(M) 71 Fragments / (M) Benny's Video
Grades: B

Michael Haneke (director of Cache, Funny Games, and The Piano Teacher) brings you more horror of human nature. King Video (the distributor of Haneke's DVD's) includes twenty minute interviews with the director about the film you have just watched and these interviews really make his movies come alive.

In 71 Fragments you watch what I assume to be 71 different scenes about a couple of characters. Most shots are static shots, no camera movement. Within the screen you watch the detachment of humans amongst each other. The conclusion of the film ends with a random act of senseless violence. Within the film scenes from news broadcasts are cut in, mainly dealing with the senseless wars and nature of man. Haneke says his films are to point a finger at the evils of human nature to inspire change. He does a pretty good job at this.

In Benny's Video you have a child who lives his life in solitude watching movies and videotaping what goes on outside his window, in his room, and wherever he goes. He lives his reality through video which creates a detachment from reality, as it is something viewed and not something lived. While on vacation he videotapes the slaughtering of a pig. Intrigued by this he ends up killing a girl out of curiosity. He has to hide the body but later confesses to his parents what he has done. The parents are then faced with a moral question of whether to protect their child they love or turn him in. They choose to protect their son. What the son does at the end is infuriating to me, but I am sure his actions again were "just to see what would happen".


(M) Shall We Dance?
Grade: A

I think most people on here have seen this movie. So, I'll just say that this movie was great. I laughed soooooo much during it. The characters were awesome. I loved using dance to explore emotions. One of my favorite moments was when the main character was telling the beautiful dance instructor that he was married at 28, had a kid by 30, and bought the house he wanted at 40. He did what you would expect to be the "fulfilling" things in life and yet was left empty. Truly a gem of a film.