Family Nest

1979 HU Bela Tarr
✰✰ 1/2

Extended family in one, small apartment while son and his wife wait, wait, wait for a flat of their own provides friction necessary for a narrative rendered in facial close-ups. In near-monologues, scene upon scene builds backstory and expounds on character, politics. No heroes exist, only people less-sympathetic due to environment: how else could they act? Claustrophobia reigns by the end, the only respite a scene in an amusement park punctuated by a jump-cut to a man retching. If you seek later Tarr style, seek it in one of the first images: long take, long shot, architecture, figure moving in the distance, camera pulling back. Not pleasant viewing, exhausting, but with rewards. Original title: Családi tüzfészek.