Have you ever locked yourself in a room and read a long and endless poem.
Every minute is thunderous. Yes, every movement and stagnation of the long lens is soaked in continuous poetry. He shoots the disintegration of ideals, slaughter and deception, cruelty and redemption. Some ask us to express indignation, others to repent, and still others to share in the infinite sorrow for the victims of Utopia. Béla Tarr was apparently more restrained and asked only for some time. Follow his lens through that long and muddy road.
This is not a formalist work, on the contrary, it is the last historical materialist cinematic masterpiece. Materials and feelings alternate, the stubborn bells ring, the drunkard's repeated words, the wine glass being filled and drained, the accordion, the rhythm of the tango
and the never-ending sound of rain on the plains of Hungary. The intensification of sensation is not conscious as in Tarkovsky or Sokolov: it shakes us in the spiritual world. The bell in the ghostly church was rung by a fool. Long establishing shots and slow camera movements do not draw us into any spiritual world. They keep us firmly in the material reality of a story familiar to Hungarian film audiences: the disintegration of a rural cooperative, a scam about a better life, and a group of officials who have lost their faith.
When Béla Tarr was asked to elaborate, he said: "Early on, I noticed the fact that when the camera is filming and the whole scene is in motion, everyone starts breathing in the same rhythm: actors, crew members, cameramen, everyone. You become engrossed in the film. This is very important, it creates a special tension, a special tremor. It's something you can feel on the screen. You become a part of it."
"I watched the movie again a month ago, and to be honest, I didn't have to change a single shot. If you want to see whether something is good or bad, twenty-five years is enough time. Too many movies have disappeared. They are like toilet paper: you use it and then throw it away. That's the way the market works. Time is very cruel, and only certain movies survive."
Event: Satantango Screening
Time: 2023/9/3 (Sunday) 13:00-18:00, half-hour meal, screening from 18:30-21:00, followed by joint discussion
Location: Wangjing, Beijing, 200 meters away from Exit C of Futong Subway Station (the specific location will be informed after registration)
Ticket: 20 yuan (free drink)
Detailed consultation: Gan (WuWoWang2)