Funny Games

Funny Games
(1997) [Trailer]
Director: Michael Haneke (IMDB)

Synopsis: A family weekend at the lake house is rudely interrupted by to psychopaths.

Michael Haneke recently remade an English version of this film as well, so if you're not a fan of subtitles I guess he has got you covered on both ends. I can read, so it doesn't matter to me.

Funny Games is big win for me, I really enjoyed it and it's unlike any thriller I've seen in recent memory. I knew I was in for a treat when the opening title popped up on screen. There's a lot of interesting things that are foreshadowed throughout the first half of the movie... the neighbors, the knife, the golf clubs and so on. What really impressed me was how unconventional Funny Games is. I'm gonna say if you're not interested in having the movie spoiled, stop here and watch it, it rules. It's available on Netflix streaming.

SPOILER START: Haneke does a masterful job at toying with the audience in this film.
Three examples that I loved:
1. The scene where the wife is forced to strip in front of the family. A normal film would have exploited that and showed the nudity, instead Haneke filmed a close up of the mothers face.
2. The rewind scene, when you finally think the mother has revenge, it's striped away from you.
3. The boat scene at the end... you know the knife is there, but it's quickly tossed off the boat and the mother follows right behind it.

It's like Haneke knows you're a sick fuck... you want nudity...you want violence and revenge... nope. He gives it to you his way. The bad guys win. SPOILER END.