8.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Plotting on a payment they are about to receive, residents of a collapsing collective farm see their plans turn into desolation when they discover that Irimiás, a former co-worker who they thought was dead, is coming back to the village.
Starring: János Derzsi, Erika Bók, Mihály Kormos, Mihály VigForeign | 100% |
Drama | 83% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Hungarian: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Hollywood may understandably consider itself the “leader” of the global film industry, but in at least one category it has significant room for "improvement", though "improvement" may not exactly be the correct term for more antsy types, as will be disclosed. Running times for movies coming out of La-La Land or frankly most other major film capitals have tended to be between an hour and a half and two hours, at least roughly speaking, part of which is due to the fact that exhibitors wanted a “product” they could show several times daily, hopefully at easily discernable times, in a kind of presaging of the way broadcast and later much of cable television would opt for 30, 60, 90 or 120 minute episode lengths. Occasionally “fearless” (or, frankly, stupid) filmmakers have stepped outside of this self imposed restriction, and there are some insanely long narrative films that have appeared through the years, including Heaven's Gate (our database lists 217 minutes for the Blu-ray, but a number of online sites list 5 hours and 25 minutes as at least one of its theatrical running times); Cleopatra (Blu-ray: 251 minutes, online lists of theatrical running time: 5 hours, 20 minutes); Hamlet (242 minutes); and Gone with the Wind (238 minutes). Even some of the five hour plus running times mentioned above can be dwarfed by various other films that have appeared through the years, in narrative, documentary and experimental formats. A 2012 Swedish film called Logistics kind of plies a middle ground between documentary and experimentation in a recounting (literally and figuratively) of the manufacture and sale of a pedometer (albeit in "reverse" order, starting with the sale and then working backwards), which clocks in at an astounding 51,420 minutes (that's over 35 days for those keeping track). Claude Lanzmann's harrowing 1985 Holocaust documentary Shoah lasts 568 minutes, and was famously screened over the course of two days for many who saw it theatrically. Into this temporal fray steps Sátántangó, a 1994 Hungarian film from Béla Tarr which runs for well over seven hours and which presents such a monolithic edifice to absorb and hopefully understand that there are a number of online articles offering detailed analyses that can almost seem like advice about how to go about watching the film. (The article I've linked to is by the same people credited with an essay supposedly included with this release, though my review copy came without an insert booklet, which is where I'm assuming it is, since there's no PDF material on either of the Blu-ray discs.)
Sátántangó is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arbelos with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. While my copy didn't come with an insert booklet which might provide more information, Arbelos' website discloses the following about this transfer:
Sátántangó has been restored in 4K from the original 35mm camera negative by Arbelos in collaboration with The Hungarian Filmlab.The mise-en-scčne for this often intentionally provocative film is really distinctive, as can perhaps be made out from some of the screenshots I've included with this review. Gábor Medvigy's gorgeous black and white cinematography can utilize deep focus or even what looks like split diopter moments, offering both incredible close-ups and staggering, if bleak, vistas of an often sodden and rainy countryside. Detail levels are often exceptional, especially in the most extreme close-ups, where some of the weathered faces of members of the collective have an almost topographical appearance. Textures on things like stone walls or even the muddy roads various characters walk on tend to look precise. There are fluctuations in clarity which may be more noticeable than usual simply because there are so few hard edits in the film and these variances tend to happen at some of those juncture points. There are some isolated moments, typically scenes shots against skies, where grain can look slightly on the "swarmy" side, and just a few passing snippets where compression might seem just a bit wobbly, as in the first of many shots through a lace curtain at around 21:15.
Sátántangó features a fine sounding DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track in the original Hungarian. The film is a study in both ambient environmental sounds as well as near silence a lot of times, as in the now famous opening sequence documenting a herd of cows wandering around various abandoned spaces. Dialogue sequences are presented cleanly and clearly, and Mihály Vig's score encounters no issues, either. Optional English subtitles are available.
When a trailer features a pull quote from Susan Sontag, you can pretty much assume that the film has attained a perceived hipness quotient that few manage to. Some may frankly find Sátántangó's length ridiculous and inherently forbidding, but for those with nerves steeled and perhaps an above average amount of patience, Sátántangó is a surprisingly riveting, if also relentlessly depressing, viewing experience. Whether that ends up being in spite of or because of its running time will probably be a point of debate. Technical merits are solid, and the supplementary package well done. With caveats noted, Highly recommended.
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