Inhabitants of a small village in Hungary deal with the effects of the fall of Communism. The town's source of revenue, a factory, has closed, and the locals, who include a doctor and three couples, await a cash payment offered in the wake of the shuttering. Irimias, a villager thought to be dead, returns and, unbeknownst to the locals, is a police informant. In a scheme, he persuades the villagers to form a commune with him.
Mihály Víg Putyi Horváth Miklós Székely B. Erika Bók László feLugossy Alfréd Járai János Derzsi Irén Szajki Éva Almássy Albert Erzsébet Gaál Peter Berling György Barkó Zoltán Kamondi Barna Mihók Péter Dobai András Bodnár Ica Bojár István Juhász Ferenc Kállai Gyula Pauer Mihály Kormos Ernő Mihályi András Fekete Andor Simai Katalin Krizsánné Kovács Vilmosné Pataki Mária Borbély Kati Makrányi Zsuzsa Fodor Show All…
Von Vietinghoff Filmproduktion (VVF) Vega Film Mozgókép Innovációs Társulás és Alapítvány Magyar Televízió TSR
Satan's Tango, Сатанинское танго, Sátántangó, Сатанинське танго, 사탄탱고, Сатанинско танго, Satanské tango, Le Tango de Satan, סנטאגו, サタンタンゴ, Szatańskie tango, O Tango de Satã, O Tango de Satanás, Şeytan'ın Tangosu, 撒旦探戈, 撒旦的探戈
Humanity and the world around us Faith and religion Epic history and literature Politics and human rights Surreal and thought-provoking visions of life and death Humanity's odyssey: earth and beyond War, patriotism, and political drama Sumptuous royalty and lavish dramas Powerful poetic and passionate drama Show All…
Hungary
Germany
USA
Netherlands12
UK15
Netherlands12
UK
Germany
Hungary
Netherlands
UK
USA
A REVIEW FOR MY #1 FAVORITE FEATURE FILM OF MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE, AND MAYBE FOREVER WITH A 99.95% PROBABILITY.
Don't read it as a review, but as a magazine article. This is the longest thing I have ever written about one single film, but it is also the only review that made me cry out of sentiment while constructing it.
Before starting to construct a modest, fully developed essay about Béla Tarr's Sátántangó, let's make a nostalgic resume about some of the most wonderful experiences cinema has offered throughout its history. German Expressionism represented the pinnacle of Berlin's technical vision and resulted in the most visually captivating and thought-provoking classic masterpiece up to a hair-rising degree. After the Second World…
[this is a new interview i did with Béla Tarr about the 4K restoration that's being released in honor of SATANTANGO's 25th anniversary. not a "review," but seven-hour slow cinema masterpieces about Hungarian farming collectives can use all the help they can get]
When I asked Béla Tarr if he ever suspected that his seven-hour “Sátántangó” would resonate 25 years after it first screened at the 1994 Berlinale, the semi-retired Hungarian filmmaker hunched forward in his chair and responded with the raspy, “who gives a fuck?” grumble of a barfly at last call: “I’m not prophetic,” he grinned, revealing a well-punctuated set of teeth. “I was just an ugly, poor filmmaker. I still am. I don’t have power. I don’t…
Cinema undiluted, yet clouded; quintessential, yet corrupted; lucid, yet vague; high-minded, yet smothered in dirty shapes, postured to perfection. Designed to transport, to form a familiar, albeit foreign environment for its viewers through patient, sincere and expressive manipulation of audiovisual details, resulting in a pure-form, sensory-cinema experience. Indeed, Satantango is meticulously crafted to shift its viewers from their (position in a chair, or) place in reality, into the gut of a nonentity-like vehicle, slowly drifting, but at the same time quickly catapulting through the process of a bleak, syncopated, rhythmic flit with the dark heart of a total eclipse. In essence, caliginosity and crepuscule as an unfathomable, esoteric and profoundly inexplicable display of medium-mastery. And, in the end, one of the human race's single greatest accomplishments, both inside and outside the field of artistic creation.
