today I watched Time of the Wolf (8/10) by Michael Haneke (Funny Games) for the first time. I'm currently obsessed with Michael Haneke.. He is the filmmaker I've been waiting for. His films are sort of a critique on Hollywood cinema. He hates the spoon feeding method of story telling (as do I).
His films are very minimal, uses very few shots for a scene, but they're all incredibly powerful. He excludes all the little details that tie the give the story to you. This gives the viewer freedom to figure out the story for themselves, which is more engaging in my opinion.
Some people would probably be bored with the slow pace but I find it mesmerizing. He makes films the way I think they should be made. It's a backlash to the Mtv generation of media. But it's not like a regression to old filmmaking, its innovation, progression to a newer style of cinema.
All of his movies are also critiques on the way violence is portrayed in the media. For example in Funny Games, we don't see much of the violence and terror but instead are focused in on the characters reactions and leave the rest to the imagination, which really makes it more disturbing.
All of his pictures are gems, I would recommend Funny Games (there is a German version and an American version, the American version is pretty much a shot by shot recreation for an American audience with great actors like Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, and Naomi Watts.) The White Ribbon is his newest, and the Piano Teacher is highly acclaimed.
