Chicagoist: Our Two Cents: Funny Games

Spav1

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:07:00 -0600

Matilda: for your information: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/business/media/07violence.html?scp=1&sq=freakonomics+%22Saw%22+movies+violence&st=nyt Thanks.

Spav1

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:05:44 -0600

Smussy: Thanks for the clarification. I agree with you mostly, I abhor the torture porn that has become so popular, it was hard for me to watch Funny Games, but I believe that it has some social merit and I too think there is some hypocrisy in generally how the movie was received. However, there may be some "redeeming social value" to Saw, GTA IV, Billy Madison etc afterall.

smussy

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:41:17 -0600

spav: my point was i didn't understand why the big public freakout about a movie that was supposed to intend to make a commentary about such things, when other even more low-brow movies that are explicitly endorsing plots where torture features prominently as something that's supposed to get a thrill/scare out of people. also, i didn't say that the movies instigated crime, i just find them disgusting. i will never support the idea that we should condone these things as 'just movies.' there's got to be better things to engage young, white males than shit like that. (p.s. if the NYT doesn't think good future alcoholics don't sneak drinks into movies/get high before they're sadly mistaken.)

matilda

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:38:29 -0600

Holy batshit, Spav. An actual fucking idea, something that adds to the question at hand, and might make me reconsder my own view after I look up the original article for more information (and, to make sure you are telling the truth). Good job. Maybe we'll get another one from you later this week.

Spav1

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:46:42 -0600

A) I think this movie is TOTALLY different from Saw etc because it shows NO GORE and is actually a repudiation and a commentary on films of that nature. B) A word of defense of Saw and Hostel: A study recently done and reported on in the NYT shows that movies like "Saw" and "Hostel" actually REDUCE crime because they get the people most likely to commit crimes (i.e. white, young males) off the streets in a situation where alcohol is not involved.

matilda

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:51:14 -0600

"i hate all of it. i don't get why when real human beings are being tortured, people want to go see this stuff. ick." It's because humanity is a vile, ignorant spieces that is nearly drowning in its own filth. But I'm a pessimist. I do question the mental health and moral strength of adults who like this crap, though. Horror is one thing, glorified torture another.

smussy

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:43:31 -0600

i won't see this, as i don't see any horror or violence movies, but i guess i'm curious as to why all the outrage about a movie that is all fucked up trying to make a point, but no horrible outrage about movies like saw (one, two, three and FOUR!?!), hostel (one and TWO?), and blah and blah and blah and all those other gross movies that have come out in the 'aughts. i hate all of it. i don't get why when real human beings are being tortured, people want to go see this stuff. ick.

JawsOfJosh

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:53:36 -0600

Saw the original on DVD years ago on account of the stir it caused when released in America. Compared to a lot of American horror films, it is indeed very disturbing, despite the mostly off-screen violence. I think the trick is to deliver meaningless violence in a meaningful way. I'd also recommend Gaspar Noe's "Irreversible". That movie (alongside "Funny Games") was - without question - one of the most fucked-up movies I have ever seen.

GL

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:48:38 -0600

Watching Michael Pitt act makes my skin crawl. Otherwise, it seems like an interesting film. I'll just have to watch the German version.

Spav1

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:46:04 -0600

I saw this film, antcipating that it would be widely talked about and I think that it does it's job quite nicely. I read an interview on ew.com about a week ago with the director and he was basically saying that this film is a "fuck you" to Oliver Stone and American films because we don't know how to properly use violence. I really hate movie like "Saw" etc, I don't understand the whole "gorno" culture. I think this film makes the point that you can show NO bloody gore and still have an effectively terrifying movie. I walked out physically sick. SPOILER: I LOVED that the once act of violence that the audience got to experience on-screen was also the one act that we didn't get to cathartically experience. Just my two cents.

A2

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:14:15 -0600

I saw this. I didn't see anything to get outraged about, but I thought it was just okay. It didn't do anthing for me one way or another. I thought the characterizations of the fey, refined killers was overdone and annoying, like a bad impression of Ryan Phllipe doing a bad impression of John Malkovich in that remake of Dangerous Liasons. The kid in the German film (all I saw was a still) looked better cast. He had a genuinely menacing look in his eye. I have seen worse, though.