"I won the what?"

I didn't get I'm Not There. I wanted to get it. I wanted to love it. Alas. I also didn't think Cate Blanchett deserved to win the Central Ohio Film Critics Association's award for Best Supporting Actress. (Seriously. This is a real association. I can just see her face.) Or that she deserved an Oscar nomination either - why, because she played a man? Whatever.

In other movie news, I don't normally go for movies about family kidnappings that include torture and murder, but Funny Games had Tim Roth and it's hard for me to turn down a Tim Roth movie. Overall it was your typical family kidnapping that included torture and murder, but it didn't have the typical gratuitous violence. Each scene in the film was meticulous, methodical and deliberate. (Those Europeans sure do make fine films.) Most interestingly, there are a few scenes where they break the fourth wall by talking to the audience. I don't think I've seen that in a film since Ferris Bueller, and I've definitely never seen it done in a serious film. The first time Michael Pitt turned to the camera and asked a question I actually felt like he had caught me being a voyeur in his heinous game. He can be creepy as it is,* but this creeped me the hell out, and that's what made me love this film.

________________
* Seriously, Hollywood! Can this boy please have more roles where he isn't a complete freak? He has so much potential, as evidenced in Hedwig and Dawson's Creek (yeah, I went there, and yeah, I actually mean that). I'm going to write his agent.