Three guesses what he’s planning to hit with these — Michael Pitt is disturbingly excellent in Michael Haneke’s Funny Games
When Austrian director Michael Haneke first released Funny Games in 1997, he was asking a lot of his audience. A tense thriller about a middle-class family being tortured by a pair of overly polite sadists, the film was praised on the festival circuit but didn’t make much of a dent even within the larger art-house crowd. The lack of interest could be blamed on the film’s premise, which instantly alienates the squeamish, or it might be due to the film’s tendency to call filmgoers to task for watching the violence unfold. Then there’s the language barrier, which buried some of the story’s nuance. Whatever the reason, few seemed interested in taking up Haneke’s challenge.
Ten years later, Haneke has found himself a following thanks to the superb thriller Caché, and he’s giving it another shot. He’s even made a few concessions — Funny Games U.S. (as the title card bills it) is entirely in English, and even features a bankable star in producer Naomi Watts. Other than that, though, the new film is nearly identical to his original — and may still be asking a bit much.
Watts stars as Ann, wife to George (Tim Roth) and mother of Georgie (12-year-old Devon Gearheart). They are an idyllic middle-class family, the kind that listens to classic operas as they drive to their lakeside getaway for a week of boating and relaxation. What starts off idyllic quickly becomes nightmarish with the introduction of Paul and Peter (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet).
On the surface, Funny Games reads like another Hostel-style torture porn. Unlike those flicks, though, Haneke takes no glee in his subjects’ misfortunes. He’s more interested in building the tension than providing shocks, and the film’s worst moments happen off-screen — not that it dulls their impact any. As anyone who saw Caché can attest, Haneke is a master at manipulating his audience.
He also coaxes some masterful performances from his cast. Pitt is particularly captivating, creating a character who is consistently unsettling but never unhinged. Watts shines, too, and watching her ordeal makes for a genuinely harrowing experience.
Which brings us back to Haneke’s demands. Sitting through Funny Games is unquestionably uncomfortable. More so than most films that get off on depicting the most twisted tortures that screenwriters can conceive, Games forces viewers to question not just what they are watching, but why. He even resorts to a bit of magic realism and fourth-wall-breaking to make his point. It’s hard to say whether it’s a feat of courage or gall to make a film that berates its audience, but that’s exactly what Haneke’s done. Whether that audience will be more receptive the second time around remains to be seen.
