Funny Games (U.S.) (2007)

Mirror was actually up for a screening this week, but seeing that I'm not into its original work from which it has been adapted (Into the Mirror, I had wrote something about it in 2003 - whoa! 5 years ago! - and not really liking it), and I had personally thought that Alexandre Aja is already a Hollywood sell-out after his initial horror flick that had launched his career so I had decided to stay at home and watched Funny Games instead and judging by the initial response to "Mirror", I think I had made a pretty good decision.

It could be said that Funny Games - although that it's actually a US remake from an Austrian film also directed by Michael Haneke - has fallen from the radar of many movie-goers out there. I had to focus on the cover (a picture of beautiful Naomi Watts - she had a nose that could melt my heart, seriously - shredded in what appears to be tears and agony, and another, a picture of a golf club covered in dried blood) before I started to really wanted it. Ironically, the title itself was what probably rendered it into an ignorable candidate of a film. All in all, I had wanted to see this film since earlier this year, but the lackluster in news related to it kept it dropped out of my short term memory. I was pretty much forgot about the film until I saw its DVD in one of the store in Singapore last week. And here goes my real review.

First, a disclaimer. Reviewing Funny Games without spoiling anything is hard (especially, considering what happened in the film at the 100th minute. You might want to circle that because I really think that nobody could've seen that coming. My jaw is like dropping all the way to the floor, ALL THE WAY. I was stunned that for minutes I still tried to contemplate the scene). But I think I did a pretty good job of disclosing the content of the film in this review.

Funny Games remind me a lot to A Clockwork Orange but grimmer, messier and far worse (not in a sense of quality which I think it's rather superior). It's creepy, it's haunting, it's disturbing and it manages to do all those things without any sound effect imposed to add a shocking value. Horror and especially thriller fans should be able to appreciate this film and it didn't do a justice that this film is little known.

The film begins pretty harmless, as we follow through a bourgeois family of three, Ann (Naomi Watts), George (Tim Roth), and their son on a journey to their vacation home and as all vacation homes do, houses were scarce and far between, remote and no landline phones. On their way, they met with their next-house neighbor. They said 'hi' but comments were made about the neighbor unusual quiet behavior and about a couple strangers in their front yard. They were soon acquainted with these strangers. Peter and Paul or Tom and Jerry or Beavis and Butt-Head as they identified themselves. By mere looks we knew that these couples were up to no good and they lived up to their expectation as later, they held the family hostage and forced the family into some sort of twisted "games"

I cannot really went further than that, else I would ruin your experience. All you need to know is that this film uses minimal setting, minimal sound, even minimal dialog but in this case, the less is actually more. The camera sometimes linger on an extended period of time on a single spot and on particularly one scene it is hard NOT to look away. Naomi Watts is one of my favorite actress (a nose to die for), and during my review on "The Incredible Hulk" I had given a deserved praise for Tim Roth and the two dudes who plays the villains (Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet) is REALLY creepy. Finally, for consideration as well, given the content, this film was rated R but I think it even deserves an NC-17 rating even if the scenes rarely, if ever, happened behind the frame but this kind of given impression and imagine it for yourself kind of scene is actually worked. Really well. Not easy to stomach, and certainly not for a casual viewer who merely wishes to have fun in her viewing experience.

And then there's the 100th minute scene. From what I've read in various board messages, most of the viewers hated this scene. Well, I personally think, that particular scene is a great scene in a way that it slaps you in the face, hard. It's something that you totally didn't expect and goes "bam" Down you goes, all bloody and gory.

My Rating: ***1/2 / **** - This is a kind of film that made you cringe and silently mouthed the 'F' word. To film that could lasted such impression to me deserves at least a three and a half rating. Given enough time, this film could even well wade into one the most memorable film (four rating). Won't be a favorite though, cause to put this film into a favorite means that I would want to revisit this film time and again and by doing so, it would implies that I was a psycho. I had a very troubled sleep after I saw this film.