Michael Haneke isn’t all that well know to American audiences, and its a shame as I would argue that he is the best director currently working in film. He manipulates the screen in a way few directors can, not by bending audiences to his will but by actually engaging them. That he uses themes and genres that are often considered mindless entertainment is even more impressive, and has lead to many people not really understanding his actual purpose.
When Haneke remade his film Funny Games, about a family whose house is overrun and terrorized by two sociopathic teens it was assumed that Haneke made the film because he hates violence and was preaching against violence in film. But Haneke has no issue with violence in films, for most of his films as disturbingly violent, but rather how violence is fetishized. He uses violence to engage the audience, or if need be, shake them out of their stupor. Which is why the true victim in Funny Games is the audience, as Haneke slowly shifts the events of the film from the screen directly into the auditorium. He didn’t want to make yet another slasher film where the audience giggles with glee at the fool onscreen, but rather drags the audience unwittingly into the terror they would typically dismiss and scoff at.
Which brings us to his latest film, The White Ribbon, which won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival this year, and has been receiving huge acclaim as being yet another masterpiece from a director who seems to churn them out with relative ease. It is a film about a small town in Germany in 1913. An authoritarian town, where the children are subjected to rigid rules and even harsher punishments. But something even more sinister might be occurring. And could the children possibly be behind it?
Most people know that I am a huge fan of Michael Haneke’s films. They are incredible films that manipulate the hell out of the audience, and are breaking all sorts of new grounds for the horror genre. Most wouldn’t consider his films to be horror films, but I can’t see them as anything else. They are so effective are drawing the viewers straight into the lives of his celluloid creations and implicating them along side hem in the terrible events that are foretold on screen.
Unfortunately, Haneke isn’t much of a name here in the US, as his film Funny Games is the closest thing to well known release as he has had so far, which is a shame. Thankfully Europe, and especially France, loves the crap out of his movies, and his most recent film, The White Ribbon, followed up on his past successes by winning the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize this past year, the Palme d’Or.
I don’t know much about the film, other then it is set sometime around World War I and focuses on a German children’s choir. Haneke has proclaimed that the film is about “the origin of every type of terrorism, be it of political or religious nature.” I’m not sure what he is going to do with that setup, nor do I understand a single word in the trailer, but I’m quite confident I’ll be coming out of the theatre absolutely destroyed after watching this film.
This Academy Award-nominated French hit makes its Twin Cities debut this weekend at the Uptown Theater. Actor/writer François Bégaudeau draws on his own experiences to craft the story of a new year in a tough Parisian high school. The difficult students are a challenge for any teacher, but François is determined to do the best job he can. His own attitude surprises the students, but that doesn’t stop them from challenging him. Directed by Laurent Cantet, The Class won the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
WERE THE WORLD MINE
Starts Friday, Feb. 13 Lagoon Theater
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream inspires this whimsical musical comedy that proves the course of true love never did run smooth. After being cast as Puck in the school play, unhappy gay teen Timothy discovers a secret recipe for the play’s magical love potion. With his new-armed magic, Timothy turns his town on its head by making them see the world through his eyes – starting with the guy of his dreams. Directed by Tom Gustafson, Were the World Mine plays at the Lagoon Theater for one week only.
BOYZ IN THE HOOD
Saturday, Feb. 14 at midnight Uptown Theater
John Singleton’s landmark 1991 debut roars onto the big screen as part of Midnight Madness at the Uptown Theater. Cuba Gooding, Jr., Angela Basset, Laurence Fishburne, and Ice Cube star in the saga of life in the Los Angeles ghettos. Three friends grow up in the hood amidst violence and crime. While some resist it in hopes of an education or the knowledge of what is right, the dark side of the neighborhood proves too powerful for others.
UNIVERSAL NOIR: THIS GUN FOR HIRE
Monday, Feb. 16 7:30 p.m. Heights Theater
Take Up Productions and the Heights Theater presents Universal Noir, a five-week series celebrating classic noir from the 1940s. All seven films are 35mm prints from the Universal Studios archives. The series kicks off February 16 with a screening of This Gun for Hire starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. Hit man Philip Raven is on a mission for revenge after being paid off in “hot money.” While on the case, he meets beautiful entertainer Ellen Graham, who’s been hired to investigate the same man Raven is after. As they begin to track the same man, a shaky alliance is formed. All tickets are $8, and can be purchased in advance at HeightsTheater.com.
Entries (RSS)