Though based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s 1958 crime novella The Pledge (which was also the source for Sean Penn’s 2001 film of the same name), György Fehér’s Twilight plays more like an existential horror film than a noir or police procedural. Indeed, the ins and outs of the investigation into the mysterious murder of a child are of little concern to Fehér, who crafts a mood piece that’s keyed to the aura of dread and despair that grips a community in the wake of this and other similar murders.
Set in a small, remote Hungarian town surrounded by vast hills and dense thickets of trees, Twilight exists in a sort of metaphorical purgatory. Throughout, the film’s spare black-and-white images, deliberate pacing, and glacial camera movements, coupled with the near-constant rumbling ambiance that dominates the soundtrack, brilliantly conjure how an unseen but ubiquitous evil haunts the townsfolk. Long tracking...
Set in a small, remote Hungarian town surrounded by vast hills and dense thickets of trees, Twilight exists in a sort of metaphorical purgatory. Throughout, the film’s spare black-and-white images, deliberate pacing, and glacial camera movements, coupled with the near-constant rumbling ambiance that dominates the soundtrack, brilliantly conjure how an unseen but ubiquitous evil haunts the townsfolk. Long tracking...
- 2/15/2024
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
Though based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s 1958 crime novella The Pledge (which was also the source for Sean Penn’s 2001 film of the same name), György Fehér’s Twilight plays more like an existential horror film than a noir or police procedural. Indeed, the ins and outs of the investigation into the mysterious murder of a child are of little concern to Fehér, who crafts a mood piece that’s keyed to the aura of dread and despair that grips a community in the wake of this and other similar murders.
Set in a small, remote Hungarian town surrounded by vast hills and dense thickets of trees, Twilight exists in a sort of metaphorical purgatory. Throughout, the film’s spare black-and-white images, deliberate pacing, and glacial camera movements, coupled with the near-constant rumbling ambiance that dominates the soundtrack, brilliantly conjure how an unseen but ubiquitous evil haunts the townsfolk. Long tracking...
Set in a small, remote Hungarian town surrounded by vast hills and dense thickets of trees, Twilight exists in a sort of metaphorical purgatory. Throughout, the film’s spare black-and-white images, deliberate pacing, and glacial camera movements, coupled with the near-constant rumbling ambiance that dominates the soundtrack, brilliantly conjure how an unseen but ubiquitous evil haunts the townsfolk. Long tracking...
- 6/20/2023
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
We here at IndieWire care deeply about animals. So much so, in fact, that we racked our brains, debated among ourselves, and got into shouting matches over the relative merits of our favorite four-legged movie characters (okay, maybe not that last part).
A few ground rules came into play when whittling down our selections. Live-action animals made the cut, as did CGI creations in live-action films; fully animated productions, however, did not (sorry, Dante from “Coco”). We’ve been blessed with many great cinematic creatures in recent years, some of whom are no longer with us. Lucky, then, that their work is immortalized onscreen.
20. Marvin, “Paterson”
There are many reasons why Jim Jarmusch’s remarkable “Paterson” shouldn’t have worked, but principal among them is its heavy reliance on an actual performance from an English Bulldog. The story of a bus-driving poet (Adam Driver) from New Jersey, the film follows...
A few ground rules came into play when whittling down our selections. Live-action animals made the cut, as did CGI creations in live-action films; fully animated productions, however, did not (sorry, Dante from “Coco”). We’ve been blessed with many great cinematic creatures in recent years, some of whom are no longer with us. Lucky, then, that their work is immortalized onscreen.
20. Marvin, “Paterson”
There are many reasons why Jim Jarmusch’s remarkable “Paterson” shouldn’t have worked, but principal among them is its heavy reliance on an actual performance from an English Bulldog. The story of a bus-driving poet (Adam Driver) from New Jersey, the film follows...
- 3/30/2018
- by Michael Nordine, Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich, Jenna Marotta, Jamie Righetti, Chris O'Falt, Anne Thompson and Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Looking back on this still-young century makes clear that 2007 was a major time for cinematic happenings — and, on the basis of this retrospective, one we’re not quite through with ten years on. One’s mind might quickly flash to a few big titles that will be represented, but it is the plurality of both festival and theatrical premieres that truly surprises: late works from old masters, debuts from filmmakers who’ve since become some of our most-respected artists, and mid-career turning points that didn’t necessarily announce themselves as such at the time. Join us as an assembled team, many of whom were coming of age that year, takes on their favorites.
