Hungarian director Bela Tarr has released the teaser trailer for his latest film, produced by the Minneapolis indie finance house Werc Werk Works. The film, which premieres today at the Berlin Film Festival, is said to be a bleak meditation on the human condition, whose central metaphor is a dying work horse owned by a farmer and his daughter.
Tarr is revered by cinephiles but unlikely to challenge Michael Bay for the hearts of mainstream moviegoers. His films are challenging, trancelike, symbolic, and dauntingly long, with endless unbroken takes and running times of up to seven hours. His latest runs a comparatively trim two-and-a-half hours, with just 30 cuts.
The new, minimalist trailer is not exactly pandering for mass appeal. It's 45 seconds of wind noises and a single fixed black and white image of a darkening oil lamp. A little spooky organ music off in the background, too.
Tarr has said that "The Turin Horse" marks the end of his movie career. "If you see the movie," he told the Wall Street Journal, "you will understand why."
