Review of The Turin Horse (2011) by Ivonne T — 03 Jan 2013

An extraordinarily difficult and challenging film; nothing really happens for nearly two and a half hours, but there's an inescapable magnetism to this film that eventually lulls you into submission. The sculpting of every haunting frame around every small movement of the pattern-like, prosaic tedium of the story, ends up feeling like an almost cleansing experience.

Whilst the creepily lit, black and white cinematography has a tormented, ghostly feel to it - real menace comes from the film's stark and lugubriously crumpled score that meshes with the discordant shrill of a brutal wind.

The Turin Horse is, by turns, a melancholic fable and an almost strange allegorical story on death; richly rewarding to those who have the patience to stay with it.