Funny Games 1997  N/R, 108 min.
Genre: Foreign / Horror
Director: Michael Haneke
Cast: Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Muhe, Arno Frisch, Frank Giering, Stefan Clapczynski, Doris Kunstmann, Christoph Bantzer, Wolfgang Gluck, Susanne Meneghel, Monika Zallinger
A well-to-do family heads for their lakeside resort home. Their vacation takes a quick turn for the worse when they are taken hostage in their home by a pair of young men. Gruesome torture "games" take place in this sadistic, yet realistic, story. The acts of violence are all off-camera.
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La Pianiste 2001  N/R, 130 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
aka: The Piano Teacher
Director: Michael Haneke
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Annie Girardot, Benoit Magimel, Susanne Lothar, Udo Samel, Anna Sigalevitch, Cornelia Kondgen, Thomas Weinhappel, Georg Friedrich, Philipp Heiss
Based on Elfriede Jelinek's novel, the story revolves around a middle-aged piano teacher (Isabelle Huppert) who is dominated by her mother (Annie Girardot), has a masochistic sexual relationship with one student (Benoit Magimel), and seems determined her students do not surpass her musical expertise.
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The Reader 2008 R, 123 min.
Genre: Drama / Thriller / Romance
Director: Stephen Daldry
Cast: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, David Kross, Jeanette Hain, Susanne Lothar, Alissa Wilms, Forian Bartholomai, Friederike Becht, Matthias Habich, Frieder Venus, Marie-Anne Fliegel, Rainer Sellien, Hendrik Arnst
Based on Bernard Schlink's novel, this story begins in post-war Germany with the forbidden romance between 15-year-old Michael Berg (David Kross) and 30-ish Hanna (Kate Winslet) that develops when Michael reads stories to her. One day, Hanna vanishes, but the two reunite eight years later in 1966 when Michael (now played by Ralph Fiennes) is a law student and finds Hanna as a defendant in a court case. She is on trial for serving as a guard at Auschwitz where she condemned inmates to death. Michael has evidence that could change the verdict in Hanna's case, but will he present it or simply remain silent? Winslet won an Academy Award for Best Actress. The film also received four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Director.
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| 1. Funny Games (1997)
2. La Pianiste (2001)
aka: The Piano Teacher
3. The Reader (2008)
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