Haneke is one rare filmmaker who has an innate ability to create musical tone and atmosphere with NO MUSIC! He does it out of the length of his scene takes, and the removal of musical sound as a manipulative mood device. He's truly amazing. In my opinion he is the only amoral film artist out there (not that we need any, that's for sure). All of his works are difficult not because of how an audience could interpret the morality of the work (whether it is good intentioned or bad intentioned), but because of an indifference that he perpetuates towards how he wants his audience to feel. He is one of a kind. I was introduced to his work by a sculptor who handed me, 'Benny's Video.' From that film on, his work remained consistent. I met Haneke at the Angelica Film Center a few years ago, and he was more happy to quietly read his newspaper in the lobby than to go inside and see any film playing that day... he was dead calm - like his films. bye.
