Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
When a film looks 30 years older than it actually is.
Presentation:
If you aren’t a cinephile, don’t watch this film. This is one of those obscure European films, Hungarian to be precise, whose purpose is to be as dull as possible to evoke the cold tone of central Europe. It’s a slow story on the political struggles of communism in a small town in Hungary. I wouldn’t recommend this were it not for the fact that the cinematography has deceptively impressive staging and blocking, though many will not feel that way. The lens has just a tiniest intrigue of wideness and there is an impressionable tracking shot that lasts for nearly 5 minutes straight. There are definitely great moments throughout the intentional dullness, but not for the masses.
Conclusion:
Can communists live in harmony? Thank heavens I watched this before the director’s 8 hour masterpiece Sátántangó. I could barely last the 2 and a half hours in this film, it’s unimaginable I would have to invest 3x that amount of time. This is a moderately challenging film with okay thematic substance, but most notably its importance is to disseminate Hungarian storytelling. There’s cinematic value, but partly because this film is presented 30 years older than it actually is, making those few scenes relatively more impressionable. This is not exactly the Hungarian Rhapsody. It’s a thinking man’s film.
Recommendations
When a film looks 30 years older than it actually is.