Werckmeister Harmonies

Belá Tarr's WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES is a film that requires a complete surrender. Surrender, and you enter the film's world, with long, 10 minute long takes and an effusive sense of inevitable destruction. The plot is simple: a couple of exhibits that would belong in a circus enter town. One of them is a giant whale. Another is a man known as "The Prince", who never actually emerges, but unsettles the townspeople regardless. One young man, named János, is unaware, or unable to accept that destruction is coming. He walks among rude townspeople and rude neighbors spewing flowery ideas, and visiting the giant whale. He sees the whale as a wonder of the world, a testament to that which God can create. But Tarr's methods are brilliant. Each shot (and there are only thirty-nine of them) is masterfully rendered, the black and white, the actors, and the direction all add to sense that are specific. But Tarr's destruction is one that is not jabbing, but one that is sad and inevitable.

★★★★ out of Five