I must reluctantly admit that I have yet to see Funny Games, the home invasion horror/thriller from Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke. The film got some great reviews and was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival in 1997. Time Out described it as “a masterpiece that is at times barely watchable”.
Warner Independent hired Michael Haneke back to direct an American remake of the the film, starring Naomi Watts and Tim Roth as a wealthy couple who are trapped and tormented in their Hamptons vacation home by a pair of vicious psychopaths. Check out the trailer after the jump, and tell me what you think.
Funny Games hits theaters on February 15th 2008.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
is it usual for a trailer to be released 5 months ahead of the opening of the film?
this film is to open on oct 26, 2007.
September 16th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
What comes to my head first is the “Singin’ in the Rain” scene from A Clockwork Orange. The pleasure and entertainment they were getting from what normal people would find very disturbing. Seems thats the 2 guys in Funny Games were getting quite a kick out of the family’s horror.
September 17th, 2007 at 5:14 am
i know it is feb 15, 2008. but don’t you agree a trailer 5 months ahead of the opening date is unusual and doesn’t make sense?
September 17th, 2007 at 5:39 am
It should be said this is Haneke’s first “American film”.
I don’t understand why Haneke is remaking a film of the same name in exactly the same way ? I was hoping for a new story and new characters in this version, but now I’m let with the feeling that I won’t be going to see this film simply because I’ve already seen it! It’s like the highly unnecessary remaking of “insomnia” and “open your eyes” aka “vanilla sky”. It feels like this is going to be a shot for shot remake. Michael is a great director. Why shoot the same movie twice? The only benefit I can see is to anger the typical American movie going public, which might be a good enough reason for me.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:47 am
I loved that trailer, especially the juxtaposition of the music with the content. It really sets up a unique tone for the movie. As for it being a remake, I think probably the general public didn’t see the original, so I like that they are going to bring it over. You’d be surprised how many people won’t sit through a really good, “Hollywood-style” foreign movie because it has subtitles.
Also, if anyone can do this film justice as a remake, it’s got to be Haneke, not just because he directed the original, but because he is a phenomenal director.
September 17th, 2007 at 10:13 am
heres the original trailer
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rzpzpe_8gHQ
September 17th, 2007 at 11:50 am
This makes me want to sing, “Singing in the rain” *whap* “Just Singing in the rain” *smash* “What a glorious feeling..” *bam*
September 20th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
I didn’t like the original. In my opinion there was way too much ‘winking’ at the audience in that ‘oh-so-postmodern’ way. But, that wasn’t my main problem with this film… my main problem is that SERIAL KILLERS DON’T WEAR WHITE TENNIS SHORTS.
Well, it looks like he’s committed this heinous mistake in the U.S. version so I’ll be giving this one a miss.
October 29th, 2007 at 7:30 am
I love Michael Pitt and his Movies!
I cant wit for this movie!
November 13th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Why this remake? Why can Americans not just look at the original with subtitles? How come Haneke got so low to do something so ridiculous as his own remake - is he in need of money? Naomi Watts is not a bad actress, and Tim Roth is a very good one, but Susanne Lothar and Ulrich Mühe, the German actors in the Austrian original, are brilliant. Don’t you US people want to discover something new one day? Don’t you want to see other actors, other countries, other styles, listen to other languages? The audience behavior is to blame, in my view, and the film industry. Same story happened with Nakata’s Ring….
November 13th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Hey email that to the people who remade it.
And whats so wrong with remakes anyways. Its just a movie.
It just shows how great the first one was that they felt the need to remake it in English. So I guess who ever wrote the movie did a excelent JOB! And Personally I guess im just Lazzy but I hate reading Subtitles! So im glad they Re-did it in English.
But the comment above me seems reallly offended about this movie being re done in English. I would personally take it as a compliment if another country loved a U.S film so much that they redid it.
Oh well. And for the RECORD MICHAEL PITT IS AWSOME AND he will do a great job in this movie!
November 13th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Hey maybe you should email that to the people who remade it.
And whats so wrong with remakes anyways. Its just a movie.
It just shows how great the first one was that they felt the need to remake it in English. So I guess who ever wrote the movie did a excelent JOB! And Personally I guess im just Lazzy but I hate reading Subtitles! So im glad they Re-did it in English.
