Code Unknown
This is my third Haneke movie, after The Piano Teacher and Funny Games. They've all been great so far. This one seems to be the epitome of the multiple-characters'-narrative-threads-weaving-together-via-editing style – something that culminated in the dumbed-down-for-idiot-America Crash. Code Unknown is much more subtle and is about the breakdown of communication between different societies or even different social levels in one society. One thread follows and semi-famous French actress and her boyfriend's brother, another is about a poor family that immigrated from Africa, and the other is about a lady who leaves her family in war-torn Eastern Europe to beg on the streets of Paris. All three start together in the opening scene of the movie and the connections unravels from there,
Haneke uses long shots – some nearly 10 minutes. So between this and the editing, it's a pretty stylish movie. He also seems to just present ideas, questions, and context rather than say, "Here's what I think about this issue." So after the movie I had a bit of a "so what" feeling, but after thinking about it more, it all came together. I'm definitely going to watch this again; it seems to be one of those movies that has a bigger impact the second time.
