Directors MORE DIRECTORS CHECKLIST SERIES - Volume #213 - The Films of MICHAEL HANEKE (1 Viewer)

[Brook K]

Rate 'em, Rank 'em, Review 'em, whatever
Volume #213 - Micheal Haneke
Caché (2005)
... aka Hidden (International: English title) (UK)
The Time of the Wolf (2003)
The Piano Teacher (2001)
Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys (2000)
The Castle (1997)
Funny Games (1997)
Lumière and Company (1996) (segment "Michael Haneke/Vienne")
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994)
Rebellion, Die (1993) (TV)
Benny's Video (1992)
Nachruf für einen Mörder (1991) (TV)
The Seventh Continent (1989)
Fraulein (1986) (TV)
Wer war Edgar Allan? (1984) (TV)
Variation (1983) (TV)
Lemminge, Teil 1 Arkadien (1979) (TV)
Lemminge, Teil 2 Verletzungen (1979) (TV)
Drei Wege zum See (1976) (TV)
Sperrmüll (1976) (TV)
After Liverpool (1974) (TV)

 

[Brook K]

Austrian director born around the time of the German New Wave directors like Fassbinder, Herzog, and Wenders, success came much later for Haneke. His films are thought-provoking and often masterfully filmed statements about the things that unite us and the things that keep us apart.
*1. Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys - A (opening with a breathtaking 8 minute unbroken tracking shot along the streets of Paris, this is an enormously deep, often thrilling film about modern life)
2. Caché - A
*3. Funny Games - A (Harrowing thriller about a vacationing family terrorized by two thugs. A statement about our enormous appetite for watching violence, but also quite revealing in its characterizations.)
4. 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chace - A-
5. The Seventh Continent - A-
6. The Piano Teacher - A- (Isabelle Huppert delivers a superb performance as a woman entering in a psycho-sexual relationship with a much younger man)
7. Funny Games (2008) - A-
8. The White Ribbon - A-
9. The Castle - A-
10. The Time of the Wolf - B+ (Tremendous visuals and a claustrophobic atmosphere highlight this film about a mother and her children trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic France)
11. Benny's Video - B
Own: 2

 

[Jim_K]

Ratings out of :star: :star: :star: :star:

MICHAEL HANEKE (1942 - )

The White Ribbon (2009)
Funny Games (2007) :star: :star:
Caché (2005)
The Time of the Wolf (2003)
The Piano Teacher (2001)
Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys (2000)
The Castle (1997)
Funny Games (1997)
Lumière and Company (1996) (segment "Michael Haneke/Vienne") :star: :star: 1/2
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994)
Rebellion, Die (1993)
Benny's Video (1992)
Nachruf für einen Mörder (1991)
The Seventh Continent (1989)
Fraulein (1986)
Wer war Edgar Allan? (1984)
Variation (1983)
Lemminge, Teil 1 Arkadien (1979)
Lemminge, Teil 2 Verletzungen (1979)
Drei Wege zum See (1976)
Sperrmüll (1976)
After Liverpool (1974)

 

[george kaplan]

Despite any evidence derived from these threads lately, I can assure you that Jim and I are not the same person.
Never even heard of this guy (it is a he, right? ), much less seen any of his films.
If I wasn't so lazy, I'd put up a directors thread every time Brook did, and we'd see Brook and others making the same "never seen, never heard of" remarks.

