Weekly DVD Pick: Funny Games (1997)

A while ago my DVD Pick of the Week was several Johnnie To films. One of those films is just now getting a Region 1 release; Exiled is now available. In stead of covering this DVD again I’m going to suggest you check out the previous post for Exiled here and also highlight a movie that is being remade for North America by the same director just with different actors. Michael Haneke originally released Funny Games back in 1997. It is the story of a husband, wife and young son who are taken prisoner by two seemingly proper young men. This is definitely not a light movie. Michael Haneke has a strong dislike of how Hollywood has glamorized violence and while watching this movie one can not feel that the impact of the violence being perpetrated is real feeling. After things go bad for the family they are given a chance to fight back somewhat yet instead of the typical Hollywood regroup and fight back the audience is provided with a long shot of the family just trying to recover. While some may dislike this and find it slows the movie down I for one prefer it. The violence feels real as it should in a serious movie. I will mention that even though the movie is quite violent in its story it does not show the violence happening. While I have no qualms about watching violence in movies I appreciate Haneke’s way of filming. The violence does feel real even though we do not see it.

There are a few things I also want to mention. First off the acting is quite powerful. Of particular note are Ulrich Mühe and Susanne Lothar. They play the mother and father and are extremely believable and I truly felt for what they were going through. Secondly, I would like to do a quick mention the fact that at a few points the movie breaks the fourth wall. There are a couple of scenes where one character acknowledges that he is in a movie to the audience. I do not want to get to in depth on this but I found it forced me question several aspects of other movies that rely on violence for the story.

Funny Games is not just a movie about a family being taken prisoner it is also a movie about what audiences expect from this type of movie. From watching both trailers it appears that the updated version will be very close to an exact remake. While I am definitely going to check out the remake just to see if anything has changed I for one recommend checking out the original for now if you have not already seen it. I’ve included both trailers below so you can see just how closely they resemble each other.

Remake: