Saturday, July 17, 2021

Satantango (1994)

IMDb plot summary: On the eve of a large payment, residents of a collapsing collective farm see their plans turn into desolation when they discover that Irimiás, a former co-worker who they thought was dead, is returning to the community.
Directed by Béla Tarr. Starring Mihály Vig, Putyi Horváth, László feLugossy, and Éva Almássy Albert.

This is absolutely not my style of filmmaking. I struggle with Tarkovsky's work and I struggled with this, though there are definitely moments that worked for me. There were some very striking sequences, particularly the first time we see the doctor. Tarr insists on capturing every possible moment of someone's actions, with very few cuts to a new scene, and with the doctor in particular I find that it effectively highlights how slow and mundane his day is. He hardly ever leaves his home, just sitting around watching other people, and watching him slowly sort through his notebooks and the like gives us a stronger sense of his life than we would get in a film more traditionally shot. That being said, it is A Task to undertake this one, and I definitely was uninterested more than I was interested during the runtime, but every so often I'd get a flash of, "Oh, THAT'S why people like this!" and I loved that.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Satantango < Fahrenheit 451
Satantango > The Professional
Satantango > The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
Satantango < Enemy of the State
Satantango < Red (2018)
Satantango > Iron Eagle
Satantango < Quigley Down Under
Satantango < For Your Consideration
Satantango < John Dies at the End
Satantango > The Hangover
Satantango < The Apostle
Final spot: #2069 out of 3403, or 39%.

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