 

[Bill McA]

The White Ribbon (2009) /img/vbsmilies/htf/star.gif/img/vbsmilies/htf/star.gif/img/vbsmilies/htf/star.gif/img/vbsmilies/htf/star.gif (Own the Blu)
Funny Games (2007) :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: (Own the DVD)
Caché (2005) :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: (Own the DVD)
The Time of the Wolf (2003) :star: :star: :star: :star: (Own the DVD)
The Piano Teacher (2001) :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: (Own the DVD)
Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys (2000) :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: (Own the R2 DVD)
The Castle (1997) :star: :star: :star: (Own the DVD)
Funny Games (1997) :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: (Own both DVDs, best movie of 1997!)
Lumière and Company (1996) (segment "Michael Haneke/Vienne") :star: :star: :star: (Own the DVD. Haneke's segment consists of a shot of a TV news program broadcasting a news story of what else, violence in the world.)
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994) :star: :star: :star: :star: (Own the DVD)
Rebellion, Die (1993) (TV)
Benny's Video (1992) :star: :star: :star: :star: (Own the DVD)
Nachruf für einen Mörder (1991) (TV)
The Seventh Continent (1989) :star: :star: :star: :star: (Own the DVD)
Fraulein (1986) (TV)
Wer war Edgar Allan? (1984) (TV)
Variation (1983) (TV)
Lemminge, Teil 1 Arkadien (1979) (TV)
Lemminge, Teil 2 Verletzungen (1979) (TV)
Drei Wege zum See (1976) (TV)
Sperrmüll (1976) (TV)
After Liverpool (1974) (TV)
Seen 12
Own 12
Also of note is the 1995 film The Moor's Head. Written by Haneke and from his same production company Wega Films, but directed by his associate Paulus Manker. :star: :star: :star: :star:
Michael Haneke is the 12th director in this series that I've seen/met in person.

Actually Brook, the violence in Haneke's films remains largely if not totally offscreen. Violence has been the main theme of almost all his films, but he has never exploited it's use. In Funny Games, you think you are seeing all sorts of horrible things...but it's all offscreen, except for one moment which is actually a cinematic trick.

 

[Elizabeth S]

Funny Games (1997)

Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys (2000)

The Piano Teacher (2001)

The Time of the Wolf (2003)

Seen the above, in order of preference.

 

[SteveGon]

Caché (2005) ***1/2
The Time of the Wolf (2003) ****
The Piano Teacher (2001) ***
Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys (2000) ***
Funny Games (1997) ***1/2
The Castle (1997) ***
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994) ***
Benny's Video (1992) ***
The Seventh Continent (1989) ***

 

[Brook K]

Actually Brook, the violence in Haneke's films remains largely if not totally offscreen. Violence has been the main theme of almost all his films, but he has never exploited it's use. In Funny Games, you think you are seeing all sorts of horrible things...but it's all offscreen, except for one moment which is actually a cinematic trick.

I know this Bill, but I was speaking to his media/critical reputation. Reading reviews of his films, his treatment of violence, or his use of it in the past, is mentioned in a large percentage of them.

Given that Jim already covered almost every classic Hollywood director, some of the most famous international directors, plus his own "I've never heard of this guy" picks, most of my picks will inevitably be more "obscure". This has also been a busy week at work so I've mostly chosen directors that were less time consuming to put up.

 

[Jim_K]

I did inject a few of my favorite "obscure" directors (a perk for doing all the work as you've figured out for yourself) though I left off waaaay more than what I could have used because I wanted as much participation as possible.

 

[Mario Gauci]

In order of merit:

1.FUNNY GAMES (1997) ***

2.THE PIANO TEACHER (2001) **1/2

 

[Bill McA]

UPDATED:
Caché (2005) :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
Seen 10
Own 6

 

[Brook K]

Updated:
Caché - A
I'll be buying this one.

 

[SteveGon]

Update:
Code Unknown ***
Funny Games ***1/2

 

[Rich Malloy]

**yawn**
Pardon me.
Seen none. Never heard of him or any of his films.

Anybody else get the sense that Jim spends his life half-asleep and missing out on all the fascinating stuff that makes life worth... uh... yawn... zzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
Anyway, some early Haneke films are debuting on DVD in R1 land next week, specifically "71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance", "Benny's Video", and "The Seventh Continent". Unfortunately, all will be merely "acceptable" transfers from Kino (improperly converted PAL>NTSC ports). Also, "Funny Games" will be re-released and should be a notable improvement over the previous non-anamorphic edition, but an upcoming R2-UK SE of this flick might be worth waiting for.
I'm resurrecting this thread as I'm interested to gauge reaction and perhaps encourage some viewing. IMO, Haneke's one of the most interesting directors working today, and I've found each of his films to be something akin to a cinematic revelation. Yeah, I'm a big fan!

