Michael Haneke

Started by bonanzataz, April 26, 2004, 11:40:30 PM

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Pwaybloe

Yeah, "Funny Games" isn't bad.  You need to see the movie for this one scene that is both hilarious and so fulfilling.  People that have seen it know what I'm talking about.

"Code: Unknown" is a forgettable movie.  "Time of the Wolf" is boring and predictable. 

Come to think of it, if you're happy with "Piano Teacher," don't check out any other Haneke movie.  You'll save yourself some disappointment. 

SoNowThen

So I watched Code Unknown, The Piano Teacher, and Time Of The Wolf Today. This guy is a heavyweight. Piano Teacher was my kind of film. All the way. Thought it had the best open ending of recent memory (really, I'm starting to think there's no point in "ending" things any other way), until I got through Time Of The Wolf.

SPOILERS: The most disturbing/moving/sad scene ever is that rape in Time..., I don't know what it is about it. She kills herself right afterward, and then we see this young, quite beautiful girl's dead body being cleaned by her parents. Maybe it's cos we never really saw her before. Maybe it's because she was covered up the whole time, and therefore seemed inhuman and negligible, and then seeing her flesh somehow stuck it to your gut. Maybe it was not seeing who did it, but HOW he did it, with everyone around. And thinking about how you wanted some kind of justice for the act. Even though all these killings and robbings and exploitations are taking place throughout the film, THIS one is the most horrific. And the parents are so resigned, not even seen onscreen questioning anything. For all we know, the same guy who did it could be the same guy who "saves" the kid at the end -- or a guy just like him... these things how we are capable of objectifying someone to feed our sick urges, and then turning around and saintly protecting someone else because of the moment and it's snap to our senses... this ambivalence I'm feeling right now...
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

godardian

Quote from: SoNowThen on January 19, 2006, 10:27:16 PM
So I watched Code Unknown, The Piano Teacher, and Time Of The Wolf Today. This guy is a heavyweight. Piano Teacher was my kind of film. All the way.

Wow, I agree with you 100% on this one. In my top 5 of this decade, easily. Loved by the respectable critics, but under-hailed overall, in my opinion. Huppert, whom I love, has never been better.

I've only seen The Piano Teacher and, a few days ago, Cache, which was brilliant (Binoche will wash the stain of Chocolat off of herself yet!). I have GOT to get going on his backcatalog. Code Unknown or Funny Games? (I'm kind of afraid of the latter--does it have a lot of trauma/torture of the physical-violence variety?)
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

SoNowThen

go for Time Of The Wolf.

Actually, you'll love Code Unknown. I just bought Funny Games. I'll pm you within the week to give you the lowdown.

Hidden has sat with me like a disease ever since I saw it a week ago. I think it has the best framings since Godard's In Praise Of Love.
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

w/o horse

Haneke fucking hit me in a big way last night.  I watched The Piano Teacher, my third of his, and it was a bit of an eye opener as to his talent.  He apparently has a lot.  I watched the movie, and then I watched it again right after just for the shots.  I have never seen such composition in long takes.  I thought the characters were round and well written, the plot was unconvential but believable, and the drama was natural in its coming.  There was enough motivation to make you believe what the characters were doing but not everything was explained either, so it was 'You know what this character is like, but do you know why he/she just did this?'

Haneke has a control over the audience that I've never experienced.  His shots are incessantly provocative, even moreso than Polanski, and what he doesn't show is often my favorite part of the scene.  Or the exciting perspective, the way he makes you look at things in a different way.  On the DVD Huppert talks about how the movie is a mixture of the old and the new, and that's true in Haneke's style as well.  He restrains himself enough to give his shots both the feeling of the seen and the never seen before.

I love him.  I moved Funny Games straight to the top of my queque.  It of course has a short wait.
Raven haired Linda and her school mate Linnea are studying after school, when their desires take over and they kiss and strip off their clothes. They take turns fingering and licking one another's trimmed pussies on the desks, then fuck each other to intense orgasms with colorful vibrators.

godardian

For those watching Funny Games, please report back and let me know what I might need to psyche myself up for. I can handle pretty much anything on celluloid, but I need preparation for really incessant or relentless physical torture. I'm sure it's a compliment to the effectiveness of both Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Reservoir Dogs, but the torture in those movies makes me feel queasier and more uncomfortable than anything I've seen in other films. If it's just psychological/emotional/sexual stuff with no extreme physical brutality, no big deal. I adore Haneke, so I'm willing to watch something that might be hard for me to take, but I'd like to be come prepared.

