Florida, Béla Tarr, Ice Hockey, and Chicago

Béla Tarr

What is the link between those four things one would ask? Well, it is the author of this blog. Lately, I’ve been having more time to get back to my old habits of watching films from the list I’m ever writing about on this blog. Last week, I watched Bigger Than Life, Ju Dou, and Céline and Julie Go Boating. Thursday, I started digging into one of the most epic works of Cinema since Erich Von Stroheim’s director cut of Greed. It is from Hungarian cult director Béla Tarr. An artist, I am being very careful with my words here since Tarr stated that he is not a filmmaker and he don’t know what he is, I have wanted to watch his films since more than ten years. The availability of his films is one of the many factors that made it very difficult for me to find. Finally, I put my hand on a copy of what is considered as his greatest achievement : Sátántangó. I’ve decided to split my viewings into five to seven parts. Tarr clearly stated that it should be watched as an interrupted seven plus hour experience as a whole. But I have a day job and taking almost an entire day to watch a film isn’t very easy for me. However, I bet that seeing this in a theater without interruptions it should be a one of a kind experience. I’m halfway into the thing and like many observers, the Andrei Tarkovsky reference is obvious and the use of the facial of the actors is clearly from his admiration of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The composition of the frames and the entire cinematography is outstanding. I’ll stop my description here, but I’ll have a review coming as soon as I’ll finish the whole thing.

It also means that until I finish watching Sátántangó there won’t be any new posts. Moreover, I’m going on a trip to Florida getting around Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, Cap Canaveral, some Skateshops because it is another of my passions, a Tampa Bay Lightning game and in the same trip my wife and I are stopping in Chicago for a few days more to get around, have a look at the nice architecture, get to a Blackhawks game, and fill ourselves at the wonderful restaurant scene of the Windy city.

That’s pretty much what I’ll be up to in the next days. So don’t get mad if I don’t post regularly for a while but I’ll get back in full force after Easter.