Werckmeister harmóniák (2000)'s comments

Do you want to let us know what you think? Just login, after which you will be redirected back here and you can leave your comments.

Public Enemy

I've always avoided gimmicky crap like, "we did this all in one shot" or "the screen is split into multiple parts that are one continuous take". I'm not saying it can't work but when you have long periods of downtime with just two dudes walking down the street with nothing being said or no shots of anything but a closeup of the two the entire time, you didn't plan ahead very well.

13 years 6 months ago

Windill

How can you choose to be so boring?

6 years 4 months ago

dpka

Shorter better.

7 years 10 months ago

Jackaloo

lots of good things to say here but I think my favorites are the moments of sly comedy! rly exemplifies something i love about hungarian cinema in general :-)

4 years 3 months ago

andype

I've needed time to realize, how good this movie is. I've seen it two days ago and my first reaction was to mark this as unlike, then yesterday I took this mark back and know I favorized it. Probably it was because of this Bollywood movies on the list 2000', I had to see this stuff to realize, how much I like this Wrckmeister harmóniák...
.

6 years 2 months ago

V012

Beautiful, melancholic and artistic, this film is ingeniously executed in story and especially directing

10 years 8 months ago

Runar

The movie reminded me of when I was a kid at school and was learning something interesting. But even if it was interesting you got bored and after some hours sitting still and watching a teacher speak you got so bored you just wanted to kill you're self.

13 years 7 months ago

AdGuzman

Loved the initial take, I loved Jànos definition of immortality, however I somehow deceived myself into thinking that was the kind of 'ride' Tarr was taking us which he never does, he's true to himself and avoids formula, avoids giving the audience what we think is appropriate and in doing so he manages to create an honest, truthful and refreshing cinema.

I'm not going to say I understood Werckmeister Harmonies, but there were ideas behind it such as how easy is to disrupt the quietness in life or of a culture/community in the presence of 'bright' new notions, views or acts.

However, after watching some interviews from Mr Béla Tarr I have the sense that 'making a statement' out of his stories is never his purpose, perhaps he's just trying to portrait life as he perceives, and being not only factual but also sincere in how narrative tends to display in real life.

I'm sure I will be trying to watch Werckmeister Harmonies for a third time, trying to catch more details, trying to pin things out even when Béla has already said that's not his idea of cinema...

The only "flaw" I could think of is that in catching moments on camera, and getting the audience (me) immerse in the story was a task better achieved in Sátántangó, it was easier for me to enjoy and lose myself in the moments captured in Sátántangó than in Werkmeister.

7 years 1 month ago

NuclearPlanet

It's just so dream like and almost beautiful from start to finish. The long takes would have worked much better if the director had taken more advantages of the visuals. As Kubrick once said "Observancy is a dying art".

The ending feels just complete out their, not sure what exactly went on their but it felt like I watched the plot to a different movie.

12 years 2 months ago

Gershwin

Damn right, Joseph. I just saw the first 30 minutes last week and it instantly urged me to write an ode (in Dutch) to this movie. Only having seen 30 minutes.

That hasn't got anything to do with pretending to like it. I never read a thing about it before I watched it.

12 years 7 months ago

Phil2000

Possibly the best movie of the decade. I can't explain why I like it so much. I usually don't like movies without plots, but this is mesmerizing.

13 years 12 months ago

Sobchak

Didnt get it

13 years 10 months ago

heat_

Seems like there are two main viewpoints regarding this movie.

1 - Too much single sequence scenes, too much walking, boring, long etc.
2 - Timeless masterpiece.

First of alI I need to admit that the movie is a pretty difficult one to watch. Difficult in terms of both cinematography and theme. In contrary to the slowness, the viewer gets tired catching the technique or the theme.

I can't recommend this movie to everybody. One must enjoy to see so much fine tuned technical aspects (Tarr seems to be a master in attention to detail) or should be deeply into existential concerns.

Regarding the long shots. Yes, they are long, however they are intentionally long. That is the way director conveys the feeling that he wants you to be in. That may not be your cup of tea.

The only part that distracted me was the hospital scene. I understand that, acting details of such an action scene is not director's top priority in such a movie, however the action going around throughout the scene was a bit lousy.

As a final word, is the skeleton in Leviafan the same whale? Who knows... ;)

6 years 1 month ago

TheMajor

I've seen only about 4 of Tarr's movies, but this is the one I liked the least so far. Probably because the plot is too alien to me. The cinematography didn't impress me as much as some of his other movies like Sátántangó and A Torinói ló, but the main aspect I prefer about these latter movies is how they pull you up close to the characters. They suck you in.

12 years ago

Shaunage

I don't know that I've ever seen a better shot movie.

13 years 9 months ago