Happy 65th Birthday, Béla Tarr! Born today in 1955, this Hungarian filmmaker's body of work consists mainly of art films with philosophical themes and long takes.
Born in Pécs, Hungary, Tarr grew up in Budapest. His parents were both in the theatre and film industry: his father designed scenery, while his mother worked as a prompter at a theatre for more than fifty years.
At the age of ten, Tarr was taken to a casting session run by Magyar Televízió (Hungarian National Television, or MTV) by his mother.
Tarr ultimately won the role of the protagonist's son in a television drama adaptation of Russian author and writer Leo Tolstoy's 1886 literary fiction novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich.
This was a small role in Hungarian film director and screenwriter Miklós Jancsó's ('The Red and the White', 'Red Psalm') 1986 Hungarian drama film 'Szörnyek évadja' ('Season of Monsters').
By his own account, Tarr initially sought to become a philosopher, and considered filmmaking as something of a hobby.
However, after making his 8mm short films, the Hungarian government would not allow Tarr to attend university, so he instead chose to pursue film production.
Tarr began to realize his interest in film making at the age of sixteen by making amateur films and later working as a caretaker at a national House for Culture and Recreation.
Most of his amateur works were documentaries, mostly about the life of workers or poor people in urban Hungary.
It was these inexperienced works that brought Tarr to the attention of the Béla Balázs Studios (named in honor of the Hungarian film critic, aesthete, writer and poet of Jewish heritage), who helped fund Tarr's feature film debut.
This was a film of which Tarr began shooting at age twenty-two, being the 1977 Hungarian black and white drama film 'Családi tűzfészek' ('Family Nest'). He had shot the film in six days with little budget and used non-professional actors.
The feature was faithful to the "Budapest school" or "documentarist" style popular at the time within Béla Balázs Studios, maintaining absolute social realism on screen.
Critics found Tarr's debut film to suggest the influence of the American actor, film director, and screenwriter John Cassavetes ('Shadows', 'Faces', 'A Woman Under the Influence', 'The Killing of a Chinese Bookie'), although Tarr denied having seen any of Cassavetes' films.
After his 1984 Hungarian drama/world cinema film 'Őszi almanach' ('Almanac of Fall'), Tarr (who had also written his first four features alone), began collaborating with Hungarian novelist and screenwriter László Krasznahorkai.
This was for the 1988 Hungarian black-and-white drama/crime film 'Kárhozat' ('Damnation'); a film of which Tarr is known.
A planned adaptation of Krasznahorkai's debut 1985 epic Hungarian novel Sátántangó (Satan's Tango) took over seven years to realize.
When it finally was, it became the film of which Tarr is best known for co-writing (alongside Krasznahorkai) and directing.
Tarr had wanted to make the film since 1985, but was unable to proceed with the production due to the strict political environment in Hungary.
In about 1986, Tarr jokingly remarked on his festival participation: "Since I have become Béla Tarr, I am treated decently on international festivals."
Eight years later, Tarr's best-known feature, the 1994 Hungarian black and white art drama/comedy film 'Sátántangó, was finally released to international acclaim at a staggering four hundred and forty minutes. The film was astonishingly shot by Hungarian cinematographer Gábor Medvigy.
Within Tarr's seven-hour episodic feature, the film follows the inhabitants of a small village in 1990s Hungary that deal with the effects of the fall of Communism.
A desolate town's source of revenue, a factory, has closed. The locals include an obese doctor named Petrina (Putyi Horvath) and three couples. Each await a cash payment offered in the wake of the shuttering.
Irimias (Mihaly Vig), a villager thought to be dead, returns and, unbeknownst to the locals, is a police informant.
In a scheme, he persuades the villagers to form a commune with him. Vig had also co-written the story and composed the score.
American film critic and author Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote of 'Sátántangó': "The form of the novel was inspired by the steps of the tango—six forward, six backward—an idea reflected by the film’s overlapping time structure, 12 sections, and remarkable choreographed long takes and camera movements.
The subject of this brilliantly constructed narrative is nothing less than the world today, and its 431-minute running time is necessary not because Tarr has so much to say, but because he wants to say it right."
American writer, filmmaker, philosopher, teacher, and political activist Susan Sontag described 'Sátántangó' as "devastating, enthralling for every minute of its seven hours," adding she would be "glad to see it every year for the rest of [her] life."
The following year, Tarr released a far shorter film than its predecessor.
This was his thirty-five-minute 1995 Hungarian short documentary film 'Utazás az alföldön' ('Journey on the Plain'). Afterwards, Tarr fell into silence until five years later.
He then released another film of which he is known. This was the 2000 Hungarian black and white drama/mystery film 'Werckmeister Harmóniák' ('Werckmeister Harmonies'). It was later acclaimed by critics and the Festival circuit in general.
Seven years after, Tarr began his work on the 2007 Hungarian black and white noir/drama mystery film 'A Londoni férfi' ('The Man from London'). This was another film of which he is known. It starred Tilda Swinton.
The feature was scheduled to be released at the 58th Cannes Film Festival in May 2005.
However. production was postponed due to the suicide of French film producer and chairman of the European Film Academy Humbert Balsan, who would have co-produced the feature. This had occurred a few months prior.
Nonetheless, 'The Man from London' premiered two years later at the 60th Cannes Film Festival in May 2007. It was released worldwide the following year in 2008.
Afterwards, Tarr began working on yet another film of which he is known. This was his 2011 Hungarian black and white philosophical drama film 'A torinói ló' ('The Turin Horse'), of which he has said will be his last feature.
The film was shot in thirty long takes by Tarr's regular cameraman, being European film and theater director, cinematographer and writer Fred Kelemen.
'The Turin Horse' premiered at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival in February 2011, where it received the Jury Grand Prize.
However, the Hungarian release was postponed after the director had criticized the country's government in an interview. Regardless, 'The Turin Horse' opened to general acclaim from film critics.
Post the release of 'The Turin Horse', the film made many year-end "best-of" critics' lists. Afterwards, Tarr announced his definitive retirement from feature-length film direction.
In the years since its release, 'Sátántangó' has received wide acclaim from film critics, and is considered one of the greatest films ever made.
Tarr began his directorial career with a brief period of what he refers to as "social cinema", aimed at telling mundane stories about ordinary people, often in the style of cinéma vérité.
Over the next decade, the cinematic style and thematic elements of his films changed.
Gus Van Sant ('Drugstore Cowboy', 'My Own Private Idaho', 'Elephant') often cites Tarr as a huge influence on his later work.
This began with his 2002 American drama/mystery film 'Gerry', when Van Sant began using very long, uninterrupted takes.
In 2012, 'Sátántangó' appeared in the British Film Institute's (BFI) Sight & Sound critics' top 50 films.
In February 2013, Tarr started a film school in Sarajevo, known as film factory, leaving in 2016. He has since premiered two short films in a 2017 exhibition.
Frequent collaborators with Tarr include Krasznahorkai, Vig, Kelemen, and Hungarian actress Erika Bók.
This also includes Tarr's wife, Hungarian film editor and director Ágnes Hranitzky. She is sometimes credited as a co-director of her husband's last three works.
Tarr has been interpreted as having a pessimistic view of humanity; the characters in his works are often cynical, and have tumultuous relationships with one another in ways critics have found to be darkly comic.
Tarr has been active from 1971–present.
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