Damnation
Synopsis
Karrer plods his way through life in quiet desperation. His environment is drab and rainy and muddy. Eaten up with solitude, his hopelessness would be incurable but for the existence of the Titanik Bar and its beautiful, haunting singer. But the lady is married and Karrer is determined to keep her husband away...
Popular reviews
More-
God, I love Bela Tarr. His films are all so haunting, so beautiful. DAMNATION is the earliest film from Tarr I've seen, and until today when I rewatched it, it was my least favourite. But upon seeing it again I've upgraded my previous rating of 9/10 to 10/10. It is a masterpiece.
There are so many great scenes in this movie, most of them set within the Titanik Bar, a pub that is the central location for much of the film's action. A depressed woman sings that "it's all over," and "there will be nothing good," while patrons listen in quiet sympathy and serenity. My favourite scene in the film is later on, when many couples dance to a haunting…
-
Add me to the list of this man's admirers, I'm hopelessly smitten and was from the very first shot. I'm told Damnation is Bela Tarr's breakthrough film, the moment he first utilised his now trademark style of long takes composed of beautiful cinematography and very little dialogue, but there's a fair amount of the social realism he began his career with too, forming some kind of poetic social realism that contrasts misery and desperation with heart stopping beauty. Mesmerising, unique cinema that will surely not be to all tastes.
Damnation is nominally the tale of Karrer, a lonely taciturn man, beaten down by desperation and hopelessness and his obsession with a forlorn pub singer found at the stunningly filmed Titanik…
Recent reviews
More-
Add me to the list of this man's admirers, I'm hopelessly smitten and was from the very first shot. I'm told Damnation is Bela Tarr's breakthrough film, the moment he first utilised his now trademark style of long takes composed of beautiful cinematography and very little dialogue, but there's a fair amount of the social realism he began his career with too, forming some kind of poetic social realism that contrasts misery and desperation with heart stopping beauty. Mesmerising, unique cinema that will surely not be to all tastes.
Damnation is nominally the tale of Karrer, a lonely taciturn man, beaten down by desperation and hopelessness and his obsession with a forlorn pub singer found at the stunningly filmed Titanik…
-
Only recently got starte with Bela Tarr, and it's going to take a few viewings of this for me to grasp it. The very first shot is tremendous.
-
Though at times it seems reminiscent of both Antonini (long, philosophical discussions amidst impeccable frames) and Tarkovsky (mood transcending content to add a third, more complex dimension), more often it plays like a straight man's Maddin (awkward mechanics of visual form at odds with narrative limitations) or it apes the disconnected feel of early, dubbed Von Trier. At any rate, Damnation has some of the most gorgeous photography I've ever seen. It never feels like its in control of vision - everything that happens in the film seems to serve the camerawork far more than vice versa - but it really gets under your skin. I can't wait to flip over this guy's filmography.
-
This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
-
God, I love Bela Tarr. His films are all so haunting, so beautiful. DAMNATION is the earliest film from Tarr I've seen, and until today when I rewatched it, it was my least favourite. But upon seeing it again I've upgraded my previous rating of 9/10 to 10/10. It is a masterpiece.
There are so many great scenes in this movie, most of them set within the Titanik Bar, a pub that is the central location for much of the film's action. A depressed woman sings that "it's all over," and "there will be nothing good," while patrons listen in quiet sympathy and serenity. My favourite scene in the film is later on, when many couples dance to a haunting…