne (2021) at the royal court theatre, all four rotating casts (sheila atim & ivanno jeremiah, peter capaldi & zoë wanamaker, omari douglas & russell tovey, anna maxwell martin & chris o'dowd)

[ticket-to-interzone]

C’est arrivé près de chez vous

Man bites Dog • Mann beißt Hund

Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde

Belgique 1993

[paleobeastentertainment]

Day 8: Meta Horror

Film: Man Bites Dog (1992) Dir: Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde

[markramsey]

Watching Man Bites Dog directed by Benoît Poelvoorde, Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel from 1992 on #Max #NowWatching #FilmTwitter #FilmTumblr

[callum-s-film-blog]

man bites dog (1992)

directed by benoît poelvoorde, rémy belvaux & andré bonzel

watched 12/06/2023

an american psycho-type found-footage film which was pretty transgressive but not all that fun for me. it engaged me enough throughout the (relatively short) runtime but most of the comedic beats were missed on me. an interesting film from belgium nonetheless.

3/5

[annoyingthemesong]

SUBLIME CINEMA #585 - MAN BITES DOG

Belgian cinema is a weird beast - there’s the French and Vlaams split, and excellent films released from both the north and south, that sometimes feel like they’re coming from two completely different countries. Man Bites Dog - played in a thick Belgian French - took cue from two 90′s trends: lo-fi indie shoestring black and white, and ultraviolent comedies a la Tarantino - and it remains one of the country’s most fucked up exports.  

[cuita]

“Granny Snuff, ever been snuffed out?”

C'est arrivé près de chez vous (1992), dir:  Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde

[filmbook21]

[boireuncoup]

[loyal-to-cinema]

C'est arrivé près de chez vous (1992)  Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde

[filmstruck]

MAN BITES DOG Bites Back by Nathaniel Thompson

Talk about a film ahead of its time. Unveiled to shock and acclaim at Cannes in 1992, MAN BITES DOG came way ahead of the French-language New Extremity horror wave that turned the genre upside down in the ‘00s with titles like BAISE-MOI (‘00), IRREVERSIBLE (‘02), MARTYRS (‘08), and INSIDE (‘07). Originally released as C'EST ARRIVÉ PRÈS DE CHEZ VOUS (or, basically, “It Happened Near Where You Live”), MAN BITES DOG is just as savage and artistically daring as those later films, but what it makes it even more remarkable is how prescient it is about the international found footage craze that hit around the same time as well.

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (‘99) popularized the idea of an entire feature told via (simulated) discovered documentary footage shot by an ill-fated crew whixh launched a host of twists on the same idea like [REC] (‘07), PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (‘07), and CLOVERFIELD (‘08), among hundreds. What’s interesting is that BLAIR WITCH provoked a host of dubious accusations of copying two previous films, Ruggero Deodato’s blistering and still gut-wrenching CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (‘79) and the otherwise obscure THE LAST BROADCAST (‘98), neither of which qualify as pure found footage films since significant portions take place from a normal filmed, third-person perspective. The connection to MAN BITES DOG actually seems far stronger than recognized as this film is also shot in a handheld, cinéma vérité style that never breaks format for a second; without spoiling things too much, its final moments also serve as a bridge between CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and BLAIR WITCH, leaving the viewer feeling completely unmoored and trying to fill in the blanks of how the aftermath of these traumatic events might have played out.

If that weren’t enough, this was also a rare example of a ‘90s film being treated as a respectable art film despite the fact that it’s also an unflinching work of horror that gazes straight into the abyss of humanity’s dark side. Not too shabby for what began as a no-budget graduation project for a trio of Belgian film students -- Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde – who had earlier teamed up on a goofy faux-spy short film, NO C4 FOR DANIEL DANIEL (‘88), which you can see as a bonus feature here on the Criterion Channel. All three are credited as directors, producers, and writers on the film, with story credit going to Belvaux and Poelvoorde starring with his real first name as Ben, the charismatic but utterly repulsive serial killer being followed by a crew of documentarians. Strangely, the three men never worked together again, and only Poelvoorde went on to a notable career as an actor and very prominent comedian including appearances in ASTERIX AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES (‘08) and the lighthearted fantasy comedy, TWO WORLDS (‘07), which is recommended and be found in an English-subtitled edition on French home video. If anything, it’s more shocking now to see him in this film given his sunny public persona, an effect rather like seeing Jim Carrey starring in NATURAL BORN KILLERS. Belvaux had the strangest and saddest fate after this film, first earning notoriety for launching a cream pie into Bill Gates’s face in ‘98 and later committing suicide in 2006 at the age of 39.

My own first run-in with this film took some effort since it wasn’t exact a wide release kind of feature. Sure, it got positive reviews and was treated as something of an indie darling for those brave enough to stomach it, but as someone who was still fresh in college at the time, it wasn’t something you could just stroll down the street and watch. For the record, it was released in theaters by a little indie outfit called Roxie Releasing, who didn’t hang around to long after releasing titles like this and THE LAST TIME I COMMITTED SUICIDE (‘97). I finally tracked down as VHS copy from a little no-name label who gave it a splash, colorful cover that promoted this as “A KILLER COMEDY.” Well… sure, in a sense there is a lot of dark humor and social satire here, but anyone expecting a rollicking parade of guns and giggles was in for a pretty nasty shock! This film really earns its NC-17 rating and then some thanks to its unflinching murder sequences (be warned, even kids and the elderly are fair game here) and a particularly nasty home invasion / gang rape that can still make your stomach churn as much as the similar suburban assault in HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (‘86).

Then something odd happened. The Criterion Collection chose this film for a laserdisc release in 1994, which was a pretty big deal at the time as they were the one and only prestige label on the home video market at the time. Bear in mind this was a time when releasing a film with lots of bells and whistles (including that new novelty at the time, the audio commentary) was a luxury only granted to stone-cold cinema classics and the occasional daring choice like BLADE RUNNER (‘82), so having a title this ferocious turn up in the Criterion line was a significant jolt. As we would soon find out, Criterion has a really perverse streak that allows them to get away with slipping films like SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM (‘75), FAT GIRL (‘01), or even PINK FLAMINGOS (‘72) into mainstream brick and mortar stores from coast to coast. They still pull it off to this day, as I noted in my recent look at Lar Von Trier’s ANTICHRIST (‘09), and bless them for never trying to play it safe.

Right now, I’m not sure whether it’s good or bad that MAN BITES DOG is perhaps even more upsetting today than the year it opened. Our serial protagonist, Ben, seemed like an exaggeration at the time, an immigrant-hating, sexist monster with a quick wit and a sparkle in his eye that allows him to intrude on people’s lives before wiping them out. Now that we’ve been flooding with real-life monsters and decades of reality TV, he doesn’t seem removed from reality at all; in fact, he’s all too identifiable as a soulmate to the modern fascists infesting Europe more insidiously and violently than ever before. America isn’t proving immune to this disease either, which means this film will probably hit closer to home than anyone in the ‘90s could have predicted. More than ever, it’s something that could happen near where you live.