The Man From London
2009 ‘A Londoni férfi’ Directed by Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky
Synopsis
One night Maloin, a switchman at a seaside railway station situated by a ferry harbour, witnesses a terrible event...
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What, ho? Is this Béla Tarr with... what's that...? A (relatively) clear plot?! The greatest living director provides (well, adapts) a story more involving and layered than his typical fare, but as ever it's just one of a great number of elements he employs to convey his themes. Were I not so indelibly attached to the haunting beauty of his work in Werckmeister Harmonies I might declare this Mihaly Vig's finest score. It seems redundant to say that Tarr gives us the kind of visuals only he can, from a breath-taking circling of a hypnotic conversation to a complicated scaling of a watchtower, these could all be counted among the finest sequences ever captured on film. More overtly humanistic than his and Krasznahorkai's original stories, there is nevertheless the same nihilistic sense of the drudgery of life and the mundanity of existence that makes these great films so so tough, but so so rewarding.
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Bela Tarr’s THE MAN FROM LONDON, based off of the novel by Georges Simenon, is possibly his most accessible film in terms of narrative structure. While a lot of Tarr’s other later work is very loose and experimental in a way, using a very non-traditional style to tell stories, THE MAN FROM LONDON is a bit of a departure from that. The film is by no means a complete change though and it’s really hardly noticeable, though still, it’s worth saying that this film does have a somewhat tangible plot to it, instead of relaying thoughts in broad ideas.
The film is based off of the Simenon novel L'Homme de Londres in which we follow a night switchman named Maloin…
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What I loved about Tarr's final piece, The Turin Horse, was the sense of empathy it gave me regarding the two unfortunate leads. Werckmeister and Damnation didn't really have that, but in exchange, they still had captivating long takes meshed in with fairly unique plot, as well as some interesting dialogue to keep it all going.
The Man From London didn't really have either. A lot of Tarr's takes here are just way too long and dare I say pointless. They weren't interesting to look at, nor did they stir any emotion in me. They were just filler.
Obviously, the good here crushes the bad, as this later work (as Ronan stated in his review), actually has a discernible plot.…
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Bela Tarr’s THE MAN FROM LONDON, based off of the novel by Georges Simenon, is possibly his most accessible film in terms of narrative structure. While a lot of Tarr’s other later work is very loose and experimental in a way, using a very non-traditional style to tell stories, THE MAN FROM LONDON is a bit of a departure from that. The film is by no means a complete change though and it’s really hardly noticeable, though still, it’s worth saying that this film does have a somewhat tangible plot to it, instead of relaying thoughts in broad ideas.
The film is based off of the Simenon novel L'Homme de Londres in which we follow a night switchman named Maloin…
-
What I loved about Tarr's final piece, The Turin Horse, was the sense of empathy it gave me regarding the two unfortunate leads. Werckmeister and Damnation didn't really have that, but in exchange, they still had captivating long takes meshed in with fairly unique plot, as well as some interesting dialogue to keep it all going.
The Man From London didn't really have either. A lot of Tarr's takes here are just way too long and dare I say pointless. They weren't interesting to look at, nor did they stir any emotion in me. They were just filler.
Obviously, the good here crushes the bad, as this later work (as Ronan stated in his review), actually has a discernible plot.…
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Crisp, slow-developing images populate Tarr's foray into genre filmmaking. The camera often views the action through windows, heightening the sense of the intimate relationship between exterior and interior--what happens outside has an immeasurable impact within. The film is certainly the most narrative-friendly of Tarr's later work, though Tarr's images play so strongly against typical genre conventions that the film, in the end, carries a sense of strangeness rather than familiarity.
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Another haunting epic from the master of drudgery. The opening sequence is astounding and captured perfectly. People are often too forthcoming with their opinions on these types of films. Writing them off as self indulgent or pretentious. Everyone sees things differently, the beauty of subjectivity. I've watched films by other directors of high regard and not enjoyed them. They just don't resonate with me. I can see how that could also be the case with Bela Tarr's films but you can't deny the mans talent. Unparalleled at creating a scene. This is a slow slow film. Very sparse dialogue and minimal interaction. I can be quite erratic and have a hard job sitting still but you really need to adjust…
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A Londoni férfi
2007 -
What, ho? Is this Béla Tarr with... what's that...? A (relatively) clear plot?! The greatest living director provides (well, adapts) a story more involving and layered than his typical fare, but as ever it's just one of a great number of elements he employs to convey his themes. Were I not so indelibly attached to the haunting beauty of his work in Werckmeister Harmonies I might declare this Mihaly Vig's finest score. It seems redundant to say that Tarr gives us the kind of visuals only he can, from a breath-taking circling of a hypnotic conversation to a complicated scaling of a watchtower, these could all be counted among the finest sequences ever captured on film. More overtly humanistic than his and Krasznahorkai's original stories, there is nevertheless the same nihilistic sense of the drudgery of life and the mundanity of existence that makes these great films so so tough, but so so rewarding.