The Turin Horse (15)

Mesmerising. Through their bleak existence of everyday drudgery there was a weirdly comforting feeling watching this beautifully shot film. The moody lighting and rich blacks gave a feeling of warmth and depth. Sympathy was felt for the horse whose life consisted of pulling a cart then locked in the barn, but then looking to father & daughter whose existence wasn't any better, their highlight of the day was taking it in turns to look out of the window. Even the boiled potatoe lost its appeal towards the end.

Hardcore!

I'm a Tarr junkie, and this is one of his best. Nobody (out of about 30) walked out, and it seemed, surprisingly, about an hour shorter than the actual length. Not quite up to the 5-star Satantango and Werckmeister Harmonies, but pretty good and utterly hypnotic.

The opening shot of the horse slogging along is great; the ending's good. In between, though, I kept finding myself wondering just how strong the wind was if it didn't blow the flimsy-looking cover off the well. A bit later, I began to 'see' the fellas throwing the leaves in front of the wind machine and the wires attached to the hilltop tree which some other chumps were yanking to make it look like there really was a wind. The horse was good. I wished we'd seen more of the horse.

cinematically stark and compelling. but a chore to sit through. it gives new meaning to the concept of "hardcore arthouse", and thts coming from me who generally likes arthouse movies. the movie would have benfitted by being editted down to at the most twothirds of its actual length.

Agree completely that this is an art house film for cinema buffs. I gave it 5 stars for its overarching, uncompromising consistency of craft and vision, however unpleasant, and, yes, even boring, and the way the stark black and white imagery stays in your head. The movie is very "cinematic" in the manner in which you can play play it back in your memory rewind system almost frame by frame. Having said all that, I wouldn't label the film entertaining, wouldn't care to see it again, and wouldn't recommend it to most moviegoers.

I can't give it a star rating, I walked out after 90 mins. This is hard-core arthouse. Torturous repetitive, monotonous, long painful scenes hamming home 'there is no point to life'. If that's your thing, enjoy.

This film is the best example I've come across of the relativity of time. Béla Tarr somehow manages to make two-and-a-half hours seem like two-and-a-half years. I was one of the few survivors to see the film; half the audience starved to death before the end,

Found this movie too boring. Really, it's tiring to sit through. If I have to undergo so much torture to learn that seemingly profound lesson, then that's not my idea of a great movie.

I think the film cannot be understood outside the biblical and only biblical context. It is a very refined, subtle, painfully subtle film where the director perhaps said more than he intended. I see Nietzsche's connection quite clearly.