Review of Funny Games (1997) by Dfw F — 22 Nov 2009
"I'm making the viewer an accomplice of the killer and at the end, I'm reproaching them for this position. I wanted to show how you are always an accomplice of the killer in films that show violence in an acceptable way. We always agree that violence is happening, it's consumable, and we don't realize that we're accomplices to this. It made me happy to give an awakening slap.".
This is the first Michael Haneke movie I have watched and I owe this to the guys in "FilmSpotting" podcast. I don't think you could have said it more clearly than Haneke himself does in the above. The movie is a deconstruction of the regular Hollywood movies in which some innocent individual all of a sudden have to fight some psychopath murderer(s).
Very difficult to watch to the end as Haneke does all he can including a total reversal scene by the director to let the plot go on in the complete opposite direction of what you would normally expect. Funny how Haneke says that maybe by the time the DVD hits the international market that this may in fact be the "consumable" type of violence that audience ask for. I doubt it'll ever be.
This review of Funny Games (1997) was written by Dfw F on 22 Nov 2009.
Funny Games has generally received positive reviews.
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