What is The Last Movie You Watched?

[Stavros]

The Turin Horse (Bela Tarr & Agnes Hranitzky, 2011).

Tarr first planned this film with Laszlo Krasznahorkai in the 1980s but was unable to make it until the last few years, building the entire set from scratch in a valley in Hungary. The impetus for the film is an incident that took place in Turin in 1889 when the philosopher Freidrich Nietzsche witnessed a horse that wouldn't budge being flogged by its owner. Nietzsche wrapped his arms around the horse in despair, and on being taken back to his hotel in a state of collapse, said Mutter, ich bin Dumm, and, it is claimed, never spoke again until his death in 1900. What happened to the horse?

In fact, although one sees the horse at the beginning of this film, it concerns the last 6 days of mankind in the form of the horse, its owner and his daughter who live in penury in the midst of a storm, eating one boiled potato a day, observing a routine that is broken when the horse refuses to haul the cart or eat. On one day a local man in need of Palinka arrives, rants on about the end of the world and is thrown out; on another day gypsies in a cart invade the property, help themselves to the water in the well (which subsequently dries up), and give the fgirl a book, a sort of anti-bible with dire prophecies. At the end, after the storm, there is no water, no way of boiling the potatoes, and no light. two and half hours and 30 takes, if you like Tarr, and I do, this superbly shot film becomes an anthem to despair; both of these people have options, yet like characters from a story or a play by Samuel Beckett, their focus has narrowed from routine, their aspirations have dimmed, they are on a treadmill of death. Or it could be Tarr's way of expressing his frustation with the business of making films, that he has run out of things to say. Either way, it is on its own terms a masterpiece, but a film that asks too much of the average film goer, it will drive them up the wall with its attention to detail, although it is clear that between day 3 and 4 Erika Bok has washed her hair (she is blonde in real life). Recommended, for purists.

[Prospero]

Purists indeed. I think Stavros already knows my view of this film. I confess it has haunted me a little since I saw it and i grasp his interpretation well. The analogy with Samuel Becket is a good one. But whereas Godot or most of Becket's other plays are engaging, or funny or if neither of these, short, this goes on.. and on.. and on.. and on... i found it among the most tedious I've ever watched.

Mind you I've not see Bela Tarr's even longer earlier efforts.

[CORVETTEDUDE]

ARGO...Go see it!

[Dino Velvet]

ARGO...Go see it!

That good, huh? I'm so lazy about going to the theater. End up procrastinating enough that I wait for it to come out on DVD. Got an AMC Multiplex close enough to me like it's walking to the back of the house but still don't go. The few times I do go I'm usually glad wondering why I don't go out to the movies more often.

[Prospero]

Get outta the house Dino....

[Dino Velvet]

Get outta the house Dino....

I go running past the theater sunburned nowadays.

[trish]

ARGO...Go see it!

Argofuckyourself!
It's a decent flick.

[Dino Velvet]

Argofuckyourself!
It's a decent flick.

Decent? Worth 12 bucks?

[trish]

Hmmmmm, that's a hard one. Only if you got a date and you're pretty sure she's going to let you feel her up during the slow parts.

[Dino Velvet]

Hmmmmm, that's a hard one. Only if you got a date and you're pretty sure she's going to let you feel her up during the slow parts.

That's 24 bucks now. 76 more and I bagged one of my honeys.