"Without light in the darkness you cannot make movies."
August 10, 2024 6:05 PM Subscribe
'My slogan is very simple: no education, just liberation!’ – Béla Tarr on how film can fight the political right in Hungary.'
Two Films by Béla Tarr. 'Werckmeister Harmonies' (2000)
and 'The Turin Horse' (2011).
CW (violence)
CW (violence)
Some of Tarr's films are based on the work of László Krasznahorkai. Now, his fiction...well...not funny. At all.Disagree.
posted by kickingtheground at 7:44 PM on August 10 [2 favorites]
My awareness of Tarr's work comes by way of the musical act Wrekmeister Harmonies that took their name in reference to the film - a swirling mix of sensitive and mournful string instrumentation, drone, building tension and bursting energy, and an absolute wonder to see live.
posted by FatherDagon at 9:57 PM on August 10 [2 favorites]
posted by FatherDagon at 9:57 PM on August 10 [2 favorites]
I think it was DirtyOldTown who got me into Tarr by posting some of his movies on Fanfare. Love this stuff.
posted by Literaryhero at 1:52 AM on August 11 [1 favorite]
posted by Literaryhero at 1:52 AM on August 11 [1 favorite]
So is his work a warning about the threat of fascism?
Tarr’s reply is thoughtful: “It is not only about fascism – it’s about all populism. You know, this is the difference between Hungary and the UK. Hungary is still proud of this shit. It was a nightmare and it is still a nightmare. Unbelievable in this 21st century. To see the people dependent on it is a real hell. This is why I am fortunately working abroad, working with young people between 20 and 30.”
I wondered if they were being schooled in long takes and melancholy monochrome? His voice booms out of the laptop darkness: “No! It is forbidden to follow my style! They have to pose their own questions. They have to push themselves.”
The Apocalyptic Filmmaker that Haunts My Soul :P
> the presence of humor in seemingly existentially bleak works
Unveiling the Abyss: The Profound Depths of Sartre's "No Exit" :P
-Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
-Closet Land full movie with english subtitle
-In Retrospect: Naked
-John Sayles – Nora Ephron
posted by kliuless at 2:34 AM on August 11 [5 favorites]
Tarr’s reply is thoughtful: “It is not only about fascism – it’s about all populism. You know, this is the difference between Hungary and the UK. Hungary is still proud of this shit. It was a nightmare and it is still a nightmare. Unbelievable in this 21st century. To see the people dependent on it is a real hell. This is why I am fortunately working abroad, working with young people between 20 and 30.”
I wondered if they were being schooled in long takes and melancholy monochrome? His voice booms out of the laptop darkness: “No! It is forbidden to follow my style! They have to pose their own questions. They have to push themselves.”
The Apocalyptic Filmmaker that Haunts My Soul :P
> the presence of humor in seemingly existentially bleak works
Unveiling the Abyss: The Profound Depths of Sartre's "No Exit" :P
-Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
-Closet Land full movie with english subtitle
-In Retrospect: Naked
-John Sayles – Nora Ephron
posted by kliuless at 2:34 AM on August 11 [5 favorites]
Some of Tarr's films are based on the work of László Krasznahorkai. Now, his fiction...well...not funny. At all.
Disagree.
Gotcha, kickingtheground. Humor is even more in the eye of the beholder than is beauty.
Not remembering whether or not I had seen The Turin Horse with my wife, I asked her. She said, "Is that the one with the guy beating the horse?" Yes. It turns out that I must have watched it by myself. She didn't watch it after all. Why? "Too much horse-beating."
posted by kozad at 6:45 AM on August 11
Disagree.
Gotcha, kickingtheground. Humor is even more in the eye of the beholder than is beauty.
Not remembering whether or not I had seen The Turin Horse with my wife, I asked her. She said, "Is that the one with the guy beating the horse?" Yes. It turns out that I must have watched it by myself. She didn't watch it after all. Why? "Too much horse-beating."
posted by kozad at 6:45 AM on August 11
Thanks to this post, I'll be making my once-every-decade visit to London a couple of years early. Can't make it for the marathon Sátántangó show in the BFI IMAX this Saturday, unfortunately, but should be able to get to five of the others. Lovely stuff.
posted by ceiriog at 6:37 AM on August 12
posted by ceiriog at 6:37 AM on August 12
Béla Tarr is indeed one of my very favorite filmmakers and someone I have promoted when I could on FanFare.
If you have a Region B (UK) or Region-Free Blu Ray Player, Curzon has just announced pre-orders on a complete Béla Tarr boxset. It will include the aforementioned Werckmeister Harmonies, The Turin Horse, and Sátántangó, but also his hard-to-find early social realist films The Family Nest, The Outsider, and The Prefab People, as well as Autumn Almanac, Damnation, and The Man from London.
I am still between jobs, so much of my last week on eBay, frantically listing and selling my existing copies of Tarr films, as well as whatever else I could spare, scrambling to cobble together the money needed to pre-order my copy. (Just crossed the line!)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:32 AM on August 12 [2 favorites]
If you have a Region B (UK) or Region-Free Blu Ray Player, Curzon has just announced pre-orders on a complete Béla Tarr boxset. It will include the aforementioned Werckmeister Harmonies, The Turin Horse, and Sátántangó, but also his hard-to-find early social realist films The Family Nest, The Outsider, and The Prefab People, as well as Autumn Almanac, Damnation, and The Man from London.
I am still between jobs, so much of my last week on eBay, frantically listing and selling my existing copies of Tarr films, as well as whatever else I could spare, scrambling to cobble together the money needed to pre-order my copy. (Just crossed the line!)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:32 AM on August 12 [2 favorites]
Back to actually watching/discussing the films though, Tarr absolutely does a lot of comedy, but it's very Eastern European in tone. It's very bleak, very much gallows humor.
My favorite thing about his films is how, in his extreme extended takes, you are subtly invited to view frames within a frame. In the country inn scene in Sátántangó for instance, mini-vignettes set themselves up over and over within the single static shot. It's marvelous.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:37 AM on August 12
My favorite thing about his films is how, in his extreme extended takes, you are subtly invited to view frames within a frame. In the country inn scene in Sátántangó for instance, mini-vignettes set themselves up over and over within the single static shot. It's marvelous.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:37 AM on August 12
I should add that the "complete" Tarr boxset (and I forgot to share the link! Curzon sets are gorgeous) only lists his theatrical films. I'm hoping it will have some/all of his shorts as well and maybe even his condensed TV adaptation of Macbeth.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:49 AM on August 12 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:49 AM on August 12 [1 favorite]
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Some of Tarr's films are based on the work of László Krasznahorkai. Now, his fiction...well...not funny. At all.
This is all subjective AF, and I've only read/seen a few works of each artist. But the presence of humor in seemingly existentially bleak works is really important to me. I don't know if Ionesco laughed with his work as I did, but I know Kafka did!
posted by kozad at 7:32 PM on August 10 [2 favorites]