BELA TARR

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB.  

Original title:  Karhozat

Hungary, 1988.  Hungarian Film Institute, Hungarian Television, Mokép.  Screenplay by Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Bela Tarr.  Cinematography by Gabor Medvigy.  Produced by Jozsef Marx.  Music by Mihaly Vig.  Production Design by Gyula Pauer.  Costume Design by Gyula Pauer.  Film Editing by Agnes Hranitzky.  

Visionary filmmaker Bela Tarr applies his languid, seemingly formless style to a story of frustrated love.  Amid its beautifully shot monochrome ruminations is the tale of a fraught love affair between a man and a woman, his anger at not being happy in love periodically interrupted by a wise, angel-on-earth type who spouts poetic, scriptural wisdom at him.  It’s a Rorschach test of a movie, the sort of thing that will mean something different to everyone who watches it, but despite a very calm pace (Tarr always strikes me as the man who finds Tarkovsky exasperatingly hasty), it’s not boring, but put on your patient hat and be prepared for some capital-A Arthouse stuff anyway.

European Film Award Nomination:  Best Young Film

Toronto International Film Festival:  1988