I believe and have stated firmly that the two best collaborations between filmmaker and musician are Krzysztof Kieslowski & Zbigniew Preisner, and Bela Tarr & Mihaly Vig. Last week I wrote a post about Kieslowski and Preisner, and so this week I’m following it up with one on Tarr and Vig.
Bela Tarr is one of the most unseen filmmakers. Not that he himself is unseen; his films are largely unseen. In New Zealand, where I live, not a single one of his films are available on DVD, and if I wanted to see one, I’d have to turn to the internet or buy the films myself. So far I have managed to track down two Tarr films via YouTube. I downloaded them and then watched them on a bigger screen, but of course it’s not the same as seeing them in the cinema. Those two films I found were Werckmeister Harmonies (which after rewatching the other day I unfussily described to a twitter friend as ‘my all-time favorite film’ and Damnation, which I saw and reviewed last week. I am currently planning on buying a box set of his 450-minute magnum opus Satantango via Amazon, and I expect based on the clips of the film I’ve seen online, that it will climb up my favorite films list also. I simply cannot wait to experience this on a widescreen television, in high quality, in one sitting. But in the meantime, I’m going to share with you a few stunning, beautiful tracks that Mihaly Vig, Tarr’s composer (and the star of Satantango), wrote and performed for Tarr’s films. So go ahead and give it a listen, and tell me what you think.
Valuska (from Werckmeister Harmonies):
Old (from Werckmeister Harmonies):
Kesz as egesz (from Damnation):
Lassu tanc (from Damnation):
Kortanc (from Damnation):