Funny games (1997) 🏌🏼‍♂️

 

Hope is the last thing you lose… or maybe not

   This slasher and psychological horror film introduces us to a family consisting of Anna (Mother), Georg (Father), and Georgie (Son) who have vacation plans to stay at their summer house. Shortly after settling in, two young men (Paul and Peter) knock on the door to welcome them and ask for some eggs from their neighbor. Unknowingly and unprepared for what was about to happen, their pleasant vacation would take an unexpected turn.

Mother, father and son (from left to right)

   The plot of Funny Games is based on the slasher genre, which is characterized by showing scenes of clean and bloody violence, but the interesting thing in this film is that it makes the victims a family (with a child) and not young sinners and the aggressors are young, educated and harmless murderers, who break into the house of a bourgeois family and subject them to a series of cruel and “funny” games, to torture and murder them.

Peter and Paul (from left to right) 

   On certain occasions, Paul, one of the murderers, is in charge of breaking the fourth wall, looking at the camera, speaking to the viewer, asking questions, comments, or mischievous winks about what is happening or is going to happen in the room. thus involving the viewer in the murders. This is another of the film's objectives, which seeks to generate a feeling of discomfort, guilt, and responsibility within the public. By breaking the fourth wall, Paul involves the viewer in his games, makes them participate in his decisions, and challenges them to take a point of view on what they are seeing. 

Break of the fourth wall (Iconic moment) 

   For a slasher horror film, this largely deprives us of those liters of blood and body members flying through the air as is customary in this type of film. The film does not avoid showing violence explicitly, but suggests it or leaves it out of shot, forcing the viewer to imagine it or complete it with their imagination, giving way to questioning the role of the viewer as a passive and morbid consumer.

   On the other hand, the film does not show violence gratuitously but rather uses it as a form of criticism and reflection on the role of the viewer and the media in the trivialization and consumption of violence. Director Michael Haneke aims to question the conventions of the slasher genre, the viewer's expectations, and the manipulation of reality by film and television.

Rate: 5/5

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The question here is, is there any way to save the family?

Watch the movie and answer the question or… maybe not watching it might be an option