FUNNY GAMES: A first impression

This movie was made to be seen with large groups of people…like in a theater. The idiots along with the geniuses are supposed to share the same experience in the same theater. It’s a film that goes beyond the screen. It’s a film that does what it’s supposed to do. Before you enter the theater you need to pay attention. You have to see how people respond during the film and you have to pay attention to how they respond after it’s over while everyone is walking out the door.

 When I went to see this film, people got up and left. Some people laughed. Some people sighed and whispered to their friend. And almost everyone was squirming in their seats.

Funny Games is there to assault its audience. It exists to fuck you in your presumptuous face. It breaks the 4th wall in the traditional ways and it does it in a way that I’ve never seen before. You’ll be let down and let down and let down and you deserve every second of that disappointment.

In one scene, we’re forced to watch a NASCAR race on a television with a fresh coat of blood splatter for an ungodly amount of time and I loved every minute of it. And other scenes are static for minutes upon minutes with no cuts. The film tortures us with our own preconceived ideas of how violence should be played out on the big screen. The pace, the composition, presentation of tits and ass, the killer’s motivation, the lack of swelling orchestra to let the audience know what’s about to happen…all of those things have been twisted and/or thrown out completely.

The violence is carried out off screen. This is not a gory film. You make the gore. Are you pissed that you don’t see people being murdered or tortured? Great! That’s perfect! You’ve said so much about yourself. The director has proven his point.

There are so many layers to this film that it requires re-watching. There are so many things that can be looked at and put together to make this a truly great American film…

Which it wasn’t the first time around. It was an Austrian film. Funny Games 2008 is a shot by shot remake of the 1997 version only now the film is in English with a new cast. Why would a director want to do this?

Ask him. But I think it has something to do with the fact that his first attempt in 1997 didn’t quite reach everyone. More importantly, it didn’t quite reach America with full force. I think, in my opinion, the director, Michael Hanek, thought it was crucial that he get an American response; what with all that’s been happening in the past 10 years or more. Funny Games addresses so many important American assumptions in violence and filmmaking. It’s in the same place as Blue Velvet. It’s very American. Oh, and by the way, if a director wants to remake his own fucking movie, don’t give him shit. It’s his movie. Fuck you.

This movie will thrive on both positive and negative reviews because from both sides of reception we’ll learn something; whether about the reviewer/critic, the art of filmmaking, or ourselves. That’s what a movie is supposed to do. If you don’t want to fight about a movie’s integrity or meaning then go watch fucking Witless Protection. 

P.S. Always remember to suspend your disbelief.

P.P.S. Always remember movies are pretentious by nature.