MOVIE REVIEW: AMOUR

An octogenarian couple find their love put to the ultimate test when one of them suffers a stroke, and the other must assume the role of the caretaker in this compassionate yet unsentimental drama from director Michael Haneke. Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) are retired classical-music teachers savoring their golden years in a comfortable apartment when Anne experiences a stroke that leaves her partially paralyzed. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Michael Haneke

Cast: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert, Alexandre Tharaud, William Shimell.

Release Date: Dec 19, 2012

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material including a disturbing act, and brief language

Runtime: 2 hr. 7 min.

Genres: Art House/Foreign

Review:

Micahel Haneke has made a career of turning the mundane into something disturbing and unsettling. He’s also been a didactic director even if you don’t notice it. Early on in Amour, his deeply moving yet tragic love story, the director holds a shot of an audience. Haneke is telling us that this tale is about something that will affect all us at some point. It’s an interesting starting point into a brutally honest tale of love and devotion that goes into the depths of our hearts and limitations of our bodies. Haneke confines the film to the octogenarian’s well worn apartment creating a sense of claustrophobia throughout. In this confined space is a pair of legendary French actors who deliver incredibly powerful performances throughout. Emmanuelle Riva has received plenty of praise and awards for her performance here and it’s well earned. Riva’s work portraying Anne’s increasingly degraded state is masterful and shockingly realistic. Riva has a showier role but Jean-Louis Trintignant work shouldn’t go unnoticed. Trintignant’s turn is just as strong. His ability to convey a plethora of emotion through a single look or facial expression is just masterful. Together with Haneke’s direction they create a film which takes us through the end of a love story in all its naked truth.

A

Movie Reviews: FUNNY GAMES

Monday, June 23, 2008
Movie Reviews: FUNNY GAMES
ON DVD

A vacationing family gets an unexpected visit from two deeply disturbed young men. Their idyllic holiday turns nightmarish as they are subjected to unimaginable terrors and struggle to stay alive.

Cast: Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet,Devon Gearhart

Director: Michael Haneke

Genres: Crime Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Thriller

Opened March 14, 2008

Runtime:1 hr. 47 min.

Rated R for terror, violence and some language

Review:

There is a 10 minute uninterrupted shot of Naomi Watts, in her bra and panties, with her hands and feet bound trying to make herself up from the floor. The shot is impressive mainly because we feel Watts pain and distress as she struggles to make her way up to her feet. It was one of those moments in film where I felt bad for Watts, not here character but her. It's just such a painful scene and it goes on forever. Is there a great point to the entire sequence? Yes and no. Yes in that writer director, helming this shot for shot remake of his Austrian film of the same name, Michael Haneke wants the audience to feel that pain and distress. He holds the shot hoping that at some point we have to turn away from it, creating the visceral reaction he was looking for and in a way chastising us for watching it. If this sounds painful to watch, well it is and Haneke believes his movie is miles smarter than it actually is. Haneke wants this film to stand as a testament to pointless and artful violence but as a film it doesn't work. Haneke is a talented filmmaker, quite a few of his shots can bring comparisons to Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange is an easy comparison. He creates a cold detached type of atmosphere which drives his message further down our throats. The general concept of the film is thoroughly intriguing but Haneke's pretension seeps through the celluloid. He never trust his audience enough to allow them to dissect the film on their own, instead he uses tried and true arthouse techniques like breaking the 4th wall and rewinding a scene with a new outcome to make sure the audience knows how intelligent he is. While the director comes off as pretentious the actors and actresses lay themselves bare on film. Watts is spectacular and allows us to feel her pain and torture throughout the entire runtime. Tim Roth has moments were his grief is so palatable it's hard to not to believe. Michael Pitt & Brady Corbet are disturbingly cool and detached as the two psychopaths. Michael Haneke's repellant film is terribly slow and isn't for about 90% of the movie watching audience. There is bit and pieces of the film that I found fascinating but as a complete film it's a tedious trek into arthouse exploitation.

C