A Béla Tarr Retrospective: Will Heaven Fall Upon Us? at Showroom Cinema
Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
Showroom presents a five-film retrospective dedicated to Hungarian master filmmaker Béla Tarr this August. Featuring new restorations, including a one-off showing of the mammoth 7 ½ hour Sátántangó, and a 35mm presentation of The Man from London starring Tilda Swinton, this film season marks a rare chance to immerse yourself in the works and worlds of the visionary director.
Tarr’s work is known for its austere pacing, with lengthy shots in black and white revealing damned communities, and melancholy figures. If that sounds daunting, then it should be said that Tarr’s films are also bewitching, literary (multiple titles are written in collaboration with novelist Hungarian modernist László Krasznahorkai), darkly funny, and dense with ideas.
The season starts with Werckmeister Harmonies, widely regarded as one of the director’s most accomplished works, and also takes in Damnation and 2011’s The Turin Horse, Tarr’s final film made before he dedicated himself to running his film school, run his film school, film.factory, in Sarajevo.
