Funny Games เกมส์โหดอำมหิต

Two Awkward Killers and an Unhappy Housewife

Haneke is unparalleled in his exposure of the evil within humanity. Watching this film is an extreme experience. Few can escape this cycle of violence; perhaps Buddha, Jesus, and maybe even Gandhi.

Haneke said that during the Cannes screening, the audience cheered and applauded when the female homeowner shot and killed one of the tormentors. But when they saw the film being rewound by the other tormentor with a remote control, the theater went silent. Everyone was stunned and at a loss.

Haneke's experiment in "Funny Games" fails because he assumes an idealized audience, one entirely under his control. But as an independent, thinking viewer with agency, I must explicitly reject Haneke's didacticism and refuse to accept his shifting of responsibility onto me. Art portrays violence not because viewers inherently desire to consume it, but because of its own violent potential. So, artists, please do your job properly and refrain from telling me how to think.

Haneke is such a ruthless and merciless director. After the son is murdered, the long take uses a fixed camera position in a distant shot. The audience is consistently placed in this passive, objective perspective, observing the emotional state of the couple as they mentally break down. He refuses to give close-ups, refuses to move the camera, completely forcing the audience to genuinely experience and reflect on the relationship between violence and the media. The rewind-in-reality and direct address to the camera are equally brilliant, countless highlights throughout.

Cruel and nihilistic, Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" is a thought-provoking thriller that examines the darkest aspects of human nature. With its rigid camera work and mundane pace, the film skillfully builds tension, making the audience feel just as trapped and helpless as the characters. The performances are raw and unsettling, adding to the sense of unease that permeates every frame. A brutal and unflinching critique of modern society's voyeuristic tendencies, "Funny Games" is a hard-hitting, unforgettable experience.

A tense, unsettling, and socially conscious thriller, Funny Games scrutinizes the audience's relationship with violence and entertainment, presenting a scenario where two sociopathic youths subject a middle-class family to brutal "games". With an unnerving atmosphere and ruthless portrayals, the film critiques the voyeuristic tendencies of viewers and the blurred lines between reality and fiction. Beneath its surface-level shock value, Funny Games offers a thought-provoking commentary on societal desensitization and the manipulation of emotions for entertainment.