DVD Pick: Funny Games

I’ve been tricked!

Funny Games. is the 2007 English-language remake of the 1997 Austrian horror film of the same name. Original writer/director Michael Haneke (Caché and La Pianiste) wrote and directed the remake, and Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Devon Gearhart, Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet star. The film is a shot-for-shot remake of its predecessor, translated into English and set in the United States with different actors.

I have to ask, was this a film made to be enjoyed? Did the director want you to not like the film? I had no emotionial reaction when things started happening to the family. Yes I understand that the portrayal of violence in our society is desensitising us but even with the realistic portrayal of the violence and how it would happen doesn’t enthrall or envoke anything emotionally from you. The long tracking shots of the lingering awkward and disturbing moments were trying to set the right mood to frighten you but makes the film seem like it is misreably longer than it really is.

The film seemed that it wanted to explain how violence happens in real life but never really showing any of the violence on-screen. The promise of a violent act to come is essentially what is driving the film, but denying the viewer that said act may have been what Haneke was aiming for and failed with his execution. That being said, you can basically sum up that the game is on you…especially when the film breaks the fourth wall, giving the viewer the feeling he is helping out the protagonist. Although Haneke’s brilliant use of the “rewind” technique helps make us realize that violence that has occurred in real life is final and can not be undone.

Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet are down right scary as the two phsycopaths using people for their own amusement. Understanding what they are doing is impossible because in their insane minds they are doing nothing wrong and that is gut-wrenchingly disturbing. As a family, Naomi Watts, Tim Roth and Devon Gearhart muster enough acting bravado to scare us by their reactions to the situation that has been thrust upon them.

This is not a conventional thriller to say the least as Haneke doses us with a movie about violence and then guilts us (or society) for wanting to see the brutality that the movie caused off screen. Problem being that the director drills us so hard with the meaning over and over again that it loses everything he was going for. Really this art-house film that could be used as a PSA for violence in our society.

1 out of 5
Colin Enquist