Review of Man Bites Dog (1992) by Lanning : — 16 May 2008

Now, more than ever, seems it rich to die. To cease upon the midni -- [sound of gunshots] . . . Well, it ain't no nightingale this time, friends. It's a pigeon : ) Okay, granted, the premise here is ridiculous, but that's fine by me.

I actually thrive on literature with ridiculous premises : ) Belgian? I could have sworn, given the language spoken by the actors, for instance, that this one is French. And the French, God bless them -- watch out, France, the Belgians appear to be breathing down your collective neck in the dark-humor market-capture race -- have always had the knack of honing in on very cool ridiculousness.

When I watch something this chucklingly twisted, I'm almost always tempted to stand up and sing "La Marseillaise" -- although I should maybe now commit "The Brabançonne" to memory as well -- just because, you know, only our friends in France (and maybe Belgium) could pull this off.

I especially love the way the film crew members keep getting knocked off in their artistic quest to pull the "documentary" project together. If you're at all into very sick, very dark, very sick, very dark -- that's right, I said it twice : ) -- very essentially French (and/or Belgian) humor, this is a must-see.

This Benoît Poelvoorde as the poetic hit-man is terrific. That poor little kid : ).