Upon the release of The Man from London, one might have been hard-pressed to consider Béla Tarr and his co-director Ágnes Hranitzky genre filmmakers beyond the broad designation of “European art house cinema.” While still fitting snugly...
Upon the release of The Man from London, one might have been hard-pressed to consider Béla Tarr and his co-director Ágnes Hranitzky genre filmmakers beyond the broad designation of “European art house cinema.” While still fitting snugly...
- 1/1/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Lily Collins has joined the cast of Anthony Lucero’s next movie, which is based on his long poem The Clown. Set against the backdrop of a small traveling circus, the pic centers on a European clown and his 5-year-old daughter as they lead each other through the everyday mysteries of love, magic and loss. Pål Sverre Hagen, Holliday Grainger, Keti Mchedishvili, János Derzsi, Harry Treadaway, Stacy Martin, Nikola Djuricko, Nutsa Kukhianidze and Jean-Marc Barr…...
- 9/6/2016
- Deadline
Operating somewhere between Bergman and Tarkovsky, Béla Tarr has been a wholly original inspiration for remodernist filmmakers for his spiritually exploratory form of cinema that revels in extremely long takes and the dire desolation of humanity itself (see his 7.5 hour epic Sátántangó). With his longtime editor, Ágnes Hranitzky, Tarr co-directed what may turn out to be his final feature, the brutal, coldly intense paragon of philosophic, but to-the-point filmmaking, The Turin Horse. Pushing his craft to the bleakest edge of mankind, Tarr masterfully paints the maddening monotony and utter futility of waking up day after day in austere black in white. This is dark stuff, people. Real dark. And sadly, Tarr is said to be leaving cinema (directing) on this high, bleak note.
The film begins with a spoken word preface that tells the tale of Friedrich Nietzsche, in 1889 in Turin, Italy, observing a cab driver whipping his stubborn horse.
The film begins with a spoken word preface that tells the tale of Friedrich Nietzsche, in 1889 in Turin, Italy, observing a cab driver whipping his stubborn horse.
- 7/17/2012
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
The opening event of Béla Tarr‘s The Turin Horse may, perhaps, set up false expectations for many a viewer — set over a pitch-black screen, a coarse-grained voice-over recounts the demise of the life of Friedrich Nietzsche, which, according to the story (as well as popular belief, in some sense), was initiated by the philosopher’s lamented reaction to a cab driver’s whipping of an unresponsive horse. The incident took place on January 3, 1889, and was followed by ten years of catatonic inactivity for Nietzsche.
The most obvious reason why this introduction might tweak viewers’ expectations in the wrong direction is the presence of words. While the curtain-raiser is sustained, without imagery, by an off-screen articulation, the rest of the film — maybe ever-so-slightly ironically — is the exact opposite. It’s image-driven, with unimaginably long takes (often exceeding five minutes) and with an almost complete aversion to dialogue. Even the one...
The most obvious reason why this introduction might tweak viewers’ expectations in the wrong direction is the presence of words. While the curtain-raiser is sustained, without imagery, by an off-screen articulation, the rest of the film — maybe ever-so-slightly ironically — is the exact opposite. It’s image-driven, with unimaginably long takes (often exceeding five minutes) and with an almost complete aversion to dialogue. Even the one...
- 2/9/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Chantal Akerman (center), Almayer's Folly World Cinema Selections Almayer's Folly: Chantal Akerman loosely adapts Joseph Conrad’s novel set in Malaysia, the tragic tale of a failed European trader and his "mixed blood" daughter. Dir Chantal Akerman. Cast Stanislas Merhar, Marc Barbé, Aurora Marion, Zac Andrianasolo. Belgium/France. U.S. Premiere. Alps: Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos returns with a tale of a group offering an unusual service for grieving families: They inhabit the role of the recently deceased. Dir Yorgos Lanthimos. Scr Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou. Cast Aggeliki Papoulia, Aris Servetalis, Ariane Labed, Johnny Vekris. Greece/France. U.S. Premiere. CARRÉ Blanc: One of the strongest debuts in years, CARRÉ Blanc is a dystopian sci-fi vision of a world with limited resources and limitless cruelty. Dir/Scr Jean-Baptiste Léonetti. Cast Sami Bouajila, Julie Gayet, Jean-Pierre Andreani, Fejria Deliba, Valerie Bodson. France/Luxembourg/Russia/Belgium/Switzerland. The Day He Arrives:...
