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Magic (Post) Realism: Werckmeister Harmonies (Hungary – 2000)

Thu, 2/20 · 7:00 pm9:30 pm · 301 Julis Romo Rabinowitz Building

Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies; Humanities Council; Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Magic (Post) Realism: Werckmeister Harmonies (Hungary – 2000)

Based on the 1989 novel The Melancholy of Resistance by the renown Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, Werckmeister Harmonies tells the story of János Valuska, a young newspaper-delivery man who lives in an unnamed, desolate and isolates small town in Hungary with his ‘uncle,’ György Eszter, a composer and musicologist obsessed with the work of 17th century Baroque musical theorist, Andreas Werckmeister. Their lives are rather uneventful—as per the town they live in—until omnious signs of a circus’s arrival starts plaguing the townfolk. Among other fantastical attractions, the ‘circus’ promises to showcase a huge stuffed whale, and its star performer, ‘The Prince’—a man nobody has ever seen.

Born in 1955 in Pécs, Hungary, Béla Tarr requires no introduction. Beginning his career aiming to tell everyday stories about ordinary people (often in the style of cinema vérité) his evolved style has been interpreted as having a pessimistic view of humanity, yet a striking poetry. Tarr has frequently collaborated with Krasznahorkai, of whom he famously adapted Sátántangó (1994), a film frequently appearing in scholarly polls of the greatest films ever made. Similarly, in a 2016 poll by BBC, Werckmeister Harmonies was listed as one of the top 100 films since 2000 (56th position).

(Film running time: 2h 25min)

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