Man Bites Dog

Depraved Low Budget Shocker
The Criterion Collection brings film lovers some of the most engaging, challenging pictures ever made. National borders mean little to the folks at this DVD company; they will release American films as readily as they will European cinema or documentaries about African dictators. Moreover, Criterion does not flinch from controversial films because they contain controversial themes. Thanks to this company, we can readily obtain excellent versions of Paul Morrissey's "Flesh for Frankenstein" and "Blood for Dracula" along with the ultra violent "Robocop." I have yet to fully explore the depths of Criterion's film catalog, but their other discs must surely be as interesting as the titles I have viewed so far. Criterion finally released one of my favorite foreign films, the independent little gem entitled "C'est Arrive Pres de Chez Vous," oddly translated as "Man Bites Dog." Made in Belgium a little over a decade ago, this fascinating movie...

Merci Boucoup, Criterion
MBD will undoubtedly receive its equal share of lovers and loathers...this is a very hard film to watch due to its extremity of the violence. Though its content is shocking to say the least, the overall effect is a startlingly satirical look at the media's fascination at peering from the safety of our collective couches at the levels of violence that run rampant in television.

An extremely tight budgeted camera crew follow a poetry spouting serial killer through the streets of Belgium in a quasi-documentary. Adhering initially to the unofficial press "rule" of not interfereing with the outcome of events, they capture the horrific details of Benoit's bloodlust, which can only be equalled with the evident psychosis in his mind as He swings from controlled to chaotic. Ben is an interesting soul- friendly, charismatic and intelligent- which provides a pleasant yet disturbing contrast to the depravity of his actions. What gives MBD that extra degree of cinematic edge is the...

Darling I don't know why I go to Extremes
Let's get one thing straight right now: look carefully at Criterion's cover picture for "Man Bites Dog". Zoom in on it, take your time; I'll wait.

Got it? All clear in your mind what the Bad Man with the Gun is doing on the cover? That's right, that's a baby binky flying up out of that cloud of blood and brains and clotted gore.

Why a binky? Because I expect the baby was sucking on it before our hero Ben (Benoit Poelvoorde) showed up to do his thing.

His thing is killing people: men, women, postal workers, clerks, schoolgirls, elderly women with bad tickers, little kids, entire families. Come to think of it, "killing" doesn't get close to describing what Ben does to his victims---I'm thinking 'butcher' is closer to the truth. Anyway, a man's gotta have a hobby, and Ben sticks to what he knows best: slaughtering in pretty much every fashion imaginable.

Best of all, "Man Bites Dog" charts the rampaging wild rumpus of a whacked-out Belgian...

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Atomic Submarine

An Eclectic Collection of Horror and Sci-Fi
This is an excellent collection of four films, once late night staples, which have fallen into obscurity in recent times. There are two excellent sci-fi flicks and two wonderful Karloff films. As with most Criterion releases, a bit pricey, but collectors and fans alike will find the collection worth while.

ATOMIC SUBMARINE (1959) - Arthur Franz, Dick Foran, Tim Conway and Joi Lansing are a part of a crew of an atomic submarine that is tracking an underwater UFO, which is responsible for the sinking of several ships. They track the saucer to the North Pole, where it is using the magnetic field to replenish itself. They board the saucer and meet its occupant, a hairy octopus-like creature with one huge eye.

CORRIDORS OF BLOOD (1958) - Karloff is in fine form as Dr. Bolton, a physician experimenting with anesthesia in the 1840s. Basing his mixture on opium, he becomes addicted in the process, which leads to his dismissal from the hospital. Needing money to purchase...

man, tough crowd
wow, people are not giving this set enough credit. These films, while not the best Karloff films, or the best examples of the genere, are all entertaining. The karloff films are much better than people are making them out to be. the atomic submarine and first man into space are also very fun films. all of the films look great.

But, the extras, including commentaries ON ALL FOUR FILMS is what makes this set. The commentaries are nformative, interesting, a great listen.

if you like classic horror/sci-fi and enjoy good commentary tracks, buy this set.

The criterion edition of fiend w/o a face is also highly reccomended.

