'Funny Games US', from that two-time Palme d'Or favorite director of mine, Michael Haneke. I may sometimes struggle to pronounce his name, but it is no struggle to enjoy his films. Now, the reason why it's called 'Funny Games US' is because it's a shot-for-shot American remake of his own Austrian film from ten years before. The film even went so far as to create the cabin with the exact same proportions using the blueprints from the original building. In my opinion, this remake is far better than the original. Despite it being recreated shot for shot, the camera quality's much better, and so are many of the performances. Brady Corbet's performance drastically changes the character's disposition from the original, and I think it works much better in this film. Now, I love this movie, but out of all the films on this list it's probably the least accessible when it comes to recommending it to people. Many people who expected this to be a horror film interpret part of the movie as one big middle finger to the audience. And that's not entirely untrue, but how you decide to react to it is dependent on how you understand what the film is going for. Many people end up disliking this film without understanding anything about the director. Many people dislike this as a horror film without realizing that it's actually a commentary on horror movies. There's even a point to this film taking place in the US and the 1997 version was only filmed in Austria for practical reasons at the time. After my first viewing, I was not only taken by surprise, but I was a little confused. And, sure enough, not only did the film grow on me over time, but it wound up helping me discover my favorite director. If you're the type of person that likes to think and absorb while watching a movie, then this is a movie that does get better with each repeated viewing. Now, for those of you who are unable to enjoy the movie because of the intentional alternative choices that it makes, don't ever think for a second that I feel as though it's illegitimate to dislike the film. If you understand what the film is going for and you're unable to enjoy it regardless, then at least you can say you tried. When one gets upset at someone else for not being able to enjoy a movie, I consider it to be nothing short of obnoxious and close-minded. The idea of telling someone to enjoy something that they can't, is, to me, a sign of lower intelligence. But if you're going to take it one step further and go from saying you were "unable to enjoy the movie", to, "therefore, it was a terrible movie", then you'd have to be ignoring everything this movie did so amazingly well. If you've heard about Haneke's movies before, then you already know that he's a master at cinematography. And once again he's able to bring out the best of every actor he works with. I'm extremely comfortable with saying that this is among the best performances for both Naomi Watts and Tim Roth. And how could you not at least respect a fantastic child performance when they're so hard to come by regardless of the genre. Anyway, I consider this to be a great film, and if you're interested in looking more into its meaning, the information's everywhere online if you want to look it up. I, for one, was able to enjoy this film very much and I hope that many of you are able to as well.
Some guy here commented "So meta. So smart. So good" Yeah, meta. That's the word. And that's the reason why I liked it so much. It's truly a must watch if you're a fan of the genre expect the 4th wall to get rekt
Almost completely identical to the 1997 version I saw previously, but the acting is more convincing. First-class psychological violence will leave you disturbed.
This film is much more than violence, if it wasn't. it'd be a typical bloody meaningless film. This movie does an excellent film to make the audience feel the twisted emotions of the two serial "killers", this film was meant to prove what a true psychological thriller looks like, i highly enjoyed the film..but since the film did such a great job at making me feel damaged psychologically, i will wait a while before attempting a second view, but that might just be me.
It took me a while to finish watching it, such a boring and slow movie.
After watching the “Knock knock” first, I really was on their side and I did not expect that. Very dark, psychological and cool thriller. Recommended!
yet another "fascination with the violence" movie. definitely not my style.
I'm missing the remote scene from the original. So, I'm the only one who is on the "Guys" side?
3 Thoughts After Watching ‘Funny Games’:
Was this film all about torturing the family? Or torturing us? The fourth wall break tells me it’s the latter. That along with an excruciating pace filled with circling dialogue, characters making nonsensical decisions, and that mothertruckin’ REWIND. Ugh, that pissed me off. And I’m fairly certain that was the point.
Torture aside, I wasn’t bored. The performances were solid. And I found the decision to take major moments off-camera interesting. Not great, interesting. Reviewing this film is a challenge.
It certainly wasn’t predictable. No matter how many windows I expected them to appear in front of, or how many cabinets I thought they’d spring from, I somehow knew it just wasn’t that kind of movie.
This movie is the perfect example why you never trust a “happy ending”
Seems to be one idea drawn out. This makes it feel slow and non progressive. The main bad guys are too camp to be taken seriously. It's like they belong in an Austin Powers movie. It's not relatable on any level. It's not psychological nor a commentary on society, its just plain hollowl Seems like a child wrote it, from what seems like a twenty minute egg sketch near the start to the magic remote that rewinds time.
Shout by DeletedBlockedParentSpoilers2018-07-19T08:52:49Z
As someone who likes movies about serial killers, I highly enjoyed this movie. I found the two serial killers- especially Paul- fun to watch and play off of one another, and the irony in their mannerisms (e.g. how seemingly friendly and polite they were the entire time while tormenting the family) quite humorous. I also found it ingenious how they used the relationships between the families to line up consecutive victims with the same ruse, and liked how Paul looked/spoke to the camera a few times, as it gave me a feeling of being more engaged with the story.
I would have rated it higher if not for two things:
1) How much it dragged in the time between the two leaving after they killed Georgie and when they returned
2) The random rewind scene, which came out of nowhere and just didn't feel like it fit/made sense
Other than that, it was quite good, and was definitely one of the more fun to watch horror/thriller movies I've seen in a while.