Sunday, 17 June 2012

The Turin Horse / A Torinói Ló (HU, 2011)

Those familiar with Bela Tarr's work won't witness any major change of course here.

The name comes from anecdotal incident in which Nietzsche hugs a maltreated horse on a Turin street, before collapsing into illness and silence for his remaining 10 years. While Nietzsche has always been the subject of much scholasticism, nothing is/was known of the horse.

The director licenses that horse to a desolate, windswept, remote rural stone home of grief in late 19th century HU. The 'action' (much of it repeated) involves a father and daughter and occurs over a period of 6 days; the film clocks in at close to 2.5 hours of minimal, well shot, suitably bleak and grim slow-burning B&W.

An imminent nearby (natural) cataclsym is hinted at but not explicitly identified. Those seeking a link with impossible Nietzschian philosophy might do well to dissect the neighbour's speech.

As cinema for doom lovers, it's entirely satisfactory.

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