Funny Games

Funny Games [2007]This is not a film to sit down and watch with some mates and some beers. Nor is it comfortable family viewing. Indeed, it's not any sort of comfortable. It's gripping, painfully intense and increasingly remorseless.The basic tale - the harrowing of a family (mum,dad,son) at their secluded holiday home in the Hamptons - is straightforward enough. The means chosen are far from straightforward. Haneke is almost entirely uninterested in action, preferring instead to concentrate on a forensic examination of the emotions of the two adults (Tim Roth and the - here - wonderful Naomi Watts)as they are toyed with and humiliated.But this is not the only set of emotions that Haneeke is interested in. At every stage he involves the viewer in the experience - even to the point of having the perpetrators discussing matters direct to camera. It would seem that his main objective is to lead the viewer to examine his or her own responses to the drama as it develops.I was impressed by almost everything about this film: the slow, careful pacing, the remorseless subject matter, the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) involvement of the viewer. The camera work is slow and measured. Shots don't change until there is something new to see. The acting is compelling.I have a few caveats.Just when matters are at their most intense, Haneke seems to lose his nerve. He has chances to confront his audience, to say 'Look - you think you disapprove, but you're not looking away, are you?', but occasionally ducks. I wonder, if this film were a new work rather than a remake, whether he would challenge us to look through his villains' eyes even more remorselessly. To ask even more bluntly, 'who are you rooting for, here? Yeah? Why are you so mesmerised by this bit, then?'Also, there are moments where our suspension of disbelief is directly attacked for what I felt was insufficient reason. I won't go into detail - watch the film and you'll see what I mean.These, however, are minor criticisms. It's a terrific piece of work by director and actors alike. I'm still not sure I enjoyed it, but I nevertheless consider the purchase price to be money wonderfully well spent.

I only recently brought Funny Games I decided to get it when I read the positive reviews it had gotten from various critics and seeing the trailer.The film was not what I expected, I had expected it to be a story of a family being taken hostage and tortured as they tried to get away from their captors. However the films plot line is not nearly this smooth, the film switches its focuses from the family, to the strange gentlemen like hostage takers, back to the family and their struggle and their grief, to finally the hostage takers as you are given a little insight into how their minds work.The acting in this film is superb, Naomi Watts is brilliant as the mother of the family trying to protect her son and her husband as she is humiliated and degraded, Tim Roth is brilliant as the incapacitated farther. But special mention should go to Micheal Pitt and Brady Corbet who are both chilling as the evil, twisted but polite strangers intent on destroying the family.Though this may not be a film for everyones taste, if you are expecting a "torture porn flick" then this will not be for you, the amount of violence that you are actually shown is minimal but this is one of the things that makes the film so chilling. The film is also at time unbearably tense and the director takes him time to install this tension on the viewer.Overall though some people may say that the movie is slow paced and the their are parts of the film, such as were Micheal Pitt talks directly to the audience which you may find strange and irrelevant to the story; this is like no other film out there, and if you want to see perfect acting and directing then you should see this film. But I do warn you that it is not a film for the faint hearted and stays with you long after you have finished watching it.

The trailer for this movie actually does nothing to convey how shocking and provocative this is. The premise: a family including a husband, wife and young son (and dog) are off to their cabin at the lake in country. Their neighbors, of course, live around the area too, but far enough away to hear any screams or disturbances that may occur. They are visited by two impressionable, very polite young men (dressed in immaculate tennis white outfits) named Peter and Paul, who want to borrow some eggs for one of the neighbors nearby. This seemingly innocent exchange between Peter and the wife Ann starts of a campaign of terror, manipulation and humiliation for the family at the hands of these two Leopold and Loeb style psychos. What follows, as hinted by the movie's title, are a selection of 'games' that the family are forced to comply with, or else they will receive pain and suffering.The uncomfortable and tense atmosphere is felt right from the beginning, as soon as the heavy metal rock music kicks in as the family drive off to the lake house, through to the psycho's odd behavior as they first walk through the door to the finish. Austrian director Michael Haneke originally made the German language original version in 1997 but wanted to remake it as he felt it was always intended for an American audience in English. 'Remake' should be used loosely as this is a shot-by-shot of the original. Haneke points his finger at an audiences desire to be scared and be entertained by gratuitous violence in movies, and uses this movie to make this point. We feel frustrated throughout the movie, especially in certain scenes when you think there may be a breakthrough, only to receive a metaphorical gut punch. Disturbing this is, but in a different way then I expected. This is not a jumpy horror, rather a complete psychological head attack. Any violence is done off screen and you hardly see blood (just one scene where it is shown),however the horror aspect lies in within the situation and the complete powerlessness of the captives. Often hearing a scream of agony off camera is worse than actually seeing it.'Funny Games' is definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but there's no denying it's brave boldness and non-conformity. The actors are amazing, especially Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet as the house invaders. Tim Roth is also great and acts mainly with facial expressions and emotional intensity, as does Naomi Watts who really shows her vulnerability here.If the purpose of a great film is to be memorable, than this fulfills it's purpose. This will stay with people for some time, whether they want it to or not!