Funny Games

I first encountered the original version of this film back at UCF, in one of my classes. Certainly up to the task, Haneke's Funny Games provided a forum for discussion of the treatment of violence in film and entertainment. Why do we find it so fascinating? How does it entertain us? What part of our psyche causes us to continually and (most importantly) voluntaraly subject ourselves to manufactured images of destruction and carnage? Haneke raises all these questions by making a film about violence without showing a single act of it on screen. Funny Games has no remorse, no pay off; the good guys don't win and the bad guys don't lose. By making violence as senseless as possible, and by their self-awareness as characters in a film (at one point they even rewind the film when things don't go their way), Peter and Paul break through our zombie-like numbness towards violence and force us to ask why?
For this, I love the film. It purposfully gives the audience nothing in the way of reconciliation or explanation, and the frustration is welcome. You leave the film feeling uneasy, and not because of fear, but because there is no resolution to tie everything up nice and neat; nothing to assuage the fact that you just spent 10 dollars and 2 hours of your life watching a family be destroyed for no reason.
What I don't understand is why, 10 years later, Haneke decided to make an almost shot-for-shot remake. In the US version, the characters speak English, and the actors playing them are well-known. I suppose by using A-listers such as Naomi Watts and Tim Roth, Haneke makes a nod to Hollywood that helps drive the point home to American audiences, which is important if this film is to succeed in the box office. I appreciate that the redux was just as difficult to watch as the original, because if it weren't the entire essense of the film would be compromised. The new version is just as powerful as the old, and for this I am grateful. My hope is that some of the people who may have been tricked into seeing this, thinking it to be just another Hollywood thriller, actually come out thinking a little more about the content of their entertainment.

New M83!

Just found out today that one of my all time favorites, Mr Anthony Gonzalez, aka M83 is releasing a new album in April. While I enjoyed his last album, the ambient Digital Shades Vol 1, I couldn't help but feel like something was missing. Where are the epic drum kits? Where are the crescendoing, sweeping synth lines? Where is the catharsis that makes M83 such a satisfying listen? One minute into listening to the 9 minute long first single Couleurs, I found them. The new album Saturdays = Youth is, according to his Myspace, an homage to his teenage years and the path of self-discovery on which he embarked upon during that time. A youthful, dancy, more playful M83? Yes, please.

If the first single is any indication, this could get pretty serious.

M83 - Couleurs

The Trials of Van Occupanther

Every so often a favorite album of mine seems to come out of nowhere, and the Trials of Van Occupanther is a prime example. With modern storytelling lyricism and a 70's folk rock feel, Midlake creates a wholly relatable concept album (rare!) that tells the story of a fictional character apparantly inspired by the Oregon Trail computer game. The album as a whole here is greater than the sum of its individual songs, but check out the opening track Roscoe to get a pretty good taste.

Midlake - Roscoe

DJ Res Winter Mix

What started out as a silly Christmas gift to my friends became something I'm fairly proud of. All the songs involved have had some kind of significance to me over the past few months, hence the erratic selection. Can't say I expected the kind of maniacal joy I got mixing things like Daft Punk and Linda Ronstadt, but it sure was fun.

Enjoy

DJ Res - Winter Mix '08

New Justice Mix

Word on the street is that this is the mix that Justice submitted and got rejected by the Fabric Live team. I don't blame them. It shows promise with the Goblin sample (the same one that became their hit Phantom) mixed in with the cinematic string selection in the beginning, but the mix never seems to pay off. I'm a little disappointed.

Listen for yourself:

http://www.urb.com/podcasts/