February 29, 2008

Michael Haneke's Subversive Games

By ROY GRUNDMANN

The filmmaker toys with viewers' expectations, and they expect no less

"Daring" and "dangerous," "sensual" and "savage," "brutal" and "brilliant" — these are only some of the alliterative adjectives that pepper the trailer for Michael Haneke's first American film, Funny Games. Presumably they're meant to extol the qualities of the film rather than those of the games it features, but that may be one of the questions the film's March release will raise.

The film tells