I think you guys can be a little hard on yourselves. It was a good episode. These are two films that can be on the alternate list for required viewing. Like a lot films that are important to see, they are hard to watch, but I’m glad you guys toughed through it to tell us about it. Some films should leave us a little shell-shocked. It is an appropriate response, and did not take anything away from the episode.
On Man Bites Dog. Saw it at some art house theater in Dayton when I was young & impressionable. I think it was my first brush with exploitation film and the Christmas couple scene was pretty rough. I remember being creeped out at how the relationship between the killer and the documentarians would change. I saw something similar on AMC last year about a thief and a documentary crew that was pretty interesting.
On Gummo. I grew up near Xenia and there was a buzz around there with the local tie-in and the metal soundtrack. I still don’t know if I understand it, but I have seen it more than once. It just happens. I like to think of the scene in Belly where the guys sit around watching it. If it is on, you can’t really ignore it.
The young professional paintballers of Southern California still call me Gummo (I used to work & travel for a magazine about professional paintball). They found out I used to spend every weekend of my high school years in Xenia. It wasn’t filmed there, but Gummo certainly captures the spirit of the place. It always seemed like there were a disproportionate number of disfigured people and crazies. I used to lead an interesting life with interesting people.
