Michael Haneke has made some of the most unsettling movies you may or may not have laid your eyes on. They often document problems and failures in both modern human beings as individuals and society as a whole, providing not answers, but the questions he wants people to consider (in his own words: “Films are made to irritate people. Only irritation effects change.”).
Starting today, for the next month Goethe Institut will be hosting a Monday/Thursday night film series tracing and celebrating his career from his beginnings in television and earlier movies as opposed his most recent, and seminal works (ie: Funny Games, Cache).
And while I will urge you to make sure your prozac subscription is refilled before heading through the door and checking these gems of nihilism out, I still wholeheartedly recommend it, as Haneke’s vision, while not for everyone, will, at least, make you think, which is way more than most art does these days.
The full schedule is available here:
http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/kue/flm/en2963540.htm
but these are my personal picks:
(all on Mondays or Thursdays, 6 dollars per movie)
Today: The Castle, 6:30 pm
Made for Austrian television, this is Michael Haneke’s adaptation of Franz Kafka’s unfinished novel Das Schloss. A land surveyor, K., is invited to the Castle to do some work for the Count, but when he arrives at the Village, he finds that nobody is expecting him. The harder the stubborn K. tries, the farther he moves from his goals.
March 3rd: Fraulein
Fraulein, made for German television, is the story of Johanna K., her movie theater Roxy, her husband Hans and her French lover André. It’s also the story of 1950s small town Germany, told in black and white, without sugar-coating or self pity, but with sarcasm and humor. Fraulein features two dead bodies and a happy ending of sorts.
March 13th: Who Was Edgar Allan?
depicts generational conflict through the lens of the mystery genre. The film adapts Peter Rosei’s novel about Paulus, a German art history student, and an American with whom he becomes obsessed, who becomes his mysterious double and criminal counterpart.
March 20th: Time of The Wolf
follows a family’s difficult journey immediately after an unknown apocalyptic event. Haneke puts us directly in the terrifying aftermath, with all of its confusion, uncertainty, and danger. As all social laws and codes are suddenly overturned, (including the famous “flushing the money down the toilet” scene) Haneke asks us to find our own way through. Time of the Wolf is Haneke’s most intense film, and also his most hopeful.
and while you’re at it, start eagerly (or not so eagerly) expecting the American Remake (also directed by him) of his soul destroying classic “Funny Games” in which two psychotic young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic “games” with one another for their own amusement (which Annie from St.Vincent and I shared a few thoughts about in the interview that is coming tomorrow)
the youtube trailers above are from the original and remade “funny games”
i sort of wish we could interview Haneke and ask those questions.
that would be an article I’D REALLY want to read
I second NP about Funny Games, et al. Shall we start talking about why he decided he needed to redo Funny Games in English?
February 25, 2008 at 2:40 pmI just see that the English translation of the quote is from the Goethe webpage. Now I am really confused….
February 25, 2008 at 2:41 pmThere is a good, recent article about him in the NYT magazine.
Apparently funny games was always meant to be made for an American audience. Now I wonder why he didn’t make the film with an American cast in the first place. Strange.
February 25, 2008 at 2:58 pm“Apparently funny games was always meant to be made for an American audience. Now I wonder why he didn’t make the film with an American cast in the first place. Strange.”
When the movie came out more than ten years ago, it would be a hard sell for Haneke to make a movie that deliberately shocks and humiliates its audience. Given the success of The Piano Teacher and Cache’, he probably has more producers who are willing to piss off American audiences.
February 25, 2008 at 4:45 pmTrue.
Oh well, my European me is probably just afraid that the American version could be better than the original….I’ll definetly check it out.
Btw, there is a Belgium film that is similarly disturbing than funny games but a bit on a lighter side. Man bites dog. Recommend if you haven’t yet seen it.
February 25, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Nice. Shame they don’t show cache and funny games. Or the piano teacher. Great films.
What I don’t understand is why Haneke did a scene-by-scene remake of funny games in English that will be released this year. The remake will star some great actors (Tim Roth, Michael Pitt etc) but the original already has some great actors (like Ulrich Muehe). Why not just dub it?
Btw. If Haneke used the word “irritieren” in German, then the quote is better translated as “films are made to confuse. Only confusion effects change”. I mix up the two quite often too which brings me sometimes in awkward situations because people think that I am annoyed while I am actually just being confused.
February 25, 2008 at 2:37 pm