I watched the surreal Italian historical comedy THE FIVE DAYS, about the five day war in Milan that sent the Austrians packing and led to the eventual unification of what we call "Italy" today. It was kind of like A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE if Roberto Begnini had set it in Italy and made it back in 1975 (he's not in it, by the way).
I also finally set aside time (after nearly a decade) to watch a film called FUNNY GAMES. It's a deceptively titled, nasty, excellent gut-churner without having particularly graphic violence (something I have no qualms about I can appreciate cheap shock and more subtle shocks as well). Average cinema goers will talk a talk about how films like SILENCE OF THE LAMBS disturbed them, but if that is true, then FUNNY GAMES will VIOLATE them - and without anything particularly graphic. Really. I can't emphasize that enough. It even goes so far as to indict the viewer as a participant in what transpires within the film - and yet it's actual on-screen mayhem is only barely an "R". PG Hollywood family fare like INDIANA JONES & THE TEMPLE OF DOOM was far more graphic, actually. However the film's tight script, excellent performances, and precise direction and delivery of subject matter that could have easily been another desensitizing, predictable, glamor-filled Hollywood "thriller" (which its inevitable Hollywood remake will be, no doubt) is perhaps one of the most chilling films to come out of the nineties.
If I go too much into the plot it would ruin the film. It's like the sixth sense and you have to watch it and see the little clues that lead you to realize just what was going on in the first reel. Once the unfortunate events unfold it's one of those rare films that have viewers realizing, "oh shit, I should have known this was going to happen!"
If you can handle spoilers and really want to know more about it, PM me and I'll tell you what the full plot is, but the film was released in 1997 and directed by Austrian director Michael Haneke. It's not a pretentious, droll Euro "art" film. This baby is pure horror. No supernatural crap. No Hollywood happy Jason crap. No Hannibal Lecter crap. Brutal stuff and its violence is 95% psychological. I only regret letting the DVD get lost in the shuffle (I bought it in 1998 and kind of just forgot about it until I started to go through my belongings that I'm getting ready to sell off).
I guess an easy way to encapsulate the film without spoiling it is to say that this film is like a cousin to the Henry Rollins spoken word "Family Man." Obscure reference, I know, but if you get that reference you'll know what FUNNY GAMES has in store.