Other Films That Break The 4th Wall - Funny Games (1998) Discussion

[–] CasseroleWorshipper 14 years ago

jay and silent bob strike back comes to mind - one of the characters asks "who would pay money to see a jay and silent bob movie?" and they all simultaneously look at the camera towards the audience.
I play cards with J.D. Shelnut, chief of PO-lice! So kiss my ass, you old bastard!

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[–] sdietrich719 14 years ago

I wish people wouldn't take things so damn literal. I know what you mean by this, and here are a few other examples:

Goodfellas
Fight Club
Harold and Maude
Ed Wood
Kick-Ass (of course, this was made after this thread was started)
Kill Bill

There are many others, but these are just a few

I hate IMDb sometimes! They are never any when you need it.

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[–] Joseph_J_Wood 14 years ago

i always liked the part in A Clockwork Orange, where the writer is on the ground and they are about to rape his wife. Alex leans down to the writer and the camera becomes his point of view. then he says to the camera "viddy well" or something (if you haven't seen or read it that's like his slang for "watch this"). the reason i always like that part especially is that while he's telling the writer character to watch what he's about to do to the woman, he's also saying it right into the camera, right to the audience. i'm sure this is deliberately breaking the fourth wall and i'm sure it was meant to be sort of questionable at the same time

also Irreversable. kind of going with what Blackadder was saying but also going with what the OP was asking, by editing the film backwards Noe kind of breaks the fourth wall in a sense

The Holy Mountain is a good call, I haven't watched that in a while. I heard that all the visible squibs and stuff were deliberate too

A Scanner Darkly fast forwards itself now and then with those lines across the screen you get when you fast forward video tape. i don't know if that would count as I always interperated it as the people were being watched by the government and you're watching them being watched

- - - -
We're gonna drink this one to Ozzie. A good man who tried to save my ass by injecting me into yours

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[–] jjrulz 14 years ago

There's a small part in "Death Proof" (or Grindhouse), where the main villain randomly looks at the camera and smiles before killing a woman.

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[–] Can_a_bitch_get_a_donut 14 years ago

Severance (another unconventional horror that breaks typical movie rules)

A couple characters are arguing about whether or not you remain alive for a few seconds after being beheaded. The guy believes it's true, the woman doesn't. Later in the movie, the guy is beheaded, his head rolls away for a few seconds, rolls to a stop... blinks... looks at the camera, and grins.

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\o/ STEVE HOLT!

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[–] shoebacca 14 years ago

Into The Wild

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[–] thejslewis 14 years ago

Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Ferris addresses the camera a few times

The Devil and Daniel Webster - the end, the devil looks around for his next victim and then stares right in to the camera and points at the audience

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[–] Maffers 14 years ago

A quite interesting example of 'breaking the fourth wall' is at the beginning of: "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Lazenby's Bond remarks: "this never happened to the other fella". Whilst not actually looking directly into the camera at the time, he is obviously referring to the previous Bond and is therefore acknowledging that we -- the audience -- are there.

Also "JCVD" has Van Damme face the camera and talk directly to us.

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[–] henrimaine 14 years ago

Breathless (A bout de souffle) with Jean Belmondo.
Breaking the Waves with Emily Watson.
Annie Hall with Woody Allen.

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[–] newbubbleboy 12 years ago

Kuffs - naff Christian Slater movie where he speaks to the camera several times.

Octopussy - a snake charmer plays the Bond theme as he walks past.

The Last Action Hero - numerous times!

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] Moscoso1967 11 years ago

Two more movies which let you know you're watching a movie and haven't been mentioned yet are "Head" and "Müllers Büro". But some TV-shows do this as well, like "Filty, Rich and Catflap".

Breaking the 4th wall and letting one know you're watching a movie aren't necessarily the same thing, as there a many movies which break the 4th wall where a character is the story teller and addresses the audience, e.g. in
"Rebecca", "Alfie", "Kind Hearts and Coronets", "Shallow Grave", "Whitnail & I" and many more...

On the other hands there are other ways of letting an audience know they're watching a movie (e.g. in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" or "Lola rennt", by either showing a film crew/part of the production process, the actors pulling out a script, showing the movie in the movie, breaking character, showing multiple endings, etc.).

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