Elaborately staged and intricately orchestrated, Tarr’s worlds are inhabited by isolated communities and characters poetically depicted in long takes and slow camera movements that express a sense of time and place-as well as identification with character-that is inimitably cinematic. These three films represent the striking vision of a director many believe to be the most important living Eastern European filmmaker, the astonishing conjuring of an artist Jonathan Rosenbaum calls a master illusionist. Damnation and Sátántangó, presented here in prints on loan from Hungary, round out the trilogy. Since Sontag’s essay, Tarr has completed Werckmeister Harmonies, his third collaboration with Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai. Little seen but energetically celebrated, they have been championed by Susan Sontag, whose 1995 lament on the death of cinephilia is tempered by the hope that Tarr-and a select group of other contemporary filmmakers-would be able to continue creating unique, transformative cinematic experiences. Screened at prestigious international film festivals and the subject of US retrospectives as early as 1996, the majority of Tarr’s films remain undistributed in this country. It is a testament to the power and originality of the films of Hungarian director Béla Tarr that their critical acclaim and legendary reputation far exceed their availability.
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