0:00 Okay, let's do this. I wonder how long it's gonna take me until I regret to watch the entire movie in one sitting and if I'm going to fall asleep at some point because it was already difficult to stay awake during Werckmeister Harmonies.
0:25 I always felt like Béla Tarr's movies are what people are talking about when they say they don't like European movies and/or movies with subtitles because everything is so bleak and dark and slow and it takes ages for something to happen.
0:28 Those are some very nice curtains, but are they nice enough to show them for such a long time for absolutely no reason?
0:54 I'm slowly starting to warm up to…
If you aren't convinced by all the 5-star reviews, let me tell you why you should watch this 7-hour long Hungarian classic.
1: It's a one of a kind film that you may only see once upon a lifetime.
2: The seven hours will go by faster than you think. This is a slow paced movie, but that doesn't mean it's boring.
3: You will enter a whole new world. I felt like I was around the characters rather than watching them.
4: It's gorgeous! Every single shot is so beautiful.
5: You'll have something to brag about. How cool isn't it to have experienced a seven hour long film?
6: The long takes are superb throughout. They serve a…
Before diving into anything I have to say, I want to plug the reviews of 𝔸ℕℕ𝔸, Darren Carver-Balsiger, Edgar Cochran, Lara Pop, Reed, and Stephen Gillespie for having some of the best pieces on this I've read so far. If you're looking for good analysis of the film itself, please check these out as they do a far greater job of analyzing the film than I ever could.
---
As for me, I don't wish to attempt an analysis as I don't feel qualified to add much to the discussion. Rather, I'm opting for a synthesis which puts Sátántangó in conversation with another work that engages in similar themes, Pathologic 2. This is an angle I haven't seen yet explored…
“Sátántangó” so resolutely refuses to occupy the realm of cinema, it seems to stare you in the eye and dare you to call it a ‘movie.’
Where a typical film would aim to win the viewer’s investment - if only to get a wad of cash from their wallet - Béla Tarr’s seven-hour-long Everest on celluloid is out to torment its audience into nihilism.
Most often, this abuse comes in the form of momentously long takes that challenge you to care, to emote - at all - after spending eight minutes looking at cows, a forest, a drunk man.... Occasionally, though, Tarr employs cruelty so abject that it feels sadistic. This is most notable in a prolonged sequence of a…
Well, it's that time again! My annual viewing of Satantango is here ...
Satantango is quite possibly the greatest film ever made. The film is a religious experience; an odyssey into a world bereft of beauty. Satantango is a film to be seen, witnessed, and felt! It revolves around the lives of villagers in a small-town, as they’re faced with greed, deception, betrayal, and loss. Tarr's cinematography here exceeds anything else ever captured on celluloid -- few movies are able to match Satantango for its extraordinarily ravishing photography and majestic cinematography. The camera moves slowly in glorious long tracking shots; slowly circling around locations and characters. Needless to say, it's a wonderful film just as it is a wonderful experience.…
Bahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Letterboxd, you are incredible. You somehow managed to rangle up countless spectacular ratings, shot this right up the top 250 list, and suckered me and a bunch of other users into spending 7 whole hours watching a bunch of Hungarian villagers stare at people, walk slowly, get drunk, quietly plot, torture a cat and very little else.
There are a collection of gripping scenes in the film, but for every one that compels you to invest your attention there are several that are tedious and ridiculously self-indulgent. Sure, we get it. This is a desolate world these farmers live in. There is stagnation and desperation that will continue to haunt them in a world driven by working yourself to…
Béla Tarr is like a negative image in the photography of cinema. He is a filmmaker who neither guides, nor expects his audience to reconstruct the original. The origin therefore lies in the destination, and the process of getting there and imbuing it with meaning: in the audience. Or, more precisely, in the audience's perspective.
Sátántangó is about the multiplicity of perspectives enmeshed in the negative of life. On the literal plane, Tarr uses perspective shifts to relate concrete occurrences in the narrative. He recounts the same events from multiple perspectives, and shows how a different view can deconstruct the original image and create a negative (or vice versa). A little girl walks up to the bar in the night…
