Man Bites Dog (1992) ****1/2

A controversial Belgian mockumentary, Man Bites Dog (1992) is the sole feature film collaboration of directing trio Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, and Benoît Poelvoorde, who all essentially play fictionalized versions of themselves (and their roles in this film) within the film. I first saw it almost twenty years ago when The Criterion Collection released it on DVD and it holds up incredibly well.

Uncompromising in its ability to discomfort and manipulate its audience by toying with our simultaneous fascination and repulsion of serial killers, MBD expertly uses gallows humor and skillful editing to make its viewers complicit in all the nasty goings-on. 

Lead star Poelvoorde brilliantly portrays Ben, a friendly and revered intellectual—a jovial, poem-citing, piano-playing young man who appears charismatic (despite some questionable opinions), but who also happens to be a psychopath. It's a central, pull-no-punches performance that would have broken the film in the hands of an actor that wasn't willing to fully commit.

Shot in grainy 16 mm, this ultra low budget cult classic is a singular and incendiary piece of satire that still has the power to shock and disturb.