- 10/23/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Above: a similar shot as the one at the focus of this article, though from a different sequence in The Turin Horse and sans shawl.
In the third shot of Bela Tarr's newest film, The Turin Horse, the haggard daughter (Erika Bók) of the titular horse's owner (János Derzsi) is seen removing her father's work clothing, replacing them with clothes for him to rest in so that he may lay down in bed. The shot starts with the camera looking up the length of the bed, which lays in the corner of the house underneath a small window, but as the scene progresses the camera tracks to the right in a semi-circle around the bed as the dressing continues, ending facing the bed perpendicularly, the small cot taking up the entire length of the 1.66 frame. Much of the Hungarian director's work of the last two decades has been made up of such choreography,...
In the third shot of Bela Tarr's newest film, The Turin Horse, the haggard daughter (Erika Bók) of the titular horse's owner (János Derzsi) is seen removing her father's work clothing, replacing them with clothes for him to rest in so that he may lay down in bed. The shot starts with the camera looking up the length of the bed, which lays in the corner of the house underneath a small window, but as the scene progresses the camera tracks to the right in a semi-circle around the bed as the dressing continues, ending facing the bed perpendicularly, the small cot taking up the entire length of the 1.66 frame. Much of the Hungarian director's work of the last two decades has been made up of such choreography,...
- 10/3/2011
- MUBI
Bela Tarr's The Turin Horse has been selected as Hungary's contender for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, after debuting at the 2011 Berlinale where it was awarded the Jury Grand and Fipresci prizes. Tarr directs Erika Bok, Janos Derzsi and Mihaly Kormos in the story of a father and daughter who, while trying to survive a desolate landscape after their horse fails them, meets farmer-philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The Cinema Guild plans to release the film in the Us this winter, but no date is set. While at Berlin, there was some controversy over the film, and iW reported that “the film was widely admired by its audiences for the careful and deliberate exploration of its mostly silent characters.” Variety says; "The answers are a ...
- 9/1/2011
- Thompson on Hollywood
There is a thought-provoking idea behind The Turnin Horse, just over the stark horizon and obscured behind a flurry of leaves: what of the untold stories which litter history? The lives never committed to fable, legend or film?
The opening voice-over tells of an alleged encounter Friedrich Nietzsche once had with a cabman engaged in beating his horse. Intervening, Nietzche returned home to his mother and sisters whereupon he entered a demented silence that was to last ten years until his eventual death. While no connection is explicitly made onscreen, it is probable that the film picks up the horse’s story, opening as it does with the horse and cart-driver returning home amid a heavy and unrelenting gale.
The plot – for want of a better word – follows Ohlsdorfer (Janos Derzsi), a bearded peasant who lives in a humble cottage with his hardy daughter (Erika Bok) and their afflicted horse.
The opening voice-over tells of an alleged encounter Friedrich Nietzsche once had with a cabman engaged in beating his horse. Intervening, Nietzche returned home to his mother and sisters whereupon he entered a demented silence that was to last ten years until his eventual death. While no connection is explicitly made onscreen, it is probable that the film picks up the horse’s story, opening as it does with the horse and cart-driver returning home amid a heavy and unrelenting gale.
The plot – for want of a better word – follows Ohlsdorfer (Janos Derzsi), a bearded peasant who lives in a humble cottage with his hardy daughter (Erika Bok) and their afflicted horse.
- 6/16/2011
- by Steven Neish
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Until I saw A Torinoi Lo, in competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, I had never seen a film from legendary Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr – though I’d heard much about him, not all of it complimentary. He has a well-earned reputation for making austere films of punishingly long, slow takes. One of his works, Sátántangó, runs at just over seven hours in length, though among his best known fans is Gus Van Sant, who attributes his own use of long single takes to Tarr’s influence.
Well this new film, which translated into English is called The Turin Horse, is probably a decent enough place to start exploring his ouvre. With a running length of 146 minutes it is comfortably the longest film in competition here (Japanese film Heaven’s Story is probably the festival’s overall longest at four and a half hours...
