This French film featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die was obviously not one I had heard of before until reading about it, the title certainly sounded interesting, and I was hoping it would be deserving of its placement in the book. Basically this is filmed like it is a fly on a wall documentary, as a camera crew follow serial killer and thief Ben (Benoît Poelvoorde) around as he goes about his everyday routine and life, good and bad, and with holding nothing back. Ben boasts his architectural failures, his interest in writing poetry and listening to classic music, and we see him spend time with his girlfriend, but also boasting and carrying out murders, which he sees as his craft. With the cameras capturing his activities Ben soon involves the camera crew in his escapades, and they question whether what they are filming and continuing with their film is really a good idea. When Ben murders he has no specific victims, he targets random people, most being the older generation, but also he is profoundly misogynistic, a racist xenophobe (hates foreigners) and finds postmen his favourite targets kills these types. In the end Ben finds himself the victim of crime when he finds parents and girlfriend have been murdered by someone taking revenge, and he makes his farewells on camera to the crew, but an unseen gunman kills him and the crew members one by one. Also starring Rémy Belvaux as Reporter, André Bonzel as Cameraman, Jacqueline Poelvoorde-Pappaert as Ben's Mother, Nelly Pappaert as Ben's Grandmother, Hector Pappaert as Ben's Grandfather, Jenny Drye as Jenny and Malou Madou as Malou. I can imagine the controversy that this film brought in its day, where it would have got complaints for sensationalising violence and murder (Natural Born Killers did a similar thing years later), but whatever people think of it, it is a bold contribution to the genre, I admit I couldn't follow it all fully, but in general it is a worthwhile satirical black comedy. Good!
Review of Man Bites Dog
