Reviews

In the beginning of the movie, Tarr wonders what happened to the Turin horse. To answer his own question he takes the horse from the story about Nietzsche and places it on a small storm-ravaged farm where only a father and his adult daughter lives. Their lives are monotone and rely upon routine because each day is nothing more than an opportunity to survive. The monotony of their lives is accentuated by the, on average, five-minute long shots and the black and white color. The movie is divided into six days and each day the audience is shown the same routine, the only difference being the angles and perspectives from which their routine is shown. When describing the movie, The Turin Horse seems lifeless and boring, but the cinematography, the score and the apocalyptic storm work together in harmony to a create a beautiful and hypnotizing atmosphere that drags you into their bleak world.

But the movie isn't entirely monotone. There are two instances where the rhythm of the movie is disrupted. On the second day, a neighbour comes by and starts rambling about how everything has been debased and on the third day a band of gypsies drinks from their well. When the daughter goes outside to chase them away, one of them says that her eyes are like the devil's and another gives her a book. She later reads from the book: "Morning will become night, night will be at an end...". These aren't the only disruptions in the movie, but they are the only disruptions that affect the rhythm. The other disruptions are small, but even more significant. Each day, the world around them deteriorates bit by bit. On the first day, the woodworms have "stopped". For 58 years the father has heard them but they suddenly stop and he doesn't know why. On the second day the horse won't move, on the third day the horse stops eating, on the fourth day the well dries up, on the fifth day the storm is replaced by darkness, and on the sixth day the father and daughter have stopped eating too.

This is a movie about the apocalypse. The raging storm symbolizes the coming of the apocalypse and the six days in the movie correspond to the six days of creation. Light is the first thing God creates according to the Bible, and it's the last thing that is taken away in The Turin Horse. But what's more interesting is why the horse and the woodworms realize that the apocalypse is coming before the humans do. I believe that this is explained by the neighbour and the gypsies. The human race has been debased, corrupted. We have strayed away from our origin and the Devil, everything bad, has seized humanity. Humanity's connection to nature and God (if there is one) has been broken the human species can therefore not sense that the apocalypse is coming.

Great plot, great acting, great minimal score, great cinematography, and there are some great metaphors and small details that challenges you and makes you think. The movie's only weak point is that it drags on a bit too much. 8/10.

Here are some metaphors and details details that I noticed coupled with some theories that I have (spoilers!): -The abandoned greenhouses are obviously metaphors for women who are alone and in debt. Ben preys on these women because no one would miss them, just like no one would miss an abandoned greenhouse.

-Haemi didn't fall into a well. If she did, one of the three older women would have remembered it. The well is a metaphor for her life. She's alone and can't crawl herself out of her debt. Jangsu shows up and saves her by brightening her life.

-Ben is obviously a psycopath. One of the ways you can see that is that he yawns when other people are laughing.

-A really important detail is that "cremation" and "makeup" are spelled the same way in Korean. This confirms that Ben is murdering (or at least doing something to) socially isolated women.

-"Greenhouse" and "plastic house" also have the same Korean translation. The women that Ben prey on have all had plastic surgery (probably), something a lonely woman who wants to be wanted would do.