The moment I cast my eyes on the horse toiling through the storm, and my ears embraced the haunting score, I knew that something significant awaited me. I was completely spellbound by the beauty and ferocity of the images on the screen, and I felt myself floating side by side with the rhythmical motions of the camera. This scene alone would have been a profound experience, but what followed made the movie more than profound; a revelation.
Oddly I had never seen a film by Bela Tarr before The Turin Horse, as I have enjoyed films by Tarkovsky, Trier, Malick, Dreyer and many more. I knew his name, but had evidently missed out on one of the few true auteurs alive today. However, this made the two and a half hours even more compelling. Once again, I was reminded that the less information you have of a movie you are going to see, the greater the experience will become.
And what an experience it was! When the horse refuses to eat, and you realize that the relentless storm engulfing the house will never end, your heart starts to race, as you mentally prepare yourself for a journey towards a desperate end. You slowly glide, circle, zoom, stop and wonder, hand in hand with a cinematographer, who conjures up an endless series of deeply poetic black and white images, transcending space and time. Together with the father and daughter, you sit in silence and wait. And as the flames slowly die out, you drift into darkness; the final destination.
Oddly I had never seen a film by Bela Tarr before The Turin Horse, as I have enjoyed films by Tarkovsky, Trier, Malick, Dreyer and many more. I knew his name, but had evidently missed out on one of the few true auteurs alive today. However, this made the two and a half hours even more compelling. Once again, I was reminded that the less information you have of a movie you are going to see, the greater the experience will become.
And what an experience it was! When the horse refuses to eat, and you realize that the relentless storm engulfing the house will never end, your heart starts to race, as you mentally prepare yourself for a journey towards a desperate end. You slowly glide, circle, zoom, stop and wonder, hand in hand with a cinematographer, who conjures up an endless series of deeply poetic black and white images, transcending space and time. Together with the father and daughter, you sit in silence and wait. And as the flames slowly die out, you drift into darkness; the final destination.