Funny Games??

[adam.cook]

The Funny Games DVD came out in the USA but not in Canada.....Anyone know why?

[M]

I'm sure it would be released soon, either that or you could import it, wait for the blu-ray.

I have to say, though. It was a terrible movie, not one of the best this year, I was annoyed that I had wasted my time with it.

I guess it's somewhat original, but I still didn't like it, the characters are completely unlikable.

[crey014]

Well, if you're talking about the American Version, on July, the Blu-Ray version from Tartan will be released in the U.K.

About the movie, going into a Haneke film, this is pretty much the kind of movie that one should expect. This one especially, is pretty much experimental in nature and more of a study of the situation and *media* rather than character (if you've seen it, you'd know how Haneke manipulates the audience by shattering the 4rth wall and using a remote to manipulate the audience directly).

I watched an interview with Haneke on the original Austrian version of the movie and he admits himself that you do not have to watch the movie unless you have to and that you actually have to be emotionally abject to the characters in the movie to not feel cheated by the resolution and what happens before that. It's pretty much a film that is *meant* to infuriate and walking out is definitely an option.

I myself digged its experimental nature and how manipulative it is. I'm definitely importing this one.

[adam.cook]

Is the UK blu ray release region free?? If so I'm importing too...

also, if anyone cares about what I thought about Funny Games, here's my review.

[jsteinhauer]

Got this in a trade and found it more disturbing than anything I have seen in a long time. If you look around the web at reviews, there are so many who just don't get it and hated it simply because they were turned off by it. Adam C, who linked to his review above, hit the nail on the head.

I expected from the description and home invasion/captive torture movie in the Hollywood style, whether it be Hostel, Saw, Vacancy or many, many others. Well that's not what this is. I am not sure if this was intended as a critique or a protest against the American and Hollywood fascination with violence, but it fails as a critique and soars as a protest. It's in your face, without a doubt. I found it much, much too realistic to be enjoyable. Where Hollywood typically uses fantasy, stereotype, idiocy, sex, drugs, cliche and contrivances to buffer the gore and violence in a typical movie, these features are completely absent from this film. The victim family is any non-dysfunctional family, educated, well-to-do, and they are in their own element. They are not made vulnerable by their location or situation. They are not in a remote location, in a strange backwoods cabin, surrounded by strange people or any of the other cliches. No one is doing shrooms, diggin around a creepy cellar or attic or walking around in the woods when they know a killer is out there. The killers are not inbred mutants. Their captors are, by all appearances, just like them. They are people they could completely reasonably expect to show up at the door asking to borrow eggs.

That's why so many hate this movie. It's too real. It's not the fantasy we expected to see.

I did not enjoy this movie, but the script, directing and acting were spot on. Remember, just because it's not a fun movie, doesn't make it bad.

If you saw "What Just Happened" with Robert DeNiro and recall the Sean Penn scene with the dog getting shot and the problem that was for the filmmaker, Funny Games is a complete exploration of that topic, not just in a scene but in a full length feature.