Filmmaker reacts to Funny Games (1997) for the FIRST TIME!
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- Опубліковано 19 жов 2023
- Hope you enjoy my filmmaker reaction to Funny Games. :D
Full length reactions & Patreon only polls: / jamesvscinema
Original Movie: Funny Games (1997)
Ending Song: / charleycoin
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![[CC] Interview with Arno Frisch (2018) on "Funny Games" (1997)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XeBPSIYVQH8/mqdefault.jpg)
A Frustratingly Good watch with this one...what are your thoughts!?
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Have a great day!
Great watch, Funny Games US is great too, always a hard watch
The movie is really great if you want to analyse it.
i had the exact same reaction to the film Nocturnal Animals...none of it happens if you aren't a total wimp lol
@@CrusixMusic Yes. And great thing is that Haneke made the us version himself, before anyone else did.
You may have already read about this, but the director created this movie as a criticism of media that uses violence and sadism for entertainment value. His goal was to make all the violence and trauma as UN-entertaining and UN-satisfying as possible. To encourage viewers to turn off the movie before it's finished, and to punish viewers who choose to continue watching all the way to the end. If I recall, he said something like, "Those who walk out of the movie don't need it, and those who stay do need it."
That's so fuckin lame
I love him as a filmmaker and his works, but I do dislike a lot of his reasonings and philosophies.
Even despite my differences with him in terms of philosophy, he's a great filmmaker and I can't dispute his artistry.
Is that it? I've always been afraid to watch this film because Haneke doesn't pull any punches. People like to say that "Unforgiven" is an attack on violence in movies, but it, ultimately, is a celebration.
That's not really true, or at-least highly over-exagerated. Yes he wanted to explore violence as entertainment, when the audience cheers it on vs. is repuled by it, when the audience roots for the characters despite them being clearly doomed, etc. But the whole idea that he did it all just to finger-wag at the audience for watching violent films isn't really true. He wanted to get them to reflect on the fact that they are entertained by it, and how/why/when not etc., not just admonish them for it. I'm not sure where this idea came from, I'm guessing mostly from people trying to discredit the film as "just some artsy pretensious foreginer looking down on us true horror fans", or something.
He said something along the line that his benchmark for if the film worked or not is if he got the audience to cheer on the most violently-on-screen scene in the film (the shooting), while still being repulsed by the violence that wasn't shown.
I saw this movie years ago, and only recently discovered that this was the filmmaker's intent. I just thought it was a really twisted film with a completely unhappy ending. One of the most depressing movies I've ever seen. This and We Need to Talk About Kevin are neck and neck that way.
"I'm so upset because this film puts me in a powerless position" is astute af
Reading up more on the intention from the director, it seems the thought was correct! Hahaha mission accomplished.
@@JamesVSCinemayou’re the man James, you’re the man.
@@JamesVSCinemaif you want an even worse experience check out "Speak no Evil" from 2022.
Don't look anything up about the film, the synopsis is enough:
A Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday. What was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness...
This film is one of the most notorious films that ever premiered at CANNES. When the one villain gets shot the crowd erupted with joy but once the remote twist happened the crowd was left in utter silence. Haneke knew he had won with both extreme reactions and knew his film in fact worked.
This was a brave movie to react to. Fair play
You know how we roll 👌🏽
@@JamesVSCinemaA Serbian Movie next!
Or, more reasonably, Straw Dogs (the Dustin Hoffman one). Which is hard to watch and so good
@@ramudon2428a serbian movie is exactly what michael haneke was critiquing
@@syntheticsilkwood2206 Yep, that's right.
I remember my girlfriend describing the "Where's the remote?" scene to me and it made it sound like a really funny movie (I had a good laugh at the idea of the scene), but then I actually saw the movie and it's horrific! 😂
the rewind scene is like a big "fuck you" to the audience lol
such a frustrating and difficult watch, but also super unique and clever...not much rewatch value, to me at least, but def fun to see ppl react to it and hear their perspectives
100%
That honestly made me mad and made me like the movie less. Though I have yet to watch the remake, but still gonna do it anyway because why not.