 

[Brook K]

Agreed Rich, I'm a big fan too. I'm not buying Kino discs for the reasons you mention, but have them queued up at Netflix.
I'd like to see your input in the Fassbinder thread when you have the time. Seeing as how you're the one who introduced me to him.

 

[Brook K]

Updated:
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance - A-
I was pretty happy with the image quality. I was caught up in the film and wasn't carefully stuying it for artifacts, but aside from some slight image pulse at the beginning, I didn't notice anything wrong with the image. The newscast scenes don't look very good but I would think those would look degraded even in the original since it would have been videotape transferred to film.

 

[SteveGon]

Cache ***1/2

 

[Rich Malloy]

Just a couple today, and not necessarily my favorites (if you had to pin me down, those would probably be "Code Unknown" and "Cache", but depends on the mood). I just felt like talking about these:

The Time of the Wolf (2003) - I had no idea that this film garnered such a mixed reception, but I love it. One of the finest apocalyptic films I've ever seen, up there with "Offret". I think there's a paper worth writing here comparing the two, and not just with respect to the obvious sacrifice-by-fire that occurs/nearly occurs in both (and Tarkovsky is an oft-cited influence of Haneke's, probably the most influential filmmaker on his work except for Bresson). "Wolf" is absolutely riveting both as a thriller and as an interrogation of civility's limits in the face of the abyss. While some may view this film as simply bleakness upon bleakness, I found in it hope and faith in our shared humanity. I have a difficult time understanding the negative reaction to this film (could it be the horse sacrifice a la "Rublev"?). It's themes and narrative style more closely approximate a mainstream film than most by Haneke, though it's vision of a darkness not ultimately illuminated by religious belief or some variation of the Cavalry riding in are decidely non-mainstream.

Funny Games (1997) - not part of the "glaciation trilogy", but in many ways a summation of it's themes. This time, the focus is directly on the viewer, implicating us in that Hitchcockian "Rear Window" way, as our appetite for consumable violence and consumable narratives is delivered on a silver platter with a maggoty undercoating. Haneke's control of this incendiary material is complete, never allowing it to devolve into entertainment except to lull the viewer briefly, allowing those dark unexamined appetites to briefly flourish, before confronting us straight-on with the implications of those desires.

 

[SteveGon]

Time of the Wolf is probably my favorite of Haneke's films thus far and did indeed remind me of Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice.

Also impressed with Cache, though I don't see what the mystery is as some do:

It's obvious that it's Majid (or his son) who is sending the tapes. Sure he denied it, but people lie all the time, eh? As for the coda with the schoolchildren milling around, I think that's just the director's way of showing us what Majid missed out on.

 

[Brook K]

Updated:
The Seventh Continent - A-
I would have loved to see this with a live audience. A favorite aspect of Haneke is how he controls the viewer. I almost didn't rate it and I'm still not totally sure how I feel about it. It's perhaps more apocalyptic then Time of the Wolf. It attacks our lives and I just recoil from some of the content but at the same time it is fascinating to watch and with each film I see more and more that Haneke has got to be one of the 3-4 best technical filmmakers alive. He just understands time and pacing better than almost anyone. The money scene is just a total violation, crossing an irrevocable line. As Haneke says in his interview on the disc, it's really the ultimate taboo, and what does that say about us?
I really think I'm going to have to get these DVD's. The Haneke interviews are excellent too. He genuinely enjoys talking about his work and can explain himself and his ideas without resorting to directorspeak. No false modesty, and no pretension either.