Tough movie to sit through. Much tougher than "Schindler's List" or any other example of how cruel people can be. This was very difficult for me due to the roller-coaster of emotions I experienced; those fluctuations of emotion are at the core of what we feel about the characters in it.
Characters are something very important in a movie for me. It's very important that I like them and, if I don't like them, which can happen frequently, they should deserve to undergo bad things; that must be called happy ending.
But this movie is different. It is about this man who I'm not sure if he's a psychopath or if he murders with real justification. The fact is that the killings are significantly random. Now, this alone is something that would make me hate him to the guts. But, the thing is, he, Ben, is a very funny person. I love dark comedy and this is certainly one. I laughed a lot while he was speaking and it was, surprisingly, making me not hate him, although everytime I laughed I felt guilty.
But, at a certain point, the camera crew that follows him joins in on the fun, raping a woman while drunk (which reminded me of "A Clockwork Orage" with the exception that this is much more violent). That was the first strong turning point in my perception of those men. I suddenly started to view them as real despicable people. From that point on I didn't laugh once, exactly the part when it stops being a comedy.
So why don't I hate this movie for making me hate those men? Well, it doesn't properly have a so-called happy ending. I came to the conclusion that I wasn't feeling hatred, but nostalgia instead. Hence the fact that the minute I ceased caring for them was the same moment they stopped being happy and funny like they were before.
Besides, there are more things to be appreciated. "C'est Arrivé Près De Chez Vous" is spectacularly directed and the camerawork is very cool with a New Wave-ish inspiration. And the performances, especially from Poelvoorde, are perfect and complement the mesmerizing script. It's a nostalgic experience...