If you got mad, then the director did what he wanted. @@MamadNobari
I absolutely love Funny Games, it's my go to example when explaining film theory to my friends. It's such a great classroom example for pointing out lots of aspects of filmmaking, especially blocking and editing. The film is basically a pressure chamber for how frustrated/disturbed you can get at it. Michael Haneke felt that American thrillers we're too formulaic, stories about someone tied to a chair until they break free and kill the bad guy. Funny Games knows you know these tropes, the biggest flag is the knife on the boat; we immediately think "well that's gonna come back and be helpful later." Nope. From the moment we see that wink to the camera, we learn just how screwed we are. Funny Games is like if Bugs Bunny was a horror villain, these dudes basically have toon force with that remote control bit. Haneke wants people to leave the theater, but he knows they'll stay and see the torture. The 4th wall bits force you the audience member to be a part of the experience. After seeing it multiple times, I feel comfortable in saying you are more of a protagonist than the family. The only way to save them is to turn off the film, but you won't, because you wanna see them get tortured you freak (it's ok, I'm also a freak, I've seen this movie like 6 times). Ironically, the film didn't do well overseas, so 10 years later Haneke made an all American cast remake that's almost completely shot-for-shot and line-for-line.
I was super hyped to see this in my sub feed because I really wanted to see your reactions to the 4th wall bits. I hope you check out more of Haneke's films on the channel because all of them are pretty great. I highly recommend The Piano Teacher for a future video (although it does have some sexual imagery in it so hopefully UA-cam doesn't get pissy about that). For a super well made in depth analysis of Funny Games, I highly recommend the channel Storyograph and his video "Funny Games Ending Explained" (not the most creative title, but it's an amazing video with fun animatics and a well written anayliss of it's screenplay).
This same director/writer remade this movie 10 years later with an English speaking cast. (Stars Naomi Watts & Tim Roth)
Both are outstanding ❤
We dont talk about it here
@@S.SaulGoodmanwhere else?
I like both the original and remake
@@S.SaulGoodman I talk about it anywhere. Both versions are great.
First: as a European, I want to confirm your intuition on a key point. Yes, in Europe people are much more trusting. The crime rate is low. The custom of hosting even complete strangers in one's own home is not unusual. The family depicted in this video must have first realized that they were fighting for their lives, not that it was some grim joke. That's why this film doesn't frustrate me like it does you. It shocks for other reasons but doesn't irritate me like it does you, with the helplessness of the main characters.
Second: there is no doubt that the victims really were helpless in the face of the forces that hit them. The scene with the remote shows this clearly. This film is not about violence, but about the consumption of violence. Just like, for example, Natural Born Killers. The TV screen exists in our reality, not in the reality of the film. Violence leaks into our reality, not just into our subconscious. You've watched Videodrome recently - you know what it's about.
And one more comment at the end. I am impressed by how good cinema has started to host this channel. Suspira, Videodrome, Primer, Enter The Void, Jacob's Ladder, Lobster, Chungking Express, Stalker.... Top shelf cinema. Since there's already been Tarkovsky, Cronenberg, Bergman, Wong Kar-Wai and now Haneke, it's really no good to slack off. More Haneke, Tarkovsky and Lanthimos, plus Herzog, Bunuel, Seidl, Antonioni, Kieslowski and others. For a season of horror, perhaps Zulawski's "Possession" fits best. Really, it's just getting started ;-)
This is pretty generalizing, I don't know many Dutch people who are this trusting. Trust definitely has decreased since 1997 too
I can totally appreciate your frustration that they don't do more, I think movies more often show us people having a fight or flight response in dangerous situations, but some people legitimately do "freeze", whether they want to or not. I'd like to imagine that in a situation like this I'd rise to the occasion and become a badass, but how do you really know until you're in a situation like that? That's the biggest sinking feeling of horror for me with this movie, that this is probably a more realistic depiction of how things would go down for many people if this happened to them, and they wouldnt realize it until they were in it.
especially the moment you wonder “if i try to run for a knife, will they kill me then and there?” for a ton of people that’ll lead to freezing. but even with those who aren’t frozen and want to act, there’s something brutally realistic about wondering when to make a move and when to wait for a better opportunity.. and then she does it and the film says ah ah ah. this thing really messed with me
it is an experimental movie. Not really a story. To teach how to play with an audience's emotions
I think it did that perfectly!