Needless to say, I have avoided Hostel like the plague. I might be interested in seeing it one day, but not today. Or tomorrow. I might need to be drugged for it.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

w/o horse

Quote from: godardian on February 16, 2006, 02:28:25 PM
For those watching Funny Games, please report back and let me know what I might need to psyche myself up for. I can handle pretty much anything on celluloid, but I need preparation for really incessant or relentless physical torture.

The torture is more psychological.  The aftereffects are always shown, but the actual torturing much less.  Just how many times I'm not sure.

I thought I liked the film a whole lot, but I saw it a couple of days ago and it's seldom worked its way into my thoughts.  It's just that the tension is fucking fantastic, the brooding atmosphere is great, the directing and shots are great, but it's self-aware.  Do you guys know how I feel about self-aware movies?  I don't like them all too much.

Spoiler.

The scene in which the mother strips made me feel terribly guilty.  Hanake kept it in a tight shot the whole time and I knew what he was saying and he was right - I wanted to see the flesh.  Here she is being made to strip in front of her captives while her son has a pillowcase over his head and I want to see her naked.
Raven haired Linda and her school mate Linnea are studying after school, when their desires take over and they kiss and strip off their clothes. They take turns fingering and licking one another's trimmed pussies on the desks, then fuck each other to intense orgasms with colorful vibrators.

SoNowThen

Yeah, but her face was hidious. Haneke would have made his point more effectively if he would've cast a HOTTER YOUNGER actress.


:shock:
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

w/o horse

The fact that her face wasn't attractive makes it even more repulsive that we would want to see her naked.  Or;  the fact that you would want a hot actress there instead makes the same point.

You're thinking of the flesh.
Raven haired Linda and her school mate Linnea are studying after school, when their desires take over and they kiss and strip off their clothes. They take turns fingering and licking one another's trimmed pussies on the desks, then fuck each other to intense orgasms with colorful vibrators.

SoNowThen

Hahaha, no I was making a joke.

What I was actually thinking of during that scene was that her face was soooo hideous that I hope beyond hope that they DON'T show her naked, because I might gag. So you see, Haneke just didn't plan on someone as shallow as me defeating his rigorous system.

Just rewatched Piano Teacher and made my friend accompany me. The look of total frozen horror that gripped his face once I turned the lights on at the end just proved how wonderful Haneke actually is.
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

godardian

""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

w/o horse

That's good news, but I'll Netflix them because I fucking hate Kino.  Their discs have caused me more trouble than all the others combined.
Raven haired Linda and her school mate Linnea are studying after school, when their desires take over and they kiss and strip off their clothes. They take turns fingering and licking one another's trimmed pussies on the desks, then fuck each other to intense orgasms with colorful vibrators.

w/o horse

I have only 71 Fragments left.

I think it's undeniable that nobody does violence like Haneke, and I would say that nobody makes it as suspenseful.  The adage about the innability to show violence without glorying violence comes as close to being shattered during Benny's Video as I've seen.

The comparisons between Haneke and Hitchcock are deserved.  What Hitchcock did was craft great films with psycholigical incentive presented in a creative and culturally meaningful way.  This is exactly what Haneke does.  Furthermore, while Hitchock's films were popular and talked about, he was not given the recognition he deserved because his films were low-class art that dealt with murder and spies and secret codes.  Until Truffaut right.  Well, I would like to see the same happen with Haneke.
Raven haired Linda and her school mate Linnea are studying after school, when their desires take over and they kiss and strip off their clothes. They take turns fingering and licking one another's trimmed pussies on the desks, then fuck each other to intense orgasms with colorful vibrators.

Redlum

Hidden has been bugging me for some time.

I don't think the surface level story (which I was really engaged by) isnt given the resolution it deserves. The ambiguity of the ending feels forced and pretentious and more concerned with baffling me into recognising the larger implications of the story's subject matter. It's kind of condescending.

Actually, maybe I'm just annoyed and embarassed at being tricked, after spending 2 hours scrutinizing surveilance footage and examining cigarette butts. Ah, voila - maybe I should have been examining my own racial predjudices? Did Haneke try to turn the camera on me or just the characters in the film? It's clever I suppose but does it actually work? I just don't know what I'm suppose to do with what he has presented.

\"I wanted to make a film for kids, something that would present them with a kind of elementary morality. Because nowadays nobody bothers to tell those kids, \'Hey, this is right and this is wrong\'.\"
  -  George Lucas

modage

watched my first haneke, funny games.  it was pretty goddamn hardcore.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.