Thumped Film Club Part 1: Funny Games U.S. (1 Viewer)

[ernesto]

just watched about half of the German one there.
usual opening with the heavy thrash music over the dialogue and all.
looking forward to the rest tomorrow night.

wup.
i meant unusual.

 

[Pantone247]

I actually preferred your original post, implying quite nonchalantlly that all German films (ussually) start with heavy trash metal over the dialog

which in my experience is completly true

 

[ernesto]

I actually preferred your original post, implying quite nonchalantlly that all German films (ussually) start with heavy trash metal over the dialog

which in my experience is completly true

i didnt want to upset the kids Panty.
you know how theyll get; theyll just start flinging schnitzel at me.

 

[evil bandit]

I assume we're still not discussing the intricacies of the flick so I'll just say that it isn't very good at all.

 

[CitySickness]

Are we allowed to talk about this yet? I'm with Evil Bandit.

 

[Jill Hives]

I saw this during the film fest in February. I'll have to think back but I know one thing that ruined the whole thing for me.... that is if we are talking about it yet.

 

[Gambra]

I suppose it has to wait until I get to see it

 

[Yurn!]

ok, i'm gonna go...

performances: good (apart from roth)
film: terribly unenjoyable shite. shut the fuck up all of you.

 

[CitySickness]

I thought Roth was enjoyably pathetic in that hairdryer sequence. Otherwise though, it was a bunch of preachy film school oh-look-at-me-I'm-breaking-the-fourth-wall bobbins. Ferris Bueller did it better.

 

[Jill Hives]

Otherwise though, it was a bunch of preachy film school oh-look-at-me-I'm-breaking-the-fourth-wall bobbins.

That's what ruined it for me. Had it just been a straight movie with no motive, no jokes, and played out as -- that's life and shit happens with no explanation -- I would have enjoyed the honesty.

 

[potlatch]

I dunno. Isn't the film one of Haneke's typical "look-at-me-I'm-oh-so-smart" cinematic strategies to make some mad philosophical or political point about something really important?

I saw the original Funny Games a few years ago having seen The Piano Teacher, Hidden and Time of the Wolf in that order. I really enjoyed it in the sense that I nearly felt like switching the telly off with the psychological gross-outery. I thought it was a really strong statement. Like, he very carefully constructed a scenario which has its own internal logic, playing off blockbuster slasher genres, which you just buy into or you don't. I think that's part of the film's point, though. All films are like this but conceal the mechanics. ANYWAY...

I couldn't help thinking that he was still developing his techniques when he made the original, so, compared to what came after, it's just OK. It was the film when he changed gears. But going back and making it again doesn't add anything, it's a step backwards for him and I think the film's moment passed 10 years ago.

 

[CitySickness]

I dunno. Isn't the film one of Haneke's typical "look-at-me-I'm-oh-so-smart" cinematic strategies to make some mad philosophical or political point about something really important?

Yeah, except the main point he's trying to make - that onscreen violence makes beasts of us all - is pretty facile in the first place. And the way he makes it here, the "rewind" scene in particular, is clunky and occasionally cringeworthy.

There's this weird undercurrent in a lot of the positive reviews for Funny Games, where they'll praise Haneke to the high heavens for making a "shocking indictment of Hollywood mores" and tsk-tsk-ing about the likes of the Hostel and Saw franchises, then have a sneaky wank over the evil rich folks getting their grisly due. Little White Lies, I'm looking at you:
http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/reviews/funny-games/

 

[coast to coast]

I left after about an hour. My friend didn't want to watch the impending rape scene which is fair enough. I would've stayed to the end but I wasn't really enjoying it, except the bit with ballistic metal soundtrack in the introduction.

I thought it was too vicious, with all traces of humanity removed to make a philosophical point, and not one which I was finding that engaging. The immediate comparison I made in my head was with In Cold Blood which I thought on the other hand was a truly thrilling and brutal book about cruelty, but a cruelty that was human rather than philosophical.

That said, I didn't see it all, so feel free to invalidate my opinion. I did think that the precision of the shots and the way it looked really well suited to the idea of the film but I can't help but thinking that the director is a grumpy cunt.

 

[Jill Hives]

the "rewind" scene in particular, is clunky and occasionally cringeworthy.

Agreed. If I were the type to walk out of movies, I would have done it there. Ruined. Completely ruined.

 

[CitySickness]

I left after about an hour. My friend didn't want to watch the impending rape scene which is fair enough.

I know it looked to be headed that way, but there was no rape scene.

 

[CitySickness]

There were a few smaller things he had some success with though, and that were far more interesting than his clumsy OMG Hollywud is SOOOO evil! audience hectoring. Like the idea of a gated community's fences and barriers turning on their creators, penning people in, removing connections to each other and cutting off escape routes. Or the automatic trustworthiness of two well-groomed, well-mannered white young flits knocking in for eggs - it's rightly implied they'd never have gotten past the front door if they'd been black, or hadn't shaved in a few days.

But for every good idea he has, there's another irritating clever-clever bit not far behind - like Pitt's string of fake biographies and the (supposedly) terrifying and novel insinuation that their cruelty is motiveless.

 

[Cormcolash]

Saw it. Thought it was alright. Nothing special at all.
Don't care what points it was trying to make, because it's not a good enough film to want to think about anyway.

 

[CitySickness]

This is Thumped Film Club. You have to over-think things, or Pete will change your avatar into a black square.

 

[evil bandit]

Being of a sound enough mind to differentiate between on screen film violence and actual real world violence I found this film boring, patronizing and pointless.

 

[potlatch]

It's really interesting how many people take personal offence to the film. Patronising. Hectoring. Insulting. More than most other films you could apply those terms to.