The problem about "fighting for your life" is that once you passed that flight or fight moment it is hard to fight the fear once again. The man is crippled and the child is always in mind. I think you would be suprised how much fear can petrify people.
it was annoying me so much how he kept saying that, the father literally cannot walk and the mother and child won’t be able to overpower them it’s not something that you can just chalk up to ‘this family is dumb’
Michael Haneke is simply a master of the craft. Nothing else to really say other than that!
The family are probably slow to try to defend themselves because they get the sense that if they try something and fail, they'll end up dead then and there.
that’s it for sure
Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn are all natural responses to threats that we have little control over.
"Go on, look at the camera you son of a gun"😂
Hahaha sums up my feelings to this film haha!
As much as Haneke intended this to be a commentary on violence in movies, it is also an (unintentional) commentary on German/Austrian passivity in the face of violence. We will let almost anything happen to us and our loved ones just to maintain civility and not be branded a remnant of WW2. It is absurd and painful.
i’d say that’s a pretty common mindset in most of central and western europe. although in this movie, i interpreted their passiveness more as a combination of paralyzing fear and simply not grasping the reality those two were capable of murder, as they’ve appeared more awkward than psycho’s. all the violence came out of nowhere, it caught them by surprise, and when they finally realized what’s up, it was already too late.
Whoa, I was not expecting to see this here.
Your lineup for spooky season this year is off the charts!
i'm a researcher and my primary interest is german language film (just submitted my phd!!), and the thing i really appreciate about the production of this film is that haneke originally intended it for an english-speaking audience (as others in the comments have said), but couldn't, which is why he remade it in 2007 shot-for-shot. i've seen the 2007 version get some flak (i personally think it's great, the only major difference is the performances and they're all top notch), but i think the thing to note about this film is that it's very very clear in its messaging, and like it or not, subtitles can impede the reception of a message. the impact of this film is the brutality of it, and even in the smallest way i think you can be slightly removed from the constructed reality of a film by having to read subtitles, even if you stop realising you're doing it. your eyes are always drawn to the bottom third of the screen, and sometimes if you read the subs faster than information is coming in terms of the action in the frame, you can have a few seconds ahead of time to register what a character is going to say or, for example, if they're going to get cut off before they finish their sentence. (in a similar but different way, dubbing can also kind of keep you one layer removed, you're never able to fully be IN the story of the film because there's a part of your brain constantly aware of the construction of it.) overall it's not a detriment to watch the german version with english subs if you don't speak german, but it's really interesting to me that haneke intended for the film to be in english because that's where his audience was, and ostensibly that's because he knew that an english-language film would probably get a wider audience than a german-language subtitled film (this is just the way of the world!), but i also feel that, if i as a german-language film fan was going to show funny games to a friend who didn't speak german and i really wanted them to Experience it, i'd go for the english version.
The fact that the intruders aren't physically threatening is what frustrates the audience even more. The family just exist for the purpose of torture.
They made an American version of this movie with Naomi watts
I really like the American version. Micheal Pitt does a fantastic job as the antagonist.
@@Virgo__It's a shot-for-shot remake, so it would be interesting to see a reaction to it as well.
That was my introduction to this story and mainly because I knew Michael Pitt was in it since I was already a fan of his after 2002's Murder by Numbers
This is the toughest movie I've ever seen. Haneke's cinema is quite cruel.
Nope but humans aren't?