Best of the later Karloff's.
This is an old favorite of mine; it also happens to be one of Karloff's best later performances. He's perfect as the kind elderly doctor who gets involved with the wrong people, one of them being Christopher Lee as grave-robber Resurrection Joe (!). And the always good Francis Matthews is, well, good as always. (The film is actually close in tone to "The Body Snatcher", but Karloff's part here is a quite different one.) You really feel deeply for the poor doc, thanks to the great Boris. The b/w movie may look like a Hammer film, but I wouldn't call it a Horror movie. -Sure, it's got some "horrific" scenes, but overall it looks more like a nice period drama stuck with a misleading title. (-If they had to give it such an awful title; something like "Corridors Of Pain" might have been a better choice, considering there are more screams heard than blood seen.) It's not only the best of his last films, but among the very best of his massive and...

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No Woman No Cry

No woman no cry
This is a fascinating documentary featuring women around the world. I would highly recommend this film to anyone interested in this topic.

reignite the fire
A documentary every woman should see. As an OBGYN it makes me want to do even more. It opened my eyes to the world's reality



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High Ground

Catharsis And Camaraderie: 11 Veterans Face An Emotionally Compelling And Physically Demanding Journey
The new documentary "High Ground" is an emotionally charged, yet surprisingly understated, story of survival, hope, and perseverance that touched me quite deeply. There are so many documentary choices about being in battle and the emotional and physical toll it can take, just witnessing these harrowing stories can be devastating. But few films that I've seen on the subject have been so simple, so straightforward, and so quietly powerful as "High Ground." Its subtlety is its key. As a chronicle of war, as a story of its devastating aftermath, and as a adventure travelogue--this film really accomplishes a lot. And it doesn't achieve its power through big dramatic moments, but with candid revelations and insights from its group of participants. Each member of this expedition faces the camera and gives you a glimpse into their personal life and their experience in the war. And in these intimate moments, we see a real cross section of what our military personnel must endure. But...

Eye opening documentary
I came across the movie poster for this film and instantly ordered it. I was very impressed with the filming and the individuals involved but was left wanting a bit more behind the scenes info. No disrespect at all to the individuals in the film or the director, they have all done s great service.

Beautiful, incredibly moving film
I bought this DVD after seeing this beautiful film because I simply had to own it. The characters are incredible, and they--and the filmmaker--are brave enough to tell their stories warts and all. In doing so they expose their vulnerabilities, which makes their achievements that much more remarkable and inspiring. It's taught me more about the experiences of veterans and Wounded Warriors than any other film, if only by showing the variety and complexity of the issues they face coming home.

The filmmaker allows the characters to tell their own stories in a way that really does justice to the depth of their experiences and emotions. Combine all that with stunning cinematography and a powerful music score and it's hands-down my favorite doc of the year. I must have cried five times watching it and still get tears in my eyes when I think of it. Thank you to the filmmaker for making High Ground, and to characters in it for being brave enough to tell your stories...

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Miss Representation

Compelling, even after seeing it 4 times
I initially saw this film at the SF Film Society's showing, and as a teacher, felt it was important to bring along a few parents, students, and former students. My only regret was in not bringing guys along, who should most definitely see it as well. What struck me most profoundly was the momentum that was growing so quickly back in the late 60's and early 70's, and the backlash that appears to have driven us significantly backward ever since. As a parent of a young woman in communications, the statistics on who is running the media was quite shocking. My group left the theater profoundly impacted, and I immediately requested that our school librarian order a copy.

Over the Christmas break, I watched it 3 more times, once with my daughter and twice with "mature" women, and everyone was riveted by the movie. While it can be argued that this topic has been addressed numerous times over the years, it needs to be repeated in a variety of venues and formats to increase the...

This Study Of Gender Inequity And Media Representation Covers A Familiar Topic, But With A Star-Studded Line-Up
An impressive array of commentators contribute thoughts to Jennifer Siebel Newsom's well-meaning documentary "Miss Representation." News personalities, activists, politicos, and entertainment figures all participate in the dialogue about the media's harmful representation of women within today's culture. While this issue is certainly not a new one, it still merits discussion--and that is really the most unfortunate topic presented within this ninety minute production. In 2011, is this really something that we still have to talk about? That's the real crime here. A few of the noteworthy interview subjects include Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem, Katie Couric, Nancy Pelosi, Geena Davis, Condaleeza Rice, Rachel Maddow, Rosario Dawson, Cory Booker, Paul Haggis, and Margaret Cho. It's great to have compiled so many diverse viewpoints all striving for the same results, but I don't know how new or enlightening any of it serves to be to an audience already familiar with the issues...

Amazing!
This is an amazing documentary. There is also a great group of people who continue to follow the cause. Visit missrepresentation.org for more information.

