When I think of Bela Tarr, I mostly think of Robert Koehler insisting over and over (in print and in conversations) what a magnificently austere, ground-breaking filmaker he was.
Honestly? I’ve only seen one of Tarr’s film — The Turin Horse (2011), which is composed of 30 long takes. No one can ever accuse that film of looking or feeling fake. It has to do with grimness, banality and animal cruelty. It was shot between 2008 and 2010.
I met Tarr once in Hollywood, around 14 or 15 years ago during an AFIFest. He was hanging with a film-critic friend or two, and smiling quite heartily.
Tarr always looked 15 years older than his calendar years. When he was in his mid to late 50s, he looked 70. When he turned 70, he looked 85.