This is an unmatched masterpiece and it has lost none of its shocking power. It puts you right there with that family and it gives you no relief and no answers. No fallbacks,no answers, no resolutions just the brutal, violent truth. Haneke makes the viewer complicit in the situation. That long, silent,shocking scene of the mother just sitting there after they kill the boy rips you apart and cruelly brings you into that soul destroying moment. That brilliant scene haunts me. So happy you reacted to this. Michael Haneke is an absolute genius and his astonishing catalogue of masterpieces under his belt is amazing. So many brilliant, difficult and devastating films but you should definitely react to Benny's Video(1989) or The Piano Teacher(2001) or Code Unknown(2000). All of those films are brilliant and thought provoking cinematic masterpieces. So happy yr getting into some great films and directors that are a bit more off the beaten path. J
PLEASE watch this director’s other movies - “Caché” and “The Piano Teacher”. Both of them are phenomenal
And Benny’s Video
Haneke, always an unpleasant watch ^^ Be the first to react to "The white Ribbon" (Das weisse Band). Truly a masterpiece of acting, directing and shooting.
The French Extreme era had some real gems.
Does Haneke fall into that category? Hearing that I would have rather thought of "Haute Tension", "Frontiers" and worst, "Martyrs".
@@tornoutlawyeah, Haneke is above and beyond those trash
Inside (A l'interieur) 2007 also@@tornoutlaw
@@aaronshouting588pretentious comment
What I really love about this movie is that it really doesn't matter which version you watch...they are line for line, shot for shot...so the experience is the same with either the German or US versions....it just comes down to personal preference really
I found the original better executed with grittiness.
I’ve had a broken knee. Had both legs broken. A plate and seven screws out in my left knee, then later taken out. My knee will never be the same. All that to say that if his knee is broken it’s not so much the pain but he literally couldn’t stand on it. The intruders were smart to take out his leg
Great video as always! My first experience with this film can definitely be categorized as “confusion” lol, but over time I just kept thinking about it and I eventually grew to adore it, especially as I came to understand what the director is doing. If you’re curious to understand the meta stuff better, here’s a little analysis of mine:
This movie is very much a deconstruction of stories in general as well as horror movies. There’s a really cool metaphor with the fact that the two dudes “bet” on who will survive, even though they’re in control of the outcome, parallel to the way movies will make a “bet” with the audience, but it is inherently unfair because the author is in control of everything. So yea, the director definitely knows that we are itching for the family to do literally anything. Even if they did, the film would manufacture a way for it to be thwarted.
Since the villains have that remote control power, that suggests they are the authors because they control the entire conflict, and so the movie is intentionally boring when they’re not around.
There’s also the point that we, the audience, are complicit in the torture of this family. The two dudes know that we came here to see a home invasion, so it only happens because of us.
Finally, getting even more meta, the conversation they have on the boat at the end of the film basically sums up the entire movie; saying that even though movies are fake, we take them as if they were real on some level anyways. So, what does that say about our desire to see violence?
I think it’s a fascinating deconstruction of why we watch stories and what we get out of them, although it is an intentionally frustrating watch lol. The director made a shot-for-shot American remake which I think is even better, and in general Michael Haneke is one of my favorite directors. Would strongly recommend The Piano Teacher and Caché by him, which are more of actual, straightforward stories than this.
I love this movie but DAMN it fries my nerves and spikes my anxiety.
EXACTLY! 😂
@@JamesVSCinemaFrom my perspective, a big reason the family wasn’t fighting back is because they think if they cling to an idea of civility they have a chance, while not understanding they’re dealing with bloodthirsty sociopaths. From the start, everyone seems to be upscale and polite, and it’s not until it’s far too late when they decide to abandon that.
Dude! I watch this channel since 2020 pandemic times....you are as good as ever...refreshing af!
Ayyy I appreciate this!!
Cheers James! Shout out to Haneke for trying something different. Horror can be a notoriously predictable genre -- especially slasher/home invasion stories (and especially at the time when this came out). I'm definitely down with anyone out to subvert that.
you need to watch Aftersun (2022) you’ll love it
YES
This film is the perfect example of making the viewer a powerless voyeur
Haneke is a master of nihilistic cinema.
They did a phenomenal job!
