Product Description
SÁTÁNTANGÓ &@45; New 25th anniversary 4K restoration of Béla Tarr's masterpiece.
#36 on the Sight & Sound / British Film Institute's Critic's Poll of the 100 Greatest Films Ever Made.
One of the greatest achievements in recent art house cinema and a seminal work of "slow cinema," SÁTÁNTANGÓ, based on the novel by László Krasznahorkai, follows the members of a humble agricultural community living in a bleak and punishing backwater after the fall of Communism. As a few of the villagers secretly conspire to take off with all of the community's annual earnings for themselves, a mysterious messiah, long thought dead, returns to the village and alters the course of everyone's lives forever.
Shot in stunning black-and-white by Gábor Medvigy and filled with exquisitely composed long takes, SÁTÁNTANGÓ unfolds in twelve distinct movements, alternating forwards and backwards in time, echoing the structure of a tango dance. Béla Tarr's vision, aided by long-time partner and collaborator Ágnes Hranitzky, is enthralling and his portrayal of rural Hungary beset by drunken revelry, treachery, and near-perpetual rainfall is both transfixing and uncompromising. SÁTÁNTANGÓ has been justly lauded by critics and audiences as a masterpiece and has been restored on occasion of its 25th anniversary.
Specs:
High Definition 1080p 1.66:1.
Dolby Digital Mono.
Region code: A/1.
Special Features:
New 4K restoration from the original negative and sound materials.
New video interview "A Sense of Rhythm" with composer and actor Mihály Víg.
New video essay "Orders of Time in Motion" by Kevin B. Lee.
2007 archival interview with director Béla Tarr.
U.S. Theatrical Trailer.
New English subtitle translation.
New essay "How to Watch Sátántangó" by Janice Lee and Jared Woodland.
Unlike most filmmakers who retire, Béla Tarr has actually stuck to this word. 2011’s “The Turin Horse” was indeed the Hungarian luminary’s final work, and a fitting swan song for a decades-long career that spawned several masterworks. At the top of that list is “Sátántangó,” Tarr’s 432-minute opus, which remains difficult to see 24 years after it was first released and has never been released on Blu-ray.
Until now, that is: Arbelos Films is working on a 4K restoration of the film, which will be re-released in theaters early next year with a Blu-ray/VOD release to follow. A boutique film distributor and digital restoration company, the Los Angeles–based Arbelos is also working on a 4K update of Dennis Hopper’s “The Last Movie.”