Triple Bills/Unoffical Trilogies

Trilogies work for films. There is nothing more satisfying than having a complete set of three films which have a beginning, middle, and an end, and in each part of that trilogy you've got a satisfying beginning, middle and end as well. It's kinda cyclical, and I'm sure there's some psychological study somewhere about how humans enjoy that resolute feeling of completion, but I don't know. I just enjoy a good triple bill when the time arises.

I've always held the idea that often the triple bills and unofficial trilogies are the best ones; by that I mean, the films that are in no way linked but still work when watched together in order. The fact that I call these unofficial trilogies is that the films involved share themes, or ideas, or deliver the same kind of message/emotional impact. I've always held three films in that kind of regard, and they are;

Martyrs, from 2008

Funny Games, from 1997 or 2007 (personally I think both versions are as good as each other)

Man Bites Dog, from 1992

Those three films are in no way linked, other than that they can all be coined "horror" in a pretty loose sense of the word, they are all certainly extreme, and Funny Games and Man Bites Dog are satirical, ish.

But I always link these three films in my head because they use the extreme content as a platform for some kind of deeper and profound message.

Martyrs piles a load of gruelling and horrible scenes one after the other, but then does a complete u-turn in the final moments and becomes a tragic, oddly hopeful treatise on the nature of death and the afterlife; the final two shots are impossible to forget. It transcends the material in the only, and best, way it could have ever done, and will leave you emotionally reeling. It's truly stunning.

Funny Games is a dark home-invasion film that's self-aware, but uses the familiar tropes of a horror film and makes it legitimately horrific. An unparalleled and relentless focus is placed on the suffering of the family at the hands of the nameless, sadistic captors, and rewatching the film makes you realise that each line, action, everything means something, and the film turns into a thought-provoking statement on the nature of screen violence and our enjoyment of it- it almost turns into an anti-film film. Divisive, but in my opinion very clever.

Then, Man Bites Dog is a superb faux-documentary which challenges audience implication with screen violence as the documentary makers, stumped for a subject, follow a charming yet sickening serial killer (much like how the media condenses violence and horror for mass consumption?), and become further embroiled in his killings and disposal of bodies, even participating at later points. The film works by both being very darkly funny, and also providing a thought point; how much does the media relish violence? How much are we taken in by? Do we end up enjoying it? Etc.

And that's that. As you can see, those three are "message" films, which hide behind the facade of a measly horror film. All three are masterpieces, and personal favourites of mine, that I hold pretty close. And they work as a normal trilogy might do, by sharing certain themes, and having those similarities in terms of transcending genre, despite being different individual films.

I guess this whole post is one big tangent, but hey. I've always found it interesting how cinema can share themes, shots, styles, things like that, and the way that no piece of cinema is truly original, and I guess you can file this whole thought-piece under that.

(as a side-point, I do think that Funny Games the remake is as valid as as the original, because if you're watching the film for the message, then the message is always going to be slightly better delivered in your native language- that's my justification for it anyhow. I love both versions at the end of the day)