Funny Games
I’m getting more and more annoyed by this movie in hindsight. The set up is a home invasion, two young guys tie up and traumatise a family of three in their holiday home on a lake somewhere. I came into this knowing at least the above, so when one of the guys keeps asking for eggs, and “accidentally” dropping them and then, oops, dropping the phone into the sink so it breaks, the path was clear. I had got the impression, though, that this was a notorious, hard to watch indictment of media violence while also having its cake and eating it by being extremely violent itself.
Except it wasn’t, I swear people are paid to walk out of Cannes, or throw up, just because it’s a way of getting attention to a movie (except Irreversible). Nearly all of the violence happens off screen, or on the very edge of the frame. They do - ok, shockingly - murder the child, first, but it’s not shown.
Mainly I’m annoyed by the fourth wall breaking, winking, completely overt, you love this don’t you, you little piggies. You’re here to see this family get brutalised because you love violence, you piece of shit. Oh it looks like they’re going to escape? No! It looks like they’ve killed one of us? No! I’m going to literally rewind the film to the point where that happens and undo it so you don’t have to be unhappy that the bad guys didn’t win, you sicko. I’m going to remake this movie shot for shot and make you watch it again, dickhead. Thanks, but no, Mike.