Starring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbett, and Devon Gearhart
Directed by Michael Haneke
Directed by Michael Haneke
Side Note: I love the poster. And this one's pretty damn cool, too.
I'm sure I'm an awful person for saying this, but I loved this movie. This movie is sick, twisted, and I can completely understand why it would be reviled by the masses. For some reason, this sadistic remake made me tense and kept me on the edge of my seat, and with the exception of a minor quibble, there's really nothing bad I can say about this movie.
The story is incredibly simple. Two young men, Paul (a ruthlessly evil Michael Pitt) and Peter (a somewhat more nervous Brady Corbet), invade an upper-class family's vacation home, deciding to torture them with some perverse and vicious games.
Every actor here is stellar. Naomi Watts as the wife is heartbreaking here. Faced with some awful ordeals, she pulled me in and made me feel for her and her struggle. Tim Roth as the husband absolutely conveyed the notion that he is pained by the fact that he couldn't protect his family from these savage home invaders. There's a scene where he apologizes to Watts that really got to me. Young Devon Gearhart as the son had a difficult role in that I can't imagine it being easy to look scared nearly every second you're onscreen, but he performed quite well. And the two young adults committing the crimes were just plain scary...Michael Pitt, in particular, is one frightening guy.
The only problem here is that the first 20 minutes or so dragged a bit and was filled with some really silly dialog. Considering this is supposedly a shot-for-shot remake of an Austrian film by the same director, I can't help but think that if he copied the dialog directly from the Austrian version, it may have sounded better in a foreign language. Some slight change to the words may have helped. And, if it wasn't directly copied, they could've written Watts' lines a little better.
Still, that's a minor fault in this otherwise excellent film that utilizes some nifty directorial techniques that don't typically work in movies (there's a character that breaks the third wall and talks to the audience; there's a "rewinding" technique that was surprising and humorous; a few very long takes). And the way the movie unfolds was completely unexpected...it definitely doesn't follow the typical Hollywood "rules."
Now, the director apparently crafted this film to show that we've become desensitized to violence in films. Yes, I guess that's true (and is evident when parents bring their young kids to violent R-rated movies "as long as there's no nudity in them"...God forbid we see a boob...Heads getting chopped off, though, that's okay). But the funny thing is that the film is not incredibly violent itself. Yes, it's torturous to watch at times, but we actually don't see a whole lot of the violent acts -- a big chunk of the horror is heard, but not seen...and that's oftentimes worse.
Considering that the director said about this film, "Anyone who leaves the cinema [while this movie is playing], doesn't need the film. Anyone who stays, does." I mean, I guess he's insulting me since I really loved this movie, since he's stating that I've become so oblivious to violence in film. I'll take the insult.
I'm sure I'm an awful person for saying this, but I loved this movie. This movie is sick, twisted, and I can completely understand why it would be reviled by the masses. For some reason, this sadistic remake made me tense and kept me on the edge of my seat, and with the exception of a minor quibble, there's really nothing bad I can say about this movie.
The story is incredibly simple. Two young men, Paul (a ruthlessly evil Michael Pitt) and Peter (a somewhat more nervous Brady Corbet), invade an upper-class family's vacation home, deciding to torture them with some perverse and vicious games.
Every actor here is stellar. Naomi Watts as the wife is heartbreaking here. Faced with some awful ordeals, she pulled me in and made me feel for her and her struggle. Tim Roth as the husband absolutely conveyed the notion that he is pained by the fact that he couldn't protect his family from these savage home invaders. There's a scene where he apologizes to Watts that really got to me. Young Devon Gearhart as the son had a difficult role in that I can't imagine it being easy to look scared nearly every second you're onscreen, but he performed quite well. And the two young adults committing the crimes were just plain scary...Michael Pitt, in particular, is one frightening guy.
The only problem here is that the first 20 minutes or so dragged a bit and was filled with some really silly dialog. Considering this is supposedly a shot-for-shot remake of an Austrian film by the same director, I can't help but think that if he copied the dialog directly from the Austrian version, it may have sounded better in a foreign language. Some slight change to the words may have helped. And, if it wasn't directly copied, they could've written Watts' lines a little better.
Still, that's a minor fault in this otherwise excellent film that utilizes some nifty directorial techniques that don't typically work in movies (there's a character that breaks the third wall and talks to the audience; there's a "rewinding" technique that was surprising and humorous; a few very long takes). And the way the movie unfolds was completely unexpected...it definitely doesn't follow the typical Hollywood "rules."
Now, the director apparently crafted this film to show that we've become desensitized to violence in films. Yes, I guess that's true (and is evident when parents bring their young kids to violent R-rated movies "as long as there's no nudity in them"...God forbid we see a boob...Heads getting chopped off, though, that's okay). But the funny thing is that the film is not incredibly violent itself. Yes, it's torturous to watch at times, but we actually don't see a whole lot of the violent acts -- a big chunk of the horror is heard, but not seen...and that's oftentimes worse.
Considering that the director said about this film, "Anyone who leaves the cinema [while this movie is playing], doesn't need the film. Anyone who stays, does." I mean, I guess he's insulting me since I really loved this movie, since he's stating that I've become so oblivious to violence in film. I'll take the insult.
The RyMickey Rating: A-
I loved it too! Against what most people would think of me, probably. Did I talk to you about this after I watched it? I feel as though I did.
ReplyDeleteI CANNOT believe that you liked this movie...That's a shocker to me.
ReplyDeleteNo, we didn't talk about it at all...I remember mentioning it at some point in recent months and you had said you had seen it, but you didn't really comment on whether you liked it or not.
How about that...I would've totally guessed you would've despised it.
i liked it i guess... but it was more of a re-do of the 1997 version that a re-make...
ReplyDelete