Funny Games

Just saw a limited-release showing of Funny Games last night, and I have to say I'm a tad bit let down. I had seen the trailer a few times over the course of the past six months or so, a trailer that really impressed me with its Stanley Kubrick-esque presentation and sense of dark humor, so I had gotten my hopes up that this film would possibly stand up to Mr. Kubrick's great legacy.

Unfortunately, although the film certainly was both dark and kinda funny, it failed to resonate as well as I had hoped, particularly due to awkward plot development and the lack of a real climax. I think the film had some deep messages to convey, but somehow they were mostly lost on me.

The most interesting thing about this film, however, is that it is actually the director Michael Haneke's shot-for-shot remake of his Austrian release of the film just over 10 years ago. Take a look at the American trailer above and the Austrian trailer here. Funny that someone would actually just reproduce a move like this...