In a bleak, unnamed mining community, local drunk Karrer
(Szekély) becomes involved with a married singer, much to her
husband’s annoyance. This bizarre triangle is rendered through
listless postures, occasionally portentous dialogue and an
atmosphere of unremitting middle-European gloom. Fans of Nico’s
music should feel at home in this universe of baroque, sub-Tarkovskian
doom-mongering. Whatever its specific shortcomings, there’s no
gainsaying the overall power of Hungarian director Béla
Tarr’s darkling moral vision and compositional palette. Certain
scenes - the protaganist and a dog barking each other out, a rowdy local
dance - will haunt you for days afterwards.
