Man Bites Dog

1992 Comedy

Man Bites Dog is a Belgian faux-documentary and high-concept satire of media violence which follows the lethal exploits of Benoit Benoit Poelvoorde, an affable, and very talkative, serial killer. He kills for money, and he kills for pleasure, and he talks all the while about philosophy and the proper technique for weighing a corpse down underwater. He is followed through his slaughter-fest by the filmmakers, Rémy and André (the actual filmmakers, Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel), and the line between reporter and subject becomes blurred pretty quickly. The filmmakers become more and more involved in Benoit's actions, starting with the relatively innocent act of holding a flashlight for him. Eventually, when their funding runs out, Benoit hires them to continue making the film, and soon they are accomplices in a gang rape. While this film has the subtlety of a sledgehammer, its message rings true: the media tend to become part of the stories they report upon as surely as a physicist changes a wave by looking at it. more..

Director: Rémy Belvaux

Starring: Benoit Poelvoorde,Rémy Belvaux, Andre Bonzel, Jean-Marc Chenut, Alain Oppezzi

Reviews

No reviews

Awards

  • Best Genre Video Release

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1994)

     
  • Best Feature

    Cannes Film Festival (1992)

  • Best Achievement

    European Film Awards (1993)

     
  • Best Foreign Film

    French Syndicate of Cinema Critics (1993)

  • Best Belgian Screenplay 1984-1999

    Joseph Plateau Awards (1999)