What Are Violent Films For?
I don't get it. Please explain this.
Film critic Ken Tucker explains in the recent issue of "Entertainment Weekly" that we should watch the brutally violent films of Michael Haneke because "Haneke doesn't splatter the screen or make stupid dead co-ed jokes."
Hey, that's a reason to watch a film about a young man slaughtering a girl like a pig if I ever heard one.
Tucker praises another Haneke offering about two young sociopaths torturing a family because "it makes you feel the agony of violence, thus raising his work to a higher purpose: to recall the distinction between civilized and craven behavior."
You know what, Ken? I don't need to see horrific images of people being tortured and murdered in order to know the difference between heinous and civilized behavior. If you get into the sick thrill of watching such stuff, go for it. That's why Haneke makes it; for people like you. But let's not get all high-falutin' about "the higher purpose" of it all.
Elsewhere in the same issue, Lisa Schwarzbaum reviews the DreamWorks film "Over the Hedge" and expresses concern that the cute little animated animals are a little bit too vengeful toward the humans.
Hey, EW, how about some editorial balance here?
Film critic Ken Tucker explains in the recent issue of "Entertainment Weekly" that we should watch the brutally violent films of Michael Haneke because "Haneke doesn't splatter the screen or make stupid dead co-ed jokes."
Hey, that's a reason to watch a film about a young man slaughtering a girl like a pig if I ever heard one.
Tucker praises another Haneke offering about two young sociopaths torturing a family because "it makes you feel the agony of violence, thus raising his work to a higher purpose: to recall the distinction between civilized and craven behavior."
You know what, Ken? I don't need to see horrific images of people being tortured and murdered in order to know the difference between heinous and civilized behavior. If you get into the sick thrill of watching such stuff, go for it. That's why Haneke makes it; for people like you. But let's not get all high-falutin' about "the higher purpose" of it all.
Elsewhere in the same issue, Lisa Schwarzbaum reviews the DreamWorks film "Over the Hedge" and expresses concern that the cute little animated animals are a little bit too vengeful toward the humans.
Hey, EW, how about some editorial balance here?
posted by PeaceBang at 5:54 PM
5 Comments:
I looked at imdb.com and didn't see anything about a movie called Doubt. About a month ago I did see Haneke's most recent movie, Cache (starring Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil), but no women are killed in that movie. I am confused.
Ahh; I see, I got my headlines confused. I saw you had a posting about reviewing Doubt and didn't realize that was another post.
I have only seen one of Haneke's films (Cache) and the one scene of human violence is brief and not gratuitous. I don't like ultra violent movies at all.
Of course we would!
Violence in film is cathartic, but at a certain point it does become redundant, boring, pointless, and may indeed damage the soul.
But if you've ever witnessed real violence, as I have, you understand that no amount of fake bloodletting comes even close to the real thing.
The funny thing is, I was the other person in Kim's story once.
I said the violence in "The Usual Suspects" wasn't all that bad, considering it was a gangster movie. But it was too much for my mother-in-law.
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