But the comment above me seems reallly offended about this movie being re done in English. I would personally take it as a compliment if another country loved a U.S film so much that they redid it.
Oh well. And for the RECORD MICHAEL PITT IS AWSOME AND he will do a great job in this movie!
November 30th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
The main music in the trailer is GRIEG’s “Mountain King”, but what’s the classic piece of music in the beginning, when you see the the CD beeing inserted into the car hifi?
December 7th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
@ Lothar,
The music at the beginning is from Catalani’s opera “La Wally”. Not a good choice, I think, because it heavily carries the connotation of another film: Diva, a French film by Beinix from 1981 which was full of that same air from “La Wally” - but that was probably before your time!
December 12th, 2007 at 6:29 am
Classic Music?
Violence?
White Clouths?
Sport Stuff used like weapons?
It’s so “clockwork orange” for me.
\o\
December 12th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
@ Guy France
Thanks for that piece of information, and yes, I remember “Diva”, should have recognized the atmosphere… :-)
February 24th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Spoiler Alert !!!
Do not read this if you have not yet seen the original “Funny Games” yet.
I’ve seen the original several times and I love it.
It’s a horror film in the truest sense…being that the film is about the mental torture and brutal murder of an entire family with absolutely no happy outcomes and no remorse.
(Children and pets are not spared)
The original film is humorless, tragic and dark enough to make “Seven” look like a Spielberg film.
If this new version is really a shot by shot replica of the first, American audiences will despise it.
That being said…I just saw the trailer on T.V. and thought it looked like a comedy/thriller.
It’s either false advertisment or the new version will completely suck moose balls.
-j
February 26th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
what is the music playing during the apple trailer? mozart???
March 14th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
So….what possesses a person to not only spend money to see this but to sit there and watch 2 hours of it? Anyone that finds this movie as entertainment needs to question what is going on inside of them. If you wonder AT ALL about spiritual warfare–this movie has been written, made and performed with all of the wrong unseen forces at work. Lots of prayer is going out to anyone that finds this enjoyable.
March 17th, 2008 at 5:57 am
Well thank you Green Eyes for the Prayer
CAUSE I WILL Enjoy this movie and I reallly will ENJOY Looking at Micahel Pitt the whole time!
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:04 am
I actually just saw the movie and thought it was really clever. It was horrible how the family suffers, but I thought the movie itself was so clever that I simply couldn’t dislike it. I think it is so different from any other movie, and I am still trying to figure it out two hours after watching it. After it was over, nobody got out of their seat in the theater, they just sat there. I think you know you did a good job making a movie if that happens, even if the audience didn’t like the movie—even if they hated it, you kept them in their seats even after it was over, thinking about it. I think that the director wanted the audience left feeling a sting, feeling like their feelings were hurt or something, but all in all it was a clever flick.
April 9th, 2008 at 9:16 am
green eyes has a point, about questioning our moral integrity in our possible enjoyment in a film like this which is exactly haneke’s point in making this film. it’s a comment on our obsession with violence as enjoyment in cinema. the film is incredibly disturbing even though most of the actual brutality occurs off screen. As for people’s points about the guys wearing tennis shorts and gloves, it is very similar to clockwork orange but i believe the intention in doing this was to exaggerate the fact that the men are partaking in a game, a sadistic sport. the perpetrators acknowledgment of the audiance, with paul’s wink, and his references to plot development and entertainment value remind us that maybe we are not mere spectators of the sport but in fact are part of the game. it us for our pleasure and enjoyment that the actions take place so where do we stand in watching something such as this? where can the line be drawn, is this just too far? pure sadistic violence and terror with no happy endings or silver linings. i don’t know if i can say i enjoyed this film but i’m also glad i watched it. it left me analyzing the nature of our obsession with tragedy. and i would recommend the original over the remake as the acting is superb!
April 9th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
I saw the origanal in film class and its great. I won’t give away any of the fun parts, but you don’t expect it at all. I loved it, I havn’t seen the new one, but I hope its at least true to the origanal
July 13th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
If Tim Roth or Adrian Brody are in a movie, it’s gonna suck and it’s just a make work project to keep Jews employed over talented actors. The last good movie Roth was in was Reservoir Dogs, which was good even though about half the actors were Jews.
This “movie” sucks, but I’ll keep seeding so that no more money goes to the Jew producers (about half of them) who send money to Israel to kill Palestinians.