That opening song is Naked City, a John Zorn ensemble with special guest singer Yamantaka Eye, the frontman of the legendry Japanese noise group the Boredoms. When I first saw this I was shocked to hear Naked City in a film,
Finally!!!! I remember posting about this last year. Glad it made the list lol
First time I saw this was the American shot for shot remake. The smugness of the two strangers is the cherry on top of this nuts murder sundae. Those two subverts every other serial killer film by not being wild or even loud -which why I think it works for Dexter tbh- they take their time and treat it like a game in which they are allowed to break all rules - even typical movie rules ie can’t kill kids can’t kill dogs 4d breaking
Yes, one of the points of this movie is to piss you off. It does a good job at it!
Perfect, happy my brain wasn’t trailing me off!
I do prefer the remake, but only for the cast. Michael Pitt, Naomi Watts, and Tim Roth are all fantastic.
I saw this film at a grindhouse theater back in high school. The place was old, had squeaky ratty seats and low turnout - really added to the atmosphere lol. My friends and I went in totally blind. This was way before I was into horror and I think I repressed the memory because I had no idea I'd already seen this until watching your video and the metal title card went up
Yeah the English language remake is scarier to me, but only because the cast is so incredible. It's impossible not to be terrified by Michael Pitt as a psychopath. Both versions are equally traumatizing and disturbing though. Might just be a matter of the subtleties of language that I can't pick up on from a foreign language film.
Not the usual reaction fodder. This is a brutal watch. Have fun, James!
this is a film that demonstrates its control over the viewer
Love this movie, so happy you decided to watch it🙌🏽🙌🏽
I can’t believe that you’re reacting to Haneke of all filmmakers! First Lynne Ramsay, and now this? You’re on a roll, James.
Glad you did watch the german version!
About the friendliness: It's a vaccation area where only wealthy people can afford to have a house. Therefore they know all their neighbours, even though it's not the place were they usually live. So, in the US you would call those neighbours friends. Therefore, when someone is introduced by them, the suspicion is pretty low.
The male lead, Ulrich Mühe, also plays in "The Live of Others", which won the oscar over "Pan's Labyrinth". It's a great movie, but since it's german and only subs, there wasn't a huge american audience watching it. However, irecommend watching it at some point, because it's one of the best german movies out there, especially when you only count newer movies.
It also need to be said that the movie is set in Austria and crime rate is very low there, especially in rural areas. It's not too uncommon to be so friendly with strangers.
Haneke is a terrifying man lol I feel like he could break me down in conversation alone
Oh my God, I'm so happy. I've always wanted you to talk about one of the films from my favorite director. I would suggest The Piano Teacher, Amour, or Caché next. If you think that this was dark, holy shit, it's just getting started. Love the channel.
Especially The Piano Teacher.
The Piano Teacher is extraordinary
My man! Happy to hear, I’ll give it a look!
I second The Piano Teacher or Cache...although getting The Piano Teacher on yt might not be possible 😂
Hell yeah, didn't expect to see this on my feed
wow. Was not expecting a reaction to this movie! That's great!
Funny reaction, by the way. :)
Love your glasses!
Michael Haneke, based on the rest of his discography, is a filmmaker that rips your heart apart, and you thank him for it.
James, I quite literally *just* finished watching your Videodrome reaction FIVE MINUTES AGO and thought, "Wow. He would really appreciate Funny Games." As soon as you mentioned the word "manipulative" in that reaction, I knew this movie would have to make an appearance on your channel.
The first time I ever saw funny games it was when some friends put it on one night and I had no idea what it was about, never heard of it.
Absolutely one of the best movies to go in blind I've seen
It was by far the most uncomfortable I've ever been watching a movie, but upon reflection and another viewing its become one of my favourite films, particularly because of its commentary on torture porn horror movies
One fo the best films you've watched on this channel. You really shoukd watch Caché (Hidden) by Haneke, its incredible.
Crazy I just saw this yesterday for the first time lol
I've only seen the US version of this. It was something else.
