The Cinema of Béla Tarr: The Circle Closes

by András Bálint Kovács

The Cinema of Béla Tarr is a critical analysis of the work of Hungary's most prominent and internationally best known film director, written by a scholar who has followed Bela Tarr's career through a close personal and professional relationship for more than twenty-five years. András Bálint Kovács traces the development of Tarr's themes, characters, and style, showing that almost all of his major stylistic and narrative innovations were already present in his early films and that through a conscious and meticulous recombination of and experimentation with these elements, Tarr arrived at his unique style. The significance of these films is that, beyond their aesthetic and historical value, they provide the most powerful vision of an entire region and its historical situation. Tarr's films express, in their universalistic language, the shared feelings of millions of Eastern Europeans.

Genres: Film, Hungary

183 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2013

Reviews

[Steven Godin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating read for anyone interested in this brilliant Hungarian director. The Werckmeister Harmonies pretty much changed my life in terms of film.

[Viktor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Béla Tarr is my favourite film director so I ofcourse had to read this book as it came highly recommended by some of my peers.

I did find a lot to appreciate here like the look into Tarr’s life before he became a filmmaker and how that shaped the films he made. I found the analysis of the films themselves to be pretty good but the presentation and formatting of the book made it hard to digest fully, this is an incredibly dense book with very little breaks or respites so after a few pages it just becomes too much and the rather dry and clinical writing style doesn’t help this feeling.

I’d say if you’re a MASSIVE Tarr fan like myself you’ll find plenty to enjoy given you can get past the presentation.

[Anton Løkke Laursen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful book about Tarr the auteur. Quite tedious, but the overall attitude to his body of work is interesting

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

In depth but quite dry analysis of Bela Tarr.