Conference bookie::movies

Saw some previews of this film at the time it won the Cannes awards
and would love to see it. Is it available on video? Where did you see
it?

    
    
    sounds very similar to another belgium film available recently
    on video called 'man bites dog' ....is it the same?
    
    giles
    
    

    re: .1
    
    I saw it at a cinema here in Vienna.
    
    re: .2
    
    I suspect so since the German title is Mann bei�t Hund which is the
    same.  It doesn't have anything to do with the original title though...
    Did you see it?
    
    John

    It's the same movie as "Man Bites Dog".  I saw it, and thought at the
    time that "Coming Soon to a Theater Near You" was a much better title.
    
    I wouldn't describe the hero as either charismatic or likeable.  He's
    a pig.  The camera crew befriend him because 1) they need the subject,
    2) he gives them money, and 3) they're pigs too. 
    
    I thought it was very well done as a "what life will be like five
    minutes from now" satire on the complicity between media and violence. 
    As you might expect, the movie can't escape some piggishness of its
    own, though.
    
    Ray

    Basenote title changed by moderator, for the benefit of all humanity.
    [Tips are welcome.]
    
    -b-the-moderator

    
    >[Tips are welcome.]
    
    	OK, here's one ...
    
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    >[Tips are welcome.]
    
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          John

    
    this is a very nasty, very brilliant movie. not for the faint of
    heart, as they say.
    

    
>    I thought it was very well done as a "what life will be like five
>    minutes from now" satire on the complicity between media and violence. 

More importantly, the complicity between media, violence, and a public
that creates a demand for it.  The pivotal scene which brings home the
latter's participation (and which has actually be censored in some
countries and cities) is one of the most brilliantly constructed
pieces of audience manipulation in film.  A mirror reflecting the
perfect ugliness of rapacious viewers.  Devastating.  Not for
Annette Funicello or Kylie Minogue fan club members.

    re .9
    
    Can you describe (after a spoiler page break, of course)
    that "pivotal scene", please?
    
    		-John Bishop

    Well said, 26608::Brandenberg.  I was wrong to resort to the "evil
    media" cliche in my rushed reply; the movie is smarter.
    
    Ray

Okay, I'll put in a spoiler but two warnings about this:  if you ever
intend to see the film, this spoiler will probably ruin the intended
effect, I don't think the film would have quite the impact.  Second,
the film is best seen with an audience where the weight of the shared
experience and shared revelation makes it all the stronger.  A
second or home viewing of this film will also be less effective....

monty

*MAJOR* Spoiler to follow...


The film is a pseudo-documentary of a completely apathetic (in the
sense of having no ability to perceive the pain his actions induce)
killer.  The psychotic bonhomie, the low-budget look, and the offhand
and casual approach to murder and body disposal all invite the
audience to laugh at the action.  It's only a movie, right?  And
soon enough, the audience is enjoying it.  And then the scene hits.
It starts with a somewhat good-natured sex/rape/S&M scene involving
the killer and his crew and a couple in an apartment which is 
presented in such a way as to make the audience laugh some more.
Then a hard cut to a later scene in the apartment after a *very*
brutal murder of the couple.  The audience goes dead quiet and
everyone is now uncomfortable with having laughed through the
proceeding scenes and the implied complicity with the actions in
the movie.  That's where the film hits home.  It does relax its
grip after that but the image and the feeling remain.

    I "reorganized" this movie as I watched it, and found it perhaps
    even more frightening.
    
    I rented it on laser disc, and, after the first couple of scenes,
    started fast-forwarding from one violent scene to the next, thereby
    skipping much of the killer's charisma.  It was one brutal scene
    after another; stripped of his mask of charisma, the killer became
    disgusting to watch.  In the scenes of violence, I also fast-forwarded
    through the details, since I found them so hard to watch.  The rape
    scene was just another senseless and violent act; I knew what was
    coming (the brutal murders) because the killer's charisma couldn't
    distract me from the the inevitable.
    
    Reviewing the non-violent scenes, and concentrating on the killer's
    charisma, made him likable, a friend, someone fun to be around,
    always joking, etc.
    
    So there was the killer's mask of charisma hiding his real self.
    
    How does this film translate into the real world?
    
    Can we equate (some) politicians with the killer, and (some) political
    actions as being equally as violent as those of the killer, for
    example?
    
    This was a difficult movie to not be disturbed about.
                                                         

    
    No.
    
    No such thing as a likeable politician...
    
    As the old saying goes, the only good politician is a...
    
    Mark