The boys do have that power, though. They're very polite until they aren't and then it's already too late. The uneasiness is something you can't quite put the finger on and the next second they're taking out the 'protector of the family' by breaking his leg. And that's it, they hold all power from that second onwards. And what makes this movie so horrifying is that this could happen to everybody. You're being civil until the very last second despite the uneasy feeling and then a golf club happens.
I would recommend the film Eden Lake
i watched the other version of the movie blind, looking for random early 90's ‐ mid 2000's movies on netflix i think, few years ago. It was an experience
hell yeah thats my second favorite movie ever!!! glad you liked it!!!
Well, I did not expect that tumble out of the car...
I know it's not the true meaning but people often do nothing when faced with violence/fear.
Another fantastic German psychological horror movie is Goodnight Mommy. NOT the American remake. It's worth a watch if you ever get the chance.
Writing this before I watch... never seen anyone dare a reaction to this. Glad to see you deliver - as usual :) Great choice! This movie is an interesting reflection on the viewer's role as a casual consumer of violence. The music (John Zorn in particular) is also phenomenal. And - at least to German ears - the main villain's accent dials the creepiness-factor up a notch or ten. Now... let's get into this - I'm excited to hear your thoughts.
There is an American remake by the same writer/director that came out in 2007, literally exactly the same shots and screenplay, except it's in english.
This movie and National Lampoon’s Animal House share a moment, a character turning to the audience and smiling. John Belushi makes it one of the most funny moments in the movie, and then the same moment in this by Arno Frisch is one of the most unsettling and chilling moments in horror.
One of the few where I prefer the American/remake version. If I recall even the director considers that his definitive version of the story, considering the audience its meant to be criticizing, which is why he did it. Michael Pitt, Tim Roth, the whole cast really is great. Of course this version is still good as well. Theyre both literally shot for shot identical
Used to nic movies from blockbuster when I was a kid, that's how I fell upon this psycho masterpiece
Ulrich Mühe was a great actor who died too early (2007)... he was married to Susanne Lothar who plays his wife in Funny Games, she studied Drama in my city Hamburg and she died 2012. He played also the main character in The Lives of Others, the movie won an Oscar for foreign language! Greetings from Hamburg, Germany❤
After watching this, you havw to watch The House that Jack Built by Lars Von Trier. Masterpiece of a movie but goddamn is it rough like this movie
My second favorite Haneke movie after Amour.
The director later made a US remake (shot by shot) starring Tim Roth and Naomi Watts. But the original is much better. The underlying feeling of unease is much stronger in the Austrian setting.
This fucking movie is amazing...
I thought this film was a drunk fever dream. Must have seen this after a night of drinking.
Thank you for reacting to the original one
“Yea Look at the camera you son of a gun “ 😭😭😭😭
😭😭 that smug look he gave had me dying hahaha
The only Italian heard in the film is "Ciao bella" before they throw her from the boat 😂
I have been dying for you, specifically you, to react to this movie. You should definitely watch the remake. They're such powerful movies. I love that we the audience are subjected to their funny games too. We are being forced to participate, which is what makes the remote scene so frustrating because we are powerless, just like the family.
The American version of Funny Games is just as good if not better. Same director as well
It is a frog boiling in water type situation...
"some families don't really have that dawg in them. probably because their dog's dead." 😭
😂😂😂
Try Aftersun, please! Surprisingly beautiful movie.
Since i still have to see it, i'm not going to watch for now but you have excellent choices!
This is a rare film where the remake is just as good as the original.
This is the first time I ever looked at a movie and was legitimately pissed off at a scene. They're so good at making you hate them so much
This really disturbed me when I first saw it. I saw the American remake with Naomi Watts. I guess it's some kind of commentary on how middle class has become so weak and unable to fight to protect themselves that chaos, pretending to also be like them, can easily come in and destroy middle class stability and comfort.
This…is not a story about a middle class family. That family is decidedly upper class.
@@jen.g. They look upper middle to me. No servants; summer house - lots of Europeans have summer houses.
