Review of Werckmeister Harmonies (2001) by Jameslucasutley — 27 Sep 2015

Béla Tarr is a master filmmaker, as cliché as that might be to say. Really though, he's up there with Tarkovsky, Bergman and all the other maestros of cinema. Werckmeister Harmonies is the best film of the 21st century so far, and it's going to be tough to beat. In it there's a visual and metaphorical battle between darkness and light, taking place in that world that Tarr creates so well in his films. You know, the roads with no cars on; buildings so bleak they're concentration camp-like. It's dismal here, really dismal.

The opening shot (one of a stunning 39 in a film two and a half hours long), is cinematic perfection. It sets up everything to come in the film in terms of theme, style and is an example of the strange melancholy this art form can subtly create when the camera is in the right hands. This pub - realism - becomes a stage - theatre. We go from the backsides of drunken dwellers who stumble around the camera as if placed there to an elaborate fakery; a visual performance of a total eclipse. Darkness comes, then light saves everyone from this cold. It's humourous, the drunken men trying to act as the earth, moon and sun (and really messing up the solar system). An indication that humour will be present in Werckmeister Harmonies, and is present (I'm hinting at the kids needing to be put to bed). The performance becomes quite profound; Mihaly Vig's beautiful score plays. It ends with light coming - or does it? As the protagonist leaves the pub, the bartender tells him his play is over, to which our lead disagrees. Darkness is still prevalent, and light has not come yet. There is something grave threatening this town to come.

We see this further, in the next shot. A lot of this film is about going somewhere, and shot number two is just that. But going where? The figure walks in a bit of light which, as he progresses, gets smaller and darkness fills the frame. Not too long after this moment, a large truck arrives in town. Its movement is eerie (slow, since it carries a whale) and it appears from the darkness. This is what threatens this community.

Far more gripping than I initially thought, Werckmeister Harmonies is a deeply profound philosophical beauty of a film. A masterpiece.