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The 400 Blows

A True-to-the-Bones-and-Heart Modern Day Dickensian Fable
The most heart-felt movie I've ever seen is a powerful mix of sharp-eye, hardhitting autobiographical remembrance of a nearly bruised childhood and a celebration of the wide-open, spontaneous and lyrical qualities of cinema to capture pointed truths of family, school and street lives as seen through the curiously haunted eyes of one Antoine Doinel, a modern-day Dickensian hero in a decidedly unglamours Paris, searching, often wrongheadly, for love and acceptance while, almost against himself, challenging the authorial rules imposed on children growing up in conformist post-WWII France. The film's tone is one of anguished bittersweetness and quiet defiance, counterpointed by bursts of joyful freedom and naughty prank playings as shared by many in their pre-adolescenthood. Doniel's friendship with the well-off but neglected Rene is also among the most moving portraits of childhood friendship ever. An unforgettable portrait, a cutting social study, a New Wave classic and...

400 Blows
I've spent decades avoiding THE 400 BLOWS, afraid it was either dark and brooding, or a documentation of child abuse (physical and/or emotional), or an angry and vindictive assault on the authors' of Francois Truffaut's traumatic childhood.
I shouldn't have worried. THE 400 BLOWS is a gentle and compassionate movie. It isn't overwhelmed by its anger, although a few characters, particularly the coming-of-age hero's mother and his school teacher, aren't terribly sympathetic. Being new to THE 400 BLOWS, I found the commentary by Premiere magazine film critic Glen Kenny especially helpful in understanding French New Wave cinema in general and Truffaut in particular. By the way, according to Kenny "400 blows" refers to a French colloquialism similar to the American "paint the town red." It means to give oneself over to every type of excess, and raise a little heck in the process.

Get this one only if you are not interested in all the Doinel films.
However, if you are a fan of this entire film series by Truffaut, then you should spring for the Adventures of Antoine Doinel boxed set. It comes with all the extras found on this disc, plus a bonus disc which features excerpts from a 1961 documentary on Truffaut, which touches on this film, and a promotional art gallery for this film. Neither of these bonus features are found on this disc, nor is the bonus short film, Antoine and Colette, which is on the 400 Blows' disc in the boxed set. Great if you only want this movie, but I'd pay the extra dough as it's well worth it to have the entire Criterion boxed set, which is loaded with extras covering all the other films.

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Close-Up

"There's nothing about this case that's worth filming."
Nothing less than a narrative nesting-doll of reality informing illusion that's based on reality that might be illusion, etc. etc. This legendary film from Abbas Kiarostami concerns itself with a true-life case in Iran involving an imposter who -- for no real motive other than a "love for cinema" -- presents himself to a well-to-do Tehran family as the famous Iranian director and Kiarostami colleague Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The movie begins with the apprehension of the imposter from the family's gated residence. It then becomes quite documentary-like: Kiarostami, with back turned toward the camera, interviews the suspect in jail, asks permission of the local bureaucrat assigned to adjudicate the case if the trial may be filmed (to which the bureaucrat replies bemusedly, "There's nothing about this case that's worth filming"), and then finally sits in on the actual trial itself, which is shot in an inferior film stock that would seem to indicate that we're watching the proceedings as...

Perhaps Kiarostami's best work -- but you have to be patient
A man on a bus gets mistaken for the famous Iranian filmmaker Mohssen Makhmalbaf, and he pretends to be him for a while, ingratiating himself into the life of a family by speaking of a project he is working on. He's not in it for the money, though he borrows taxi fare and is given food. It's the sense of being someone, someone who matters, someone who these people he has come to care about will look up to. When another Iranian filmmaker hears about the trial for this alleged conman, he asks permission to film it and follows up by reconstructing elements of the case, using the actual perpetrator as his main actor.

I don't want to give away more of the situation, captured here in a unique blend of documentary and fiction. What I do want to give is a personal account of my experience with this film, that I hope will motivate a few to take a look -- and to be patient. The film doesn't work its magic right away -- and in fact the beginning of the film can be somewhat...

Close-Up
This brilliant dramatic re-creation of an unusual case of criminal impersonation examines the conceits of cinema on one hand, but also the state of post-revolutionary Iranian society, where dire poverty and lack of opportunities can crush aspirations, artistic or otherwise. The writer-director, Abbas Kiarostami ("A Taste of Cherry"), read about Sabzian's predicament in a magazine article, decided to film the trial, and then asked everyone involved to play themselves. A fascinating mash-up of reality and artifice, "Close-Up" is a minor miracle of engaged storytelling whose compassionate final minutes will leave an indelible impression.

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