Review of The Turin Horse (2011) by Philippe G — 06 Jan 2012

We are introduced to a father and daughter who live in an isolated farm house in a bleak environment where never ending external winds blast the walls of their small home. Tarr's meticulous approach photographs the individuals as they go about their daily routines and the repetitions that exist in this bleak existence.

This is essentially Tarr's post-apocalyptic film. Its a very dark gloomy experience as the film in a way is the deconstruction of our world in six days. We see these individuals monotonous struggle of survival as they go through their daily routines down to the detail in which it is quite reminicient of Chantal Akerman's 'Jeanne Dielman'.

What does it all mean? The film appears to be a comment on the struggle of humans existence and how you must constantly fight through life but Tarr once again leaves the meaning up to the viewer to decide.

Anyone familiar with Bela Tarr's work should know what they are getting into with 'The Turin Horse'. A slow paced, beautifully photgraphed film with slow tracking shots and a somber score.

This is Tarr's bleakest film, and some of the imagery in this film is down right haunting. It's a film thats about 145 minutes long and consists of something like 30 actually shots. This is the type of film that is definitely a hard film to watch, being mostly silent and having scrupulous attention to detail.

A film that I would not recommend to most people as they will just find it boring but I personally found it to be mesmerizing and endlessly thought-provoking, two things I value highly cinema.