A stereotypical home-invasion horror will simultaneously entertain and anger its audience by having its helpless victims subjected to sickening acts of violence and humiliation, before delivering a satisfyingly cathartic finale in which the survivors exact a fitting revenge on their tormentors.
Director Michael Haneke is clearly not a supporter of such emotionally manipulative and patently unrealistic movie-making ploys and uses Funny Games to voice his concerns about the exploitative use of violence in cinema: he betrays those viewers who have come to expect a happy ending from such fare by repeatedly breaking the fourth wall, having his psychopaths communicate directly with the viewer (making them guilty of complicity), and eventually allowing the antagonists to alter the outcome of the film in their favour.
Haneke's use of meta cinema to try and subvert the viewer's expectations is an undeniably brave move, but I cannot help feel that it doesn't succeed as well as intended; this could be because there just isn't enough of this self-reflexivity to allow the viewer become comfortable with the concept, but if I were to be brutally honest, I reckon it's because it's simply not handled with the level of finesse required.
6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.
Director Michael Haneke is clearly not a supporter of such emotionally manipulative and patently unrealistic movie-making ploys and uses Funny Games to voice his concerns about the exploitative use of violence in cinema: he betrays those viewers who have come to expect a happy ending from such fare by repeatedly breaking the fourth wall, having his psychopaths communicate directly with the viewer (making them guilty of complicity), and eventually allowing the antagonists to alter the outcome of the film in their favour.
Haneke's use of meta cinema to try and subvert the viewer's expectations is an undeniably brave move, but I cannot help feel that it doesn't succeed as well as intended; this could be because there just isn't enough of this self-reflexivity to allow the viewer become comfortable with the concept, but if I were to be brutally honest, I reckon it's because it's simply not handled with the level of finesse required.
6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.