A seminal work of “slow cinema” by the late Béla Tarr, SÁTÁNTANGÓ is based on the book by Nobel Prize winner László Krasznahorkai.
The story follows members of a small, defunct agricultural collective living in a post-apocalyptic landscape after the fall of Communism who, on the heels of a large financial windfall, set out to leave their village. As a few of the villagers secretly conspire to take off with all of the earnings for themselves, a mysterious character, long thought dead, returns to the village, altering the course of everyone’s lives forever.
Shot in stunning black-and-white by Gábor Medvigy and filled with exquisitely composed and lyrical long takes, SÁTÁNTANGÓ unfolds in twelve distinct movements, alternating forwards and backwards in time, echoing the structure of a tango dance. Tarr’s vision, aided by longtime partner and collaborator Ágnes Hranitzky, is enthralling and his portrayal of a rural Hungary beset by boozy dance parties, treachery, and near-perpetual rainfall is both transfixing and uncompromising.
SÁTÁNTANGÓ has been justly lauded by critics and audiences as a masterpiece and inspired none other than Susan Sontag to proclaim that she would be “glad to see it every year for the rest of [her] life.”
Presented with 2 intermissions:
Section 1 = 2h 17m
15 minute break (approx. 3:00pm–3:15pm)
Section 2 = 2h 4m
45 minute break (approx. 5:15pm–6:00pm)
Section 3 = 2h 57m
Presented in a 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative by Arbelos in collaboration with The Hungarian Filmlab.
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