The fact that this is clearly a rich family these guys are messing with reminds me of an Andor quote:
(quote below in case anyone hasn't seen the show)
"They're so proud of themselves, so fat and satisfied. They can't imagine that anyone like me would ever get inside their house, walk their floors, spit in their food."
While that quote is about power imbalances and the resulting assumptions about the lower class, I think it can also apply to this family's comfortable and privileged life that doesn't require them to be too aware of things, thus allowing these two sadists into their home.
Little bit depressing fact about this movie: from the main cast only Arno Frisch (who plays Paul) is still alive; Ulrich Muehe (who is also phenomenal in The Lives of Others, highly recommend) died in 2007, his real-life wife Susanne Lothar five years later and Frank Giering (who also starred in my favorite german movie Gigantic) in 2010.
Sure you know by now but the same filmmaker did an American version that is literraly shot-for-shot, line-for-line the same. When you ask people which version is better, you might catch on that it almost always depends on which version they saw first. I think that's because a major part of the experience is surprise and shock, which is of course majorly lessened when watching it a second time.
Haneke loves making you feel insanely uncomfortable for seemingly no reason, and then when you find out why you're feeling like that it's always a gut punch
When’s the next time you’re doing a poll for tv shows?
Yeah, you are supposed to feel frustrated and powerless. You made all the exact same comments I felt watching this. Especially about how completely unflappable the killers are. There is never one moment where they are not in control. They never for a second worry about their power over the family. I believe Haneke wanted to deconstruct the revenge-film with this movie.. the idea of violence as entertainment. So he makes this movie where you never actually see the violence happening. Rewatch it, you don't even see a shot of the golf club hitting the guy in the leg. You finally get that one glorious moment of bloody violence, then he immediately takes it back. It's not meant to be the killers having god powers, it's the FILMMAKER having god powers over the audience. I think in the end your meant to question why you wanted the movie to be a bloodbath in the first place. Why do we set up these horrible scenarios in movies so we can have the justification of watching the bad guys get brutally killed in the end? What is it inside us that sees this as entertaining? Few filmmakers confront you like Haneke does.
fantastic explanation
I've seen this version and the American one with Naomi Watts.
I liked the US version better.
Dude, there is a US remake of this film which is also on youtube. It's a 1:1 copy of the Austrian original.
The Fly and now this... I will say no more.
Hahahaha
“Anyone who walks out of the cinema doesn’t need this movie, and anyone who stays, does.” - Michael Haneke, director
Because the director hates films that use torture as entertainment he said he wanted to make a movie that makes you face pointless violence and gain no insight or value from it. It’s un-cathartic, unenjoyable, frustrating, acts pretentious to purposefully rule you up, and doesn’t even give you shots of the violence. But the biggest move is how the movie breaks the fourth wall to be like “Hey, the killers win BTW. There are no stakes here. You don’t even get to see the actual torture. So why keep watching?” By the end, if you haven’t stopped watching it pulls the rewind trick to be like “Look, we’re even just doing random shit to piss you off now. Seriously, stop watching”.
Of course, you are watching to give us a reaction, so the context is different. But when the director made it, he was making a movie for people watching it alone, to ask themselves “Why did I stick it through to the end?” Pretentious? Yes. But I'll give him credit for trying something different, though I get every reaction to this film.
I agree with Haneke. The "torture as entertainment" scene in Reservoir Dogs is completely unforgivable. But Hollywood always gives a pass to torture scenes because they are good for the box office, I guess.
I saw the 2007 remake, it's easily the most uncomfortable movie I've ever seen. Even so I really liked it.
It's twisted and kinda outstanding at the same time. It's definitely frustrating that family members don't have a singal violent bone in their bodies. Especially the dad who almost didn't fight back at all. But the dynamic between the killers is darkly entertaining to watch and how Paul messes the audience. I kinda prefer the US version because Naomi Watts gives her all as the mother being more expressive. Also Michael Pitt and Brady Corbett are excellent as the killers
"All that for some eggs, man." 😂 if this was your first Haneke, I hope you watch a couple more. Cache and The Piano Teacher are both great.