nwFilmCenter

Harmonic Resistance: The Films of Béla Tarr

Although little known to American audiences outside of the art/film festival realm, Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr is one of the most innovative and accomplished auteurs working in cinema today. Tarr's films, set in contemporary Hungary, move toward metaphysical explorations of human conditions and states of mind that transcend any particular environment. Specificity leads to ambiguity, chaos to order, and order to disaster—but all are held together by an accomplished cinematic style marked by long takes, minimal dialogue, intricate camera movements, haunting black and white images and the occasional discordant, yet strangely beautiful, music of Mihály Vig. In his films, the various structural elements, including location and time, are harmonized according to principles of music and dance, invoking the drama and passion of life from Tarr's singular, mordant perspective. Without discernable dreams, Tarr's characters struggle to find their way in the grim world and as they do demand much from an adventurous viewer. Yet along with the bleak view and formalist aesthetic lies a gallows humor and sense of exhilaration that is transcendant. We are please to present imported prints of DAMNATION and SATANTANGO, not in distribution in the US, and thank Adam Sekuler of Northwest Film Forum and Katalin Vadja of Magyar Filmunio, Budapest, for arranging their availability for these rare screenings.

Sun, Nov 19, 2006 at 7 PM Thu, Nov 23, 2006 at 7 PM	DAMNATION DIRECTOR: BÉLA TARR HUNGARY "The film is about the landscape, the elements, and nature, about a unique world in which nothing remains."—BT. "DAMNATION [was] one of Susan Sontag's favorite films and, with its willful violation of cinematic norms, it's easy to see why. [M]any of the hallmarks of [Antonioni and Tarkovsky's] relentless black and white style and vision—lots of rain, fog, and stray dogs; murky and decaying bars; artfully composed long takes made up of very slow and almost continuous camera movements, off screen mechanical noises—are so forcefully present here that one might argue that the film makes a fetish of gloom. The rather bare story line in the middle of this—a reclusive loner is hopelessly in love with a cabaret singer, hopes to find salvation in her, and gets her husband involved in a smuggling scheme so he can spend some time with her—seems almost secondary to the formal beauty of Tarr's spellbinding arabesque around the dingiest of all possible industrial outposts. The near miracle is that something so compulsively watchable can be made out of a setting and society that seem so depressive and petrified."—Jonathan Rosenbaum, CHICAGO READER. ( 119 min ) ^ Top
Sat, Nov 25, 2006 at 1 PM Sun, Nov 26, 2006 at 1 PM	SÁTÁNTANGÓ DIRECTOR: BÉLA TARR HUNGARY/GERMANY/SWITZERLAND Considered by many to be Tarr's masterpiece and a legendary cinematic landmark, SÁTÁNTANGÓ has been hailed as a definitive statement on the end of Communism in Eastern Europe. Over seven hours long, Tarr's epic maps the crumbling of a small, failed collective farm into dissolution and betrayal. Believing that there are monies owed them, the villagers wait for their due, drinking heavily in the rain and gloom and some conspiring to leave with more than their fair share. Unfolding in twelve chapters, Tarr has said that the film's form was inspired by the tango—six steps forward, six back—an idea also reflected in the overlaps of the time scheme. Defending the film's length he has said: "You can't read 'War and Peace'in one sitting," and indeed, you are not so much as watching a film as taking an extended, sarcastic journey to the village of Melancholia for close consideration of the horror and humor of the human condition. "Devastating, enthralling for every minute of its seven hours. I'd be glad to see it every year for the rest of my life."—Susan Sontag. "A film by turns funny, bleak and moving. . . an epic work by one of the world's most impressive filmmakers"— Dimitri Eipides, TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL. ( 435 min ) 435 mins. total; Part I, 300 mins.;Part II, 135 THE FILM WILL SCREEN EACH DAY IN TWO PARTS, WITH A 15 MINUTE INTERMISSION IN PART I AND A 60-MINUTE DINNER BREAK BETWEEN PARTS I & II. SPECIAL SCREENING ADMISSION: $12 GENERAL; $10 ART MUSEUM MEMBERS, SILVER SCREEN CLUB AND STUDENTS. YOU MAY SEE PART I SATURDAY AND RETURN SUNDAY FOR PART II. The Park Bistro (615 SW Park Ave) is proud to sponsor the 60 minute dinner break between Parts 1 & 2 of Satantango. On both Saturday and Sunday, diners will receive a special 15% discount off of any purchase at the restaurant. Dinner and a movie-enjoy! ^ Top
Wed, Nov 29, 2006 at 7 PM Thu, Nov 30, 2006 at 7 PM	WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES DIRECTOR: BÉLA TARR HUNGARY Set in the dismal rural world of DAMNATION and SÁTÁNTANGÓ, WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES is a gothic exploration of the precarious boundaries between civilization and barbarism. Turning to a book that bears the beautiful title "The Melancholy of Resistance," Tarr traverses the territory of empty lives, alcoholic evenings and muddy roads in a desolate Hungarian village. When a circus comes to town, a strangely inactive, divided, and restless population awaits the promise of two bizarre attractions—a magnificent stuffed whale and the mysterious,"Prince," possessor of magnetic powers. But as hopes are dashed frustration takes hold and an uneasy day of reckoning comes. "I have been divinely influenced by Bela Tarr (GERRY, ELEPHANT). . .he is one of the few genuinely visionary filmmakers."—Gus Van Sant. With Lars Rudolph, Peter Fitz and Hanna Schygulla. ( 145 min ) ^ Top