Funny Games (1997, Haneke)

Director Michael Haneke is a devil. His "Funny Games" is a cruel, savage piece of exploitation cinema that ranks up there with "Irreversible" as not just being sadistic, but pointlessly so. The story of what happens is merely an excuse for the excesses that follow - a couple and their son (a family pattern that is also used to better effect in Haneke’s "Cache" as well) are terrorised on their lake side home when they visit it for a short stay. The two young men who enter their lives under the pretense of knowing their neighbors, play elaborate mind games that test the patience of both the family and the audience (our watchful presence is willfully acknowledged at numerous times by the torturous duo). What is the point? There is none in the film, but there is one that Haneke makes about us as viewers (voyeurs, if you must). We are shown the filthy excesses (all of it always kept skillfully offscreen, making it even more chilling) because, the director assures us, it is what we want to see. Sample a conversation the crazy duo have with the wife:

Wife: Why don’t you kill us right away?
Lunatic 1: Don’t forget the entertainment value. We’d all be deprived of our pleasure.

The fact that I found the film overall repulsive (yet brimming with exceptional craftsmanship on almost all levels, from performance to direction) will make it compulsive viewing for those who pride themselves at sitting through the most difficult to watch movies. If this is done for the sake of art, then I fail to see the logic in a form of art that is not cathartic as an experience. Fails mostly for the very reason "Cache" was such a success - it lacks sophistication and above all, a real purpose. If this is a game then it is rigged by the director and if it is a joke, then it is on us.

Rating: 2/5