Funny Games
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 hour, 47 minutes
Directed by: Michael Haneke
Starring:
Naomi Watts - Ann
Tim Roth - George
Michael Pitt - Paul
Brady Corbet - Peter
Devon Gearhart - Georgie
Why can't writer/director Michael Haneke make films where the title is a better clue to the content of the film? The Piano Teacher had very little to do with musical instruction. His latest film, Funny Games, an almost exact remake of his 1997 film of the same name, has games that aren't funny but disturbing and cruel. Damn you, Haneke. Damn you.
Actually, I knew going in that the film would be highly disturbing, not only from the trailers, but when I spoke to a veteran film critic back in October who said it was one of the most unnerving films she'd ever seen. And if that doesn't clue you in about the horror to come, the death metal that kicks in over the main title should provide a pretty good indicator that this isn't going to be a fun weekend at the beach for Ann (Naomi Watts), Georgie (Tim Roth), and their little boy, Georgie (Devon Gearhart). Two young men (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet) of varying names including Tom & Jerry, Peter & Paul, and Beavis & Butthead, dressed immaculately in white polo shirts with white canvas shoes and white gloves, proceed to inflict violence and psychological torture on the hapless family. Meanwhile, the Audience (who are duly noted by Pitt's intentional breaking of the fourth wall on several occasions) wonders if they're complicit or simply deranged for enduring this film.
There are many ways to read this film and in that way, it's quite rewarding. See it with some intelligent friends and if you're not too thoroughly shattered by the end, you can have a lively discussion about its themes and motives. My personal theory is that the film is a work of existentialism and if it hadn't come out so soon after the existentialist masterpiece No Country for Old Men, then it may have felt fresh. You can argue it did come out before the Coen Brothers Best Picture-winner but putting the two side-by-side, Haneke's version feels simplistic and overbearing. The young psychopaths are the monsters of existentialism (and if you don't believe me, there's a reason they're dressed all in white). They are cruel, capricious, and they bring the inevitability of death to a family that almost constantly refuses to take control of their fate.
The performances are fantastic (especially Pitt), the cinematography is thoughtful, and it is well directed, but it ultimately feels like a two-hour exercise where at the end your soul is sore from all madness on display and you've only explored an idea that was better done in other stories.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
3.6.08