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3 articles from 2008

16 March 2008 6:35 PM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Naomi Watts' harrowing new film Funny Games was made all the more traumatic for the actress because she actually knows of two people who were held hostage in their own homes.

The King Kong star plays an upperclass wife and mother who is tormented and tortured by psychotic home invaders in the ultraviolent film, which also stars Tim Roth and Michael Pitt.

And it wasn't so fictional for her.

She explains, "I know two people quite well who've been held hostage in their home. It does happen and it's really freaky - but it's not always as nightmarish as this, thank God.

"One of them lived in Beverly Hills, in a rich neighbourhood."

Watts accepts the Michael Haneke remake is tough to watch - but she hopes film fans come away from the movie with a new hatred for violent films.

She adds, "We are so addicted to violence. We go to the cinema and we are numbed by someone's brains hitting the wall because that is a bad guy that just lost his brains so we feel it's Ok.

"In fact not only do we feel it's Ok, we cheer it on because we are so pleased.

"Haneke is saying this violence is inexcusable and it's grotesque and the fact that you never actually see it in this film makes it even more brutal and more authentic and more powerful.

"Hopefully next time we go to the cinema we're more mindful of that... I felt disgusting after seeing Funny Games, but I still liked that I walked away and wanted to discuss it."

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12 March 2008 6:27 PM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Actor Michael Pitt was so disturbed by his performance in ultra-violent new movie Funny Games he begged his mother not to see it.

The Village star plays one half of a psycho double act which abuses and torments a husband and wife, played by Tim Roth and Naomi Watts, and their child in a remote holiday cabin.

And Pitt admits even he struggles to watch his demented performance.

He says, "I didn't want my mom to see the movie. It would be really difficult for a mother to watch.

"It's a pretty hard movie to watch and I think I've put her through enough. I was in it and it still really affected me when I saw it. It's really good but it's really horrible."

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10 March 2008 1:57 PM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Neil Pedley

This week, our cup runneth over with a "Karate Kid" knockoff, a shot-for-shot remake and more documentaries than Michael Moore can shake an overpriced hot dog at.

"Blind Mountain"

The recipient of plenty of acclaim at last year's Cannes Film Festival, director Li Yang has a casual yet immediate style that's been touted as something of a Chinese answer to Ken Loach. "Blind Mountain" offers an uncomfortable but powerful indictment of China's one child policy and the sex trade that has flourished under it. The film follows the desperate struggle of a young woman who accepts a job in a remote mountain village, only to discover that she has unwittingly been sold into marriage as a slave.

Opens in New York.

"Doomsday"

Before anyone had heard of Angelina Jolie, model-turned-actress Rhona Mitra was the original face of "Tomb Raider"'s Lara Croft. Ten years later, she's traded

Neil Pedley

3 articles from 2008