Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
Sadly this didn’t do a whole lot for me. Perhaps I came to expect something different, but while Béla Tarr’s signature is still very much present with the long takes cinematography, it lacked the personal introspective elements and utter sense of despair and isolation that was present in Satantango and The Turin Horse. I also miss Erika Bók. While those films also had plenty of symbolism that ties into Hungary’s history with communism, here it is much more front and center, and the narrative itself doesn’t have that much to offer beside the symbolism. Satantango and The Turin Horse gave me much more on their own without heavy interpretation. Not that there isn’t anything to like here. Lars Rudolph has a screen presence not unlike Klaus Kinski, and the hospital scene was pretty powerful and a meaningful conclusive high point in the film.
Rating: 2.5