Until I saw A Torinoi Lo, in competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, I had never seen a film from legendary Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr – though I’d heard much about him, not all of it complimentary. He has a well-earned reputation for making austere films of punishingly long, slow takes. One of his works, Sátántangó, runs at just over seven hours in length, though among his best known fans is Gus Van Sant, who attributes his own use of long single takes to Tarr’s influence.
Well this new film, which translated into English is called The Turin Horse, is probably a decent enough place to start exploring his ouvre. With a running length of 146 minutes it is comfortably the longest film in competition here (Japanese film Heaven’s Story is probably the festival’s overall longest at four and a half hours...
- 2/15/2011
- by Robert Beames
- Obsessed with Film
Officials from the 61st Berlin Film Festival on Tuesday unveiled the Competition program for this year’s event. It includes 22 films, 16 of which will be competing for the awards.
In addition there will be two special screenings: In solidarity with the convicted Iranian director Jafar Panahi, his film “Offside” will be presented on Feb. 11, the anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. Also, the European premiere of Werner Herzog’s 3-D documentary “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” will be shown as a special screening in the Berlinale Palast.
The winner of the Golden Bear will be announced at the festival awards ceremony on Feb. 19.
The following is the complete Berlinale Competition program.
“A Torinói Ló” (“The Turin Horse”) Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland
Directed by Béla Tarr
With János Derzsi, Erika Bók, Mihály Kormos
World premiere
“Almanya – Willkommen in Deutschland” (“Almanya”) Germany
By Yasemin Samdereli – debut film
With Vedat Erincin, Fahri Yardin, Aylin Tezel,...
In addition there will be two special screenings: In solidarity with the convicted Iranian director Jafar Panahi, his film “Offside” will be presented on Feb. 11, the anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. Also, the European premiere of Werner Herzog’s 3-D documentary “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” will be shown as a special screening in the Berlinale Palast.
The winner of the Golden Bear will be announced at the festival awards ceremony on Feb. 19.
The following is the complete Berlinale Competition program.
“A Torinói Ló” (“The Turin Horse”) Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland
Directed by Béla Tarr
With János Derzsi, Erika Bók, Mihály Kormos
World premiere
“Almanya – Willkommen in Deutschland” (“Almanya”) Germany
By Yasemin Samdereli – debut film
With Vedat Erincin, Fahri Yardin, Aylin Tezel,...
- 1/19/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
The Kevin Spacey/Jeremy Irons/Demi Moore financial drama joins 22 films in total, 16 of which will be competing for the Silver Bear. Unknown, the new Liam Neeson thriller with January Jones, will premiere Out of Competition at next month’s 61st Berlin Film Festival. That’s only fitting considering the Warner Bros movie was shot there. The 14 new films announced today join the 8 previously announced, including Opening Film True Grit and Coriolanus. Berlin Film Festival will run between February 10-20. The festival will also be staging 2 special screenings. Jafar Panahi’s Offside will be shown on February 11 out of solidarity of the jailed Iranian director. And Werner Herzog will premiere his 3D documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams about prehistoric cave painting. In Competition A Torinói Ló (The Turin Horse) Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland By Béla Tarr (Satantango, Werckmeister Harmonies) With János Derzsi, Erika Bók, Mihály Kormos World premiere Almanya -...
- 1/18/2011
- by TIM ADLER in London
- Deadline London
#52. The Turin Horse Director: Béla Tarr Writer(s): Tarr and László KrasznahorkaiProducers: Gábor TéniDistributor: Rights Available. The Gist: Freely inspired by an episode that marked the end of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s career. On January 3,1889, on the piazza Alberto in Turin, a weeping Nietzsche flung his arms around an exhausted and ill-treated carriage horse, then lost consciousness.....(more) Cast: Volker Spengler, János Derzsi and Erika Bók. Why is it on the list?: It's moved up several spots from last year's 33 position and this might have to do with the fact we've learned absolutely nothing about the project over the course of 12 months. You have to be impressed by how tight-lipped they've been about this being his last picture. Release Date/Status?: It wasn't ready for Cannes last year, and you can be sure he's had enough time in post to complete the picture for this coming May.
- 1/13/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
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