By: Claudio “Ciao Bella” Cortés 

Is there anything more 2020 than a film about a pair of strangers completely ruining the lives of hyper privileged yuppies in their gated lakehouse community? In 1997 Austrian writer and director Michael Heineke explored the notion of eat the rich, but was apparently never told to not play with his food. It will some as no surprise to anyone that 23 years ago the problem of social stratification existed, the gap between the haves and have nots existed, just as few people chose to acknowledge it because the global economy of the booming 90s made it easy to hide from. In this deutschmark drenched environment Heineke chose to unleash an in your face uncomfortable 1 hour and 51 minutes of forced acknowledgement of privilege. Ten years later Heineke remade this film shot for shot, but for an American audience. The remake fell on deaf ears in 2007, more than likely because the country was busy mainlining cheap mortgages and spending money that they didn’t have to acknowledge that there was even a problem, or that a problem could ever exist….and then 2008 exploded and americans were forced to watch their subdivisions empty and McMansions and hummers turn into graveyards to excess.  

Today’s pick is Funny Games, a film made in 1997 for 2020. When a family goes to their lakehouse for a much needed getaway they are met by two creepy young men who then force them to acknowledge their privilege by forcing them to partake in their cruel and unusual games. 

You can watch the original 1997 Funny Games at the Criterion channel or rent the 2007 shot for shot remake by the same director on Amazon Prime 

The musical pairing for today’s film is a danceable ear worm that will find its way into your head and stay theer Ciao Bella by Railex Beatz, if you want to know why this makes sense, watch the movie first. 

Keep up with the playlist as it builds Here

What did you think of Funny Games? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook.