Werckmeister Harmonies Film Review: Béla Tarr 2000 - FILMS N THAT #1

Welcome to Films 'n' That, a channel which follows the principle that all films are worth talking about. First we take a look at the 8th film by Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr; Werckmeister Harmonies. Werckmeister typifies Tarr's melancholic view of modern history, past, present and future. The circus is coming to town and the locals were pessimistic to begin with but this mysterious unwanted festival brings with it yet more reason for the populace to fear for their security. It involves only two spectacles; the bloated corpse of a whale and a shadowy spokesman known as the Prince. Wherever these two harbingers of doom arrive at, they bring great civil unrest, and with that comes something ever more sinister. Shot in black and white, Werckmeister includes a largely German cast dubbed in Tarr's native language of Hungarian. The film boasts an incredible score and a slow solemn pace of pure cinematic poetry.