juanathan

As soon as the credits rolled at the end of Funny Games, I felt as if the Michael Haneke played a joke. It was like "Gotcha!". This is a case when a director has a good idea in mind but completely sabotages it. If this was in the hands of another director, it could have been great. This is how much potential the film had.

The film started off very well. A family is playing a game where they play classical music and the father starts to guess the composer. Suddenly, dark heavy metal music plays off screen as we watch there unexpecting faces go along with the music. The metal song would later be used well and then not so well at the end.

The film has some considerable merits. There is great acting all around. The director definitely knows how to build tense moments. Some parts were pretty well written.

The biggest problem I had with the film was the self reference scenes. I knew before that those type of scenes would be in this but somehow thought the director would pull them off well but he does not. It is painfully obvious in the "rewind" scene. I like the whole idea of the "Show. Don't tell" type of film-making. Self reference complete shatters that purpose. If I wanted someone to spell it out to me, I would read a book. The movie has a real lack of logic (How is there only one phone in the whole house of a very rich family?) The movie is tedious to sit through. It feels like a chore watching. There is a ten minute one take scene which showed some amazing acting but honestly could have been about four or five minutes. The psychos are clichés of the suave, sophisticated, and charming killers in other superior films. The end is probably the most disappointing. It ends on probably one of the worst clichés you can think of.

This is more of a 7.5/10 Lynn Ramsay made a promising debut with this feature. It is the typical first feature. They make an above average movie where they can later improve on their techniques to create a "great" film.

I have minor faults with this film. The score at the beginning is too sentimental for such an unsentimental film but later improves itself greatly with the music. I thought the first scene of the accidental death was not documented enough and it leaves you pretty confused. Some of the characters' problems go in and out of the movie and I just wished there was more insight. A few of Ramsay's techniques got a little tiresome.

Ahhhhhhhh. Great Imagery. I am such a sucker for good cinematography. There are three beautifully poetic scenes in the film you will not forget(the pasture, the trip to the moon, and the wonderfully ambiguous end that reminded me of My Own Private Idaho)The film gets good performances all around. The protagonist James is interesting but very mysterious because Ramsay keeps most of her characters at a distance. The protagonist's father is also a standout. It never let me get bored and was interesting. There are some very well done scenes involving the protagonist's father. In the latter part of the film, the score is used very effectively.

The words uneven and messy can not do this film justice. This has to be by far Herzog's worst film to date. I really went looking for this film and I now regret every minute I wasted trying to find it. Before I go to my real analysis, I have to say I am a pretty big Herzog fan but this film is a humongous disappointment.

I have to say it started out on the right foot in begins with obscure footage of tornadoes and then moves on to a man in the Outback playing his digderidoo while the camera scans over an almost alien landscape. A very Herzogian way to begin the film. The biggest complaint is the acting. This is by far some of the worst acting I have ever, ever seen in a feature film. It is truly terrible. Even the leads were bad. Bruce Spence should probably never work in film again. The dialog is awful and completely insipid. It tries to be thought provoking but falls flat on its' face. The plot really makes absolutely no sense and they never try to explain it. The film tries to be powerful but winds being the classic "oppressed minority versus white majority" story that I could have watched on cable. Although I really cannot say anything bad about the cinematography, I was disappointed in the lack of apparitions that usually appear in Herzog's films. It is not very exciting. There is absolutely no insight to the characters. At the end, the film tries to bring back some of Stroszek's magic but winds looking like a desperate attempt to usher something in worthwhile so the audience will not felt they have been cheated by watching this debacle. The ending with more tornado footage serves as a very regurgitated message of the film. The classical music is also used very out of place.