A Londoni férfi (2007)

Director:

Béla Tarr

Writers:

Georges Simenon (novel)
Béla Tarr (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 November 2007 (Greece)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

One night Maloin, a switchman at a seaside railway station situated by a ferry harbour, witnesses a terrible event...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Based On Novel

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Miroslav Krobot	...	Maloin
Tilda Swinton	...	Camélia
Ági Szirtes	...	Mrs. Brown
János Derzsi	...	Brown
Erika Bók	...	Henriette
Gyula Pauer	...	Tapster
István Lénárt	...	Morrison
Kati Lázár	...	Bucher's Wife
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Oszkár Gáti	...	Maloin (voice)
Erzsébet Kútvölgyi	...	Camélia (voice)

Also Known As:

Homme de Londres, L' (France)
Mann aus London, Der (Germany)
The Man from London (International: English title)

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

France | Germany | Hungary

Language:

Hungarian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Canada:14A

Filming Locations:

Bastia, Haute-Corse, France

Company:

Ognon Pictures

Trivia:

The suicide of producer Humbert Balsan on 10 February 2005, prompted director Béla Tarr to shut down production of this film, after disputes with the other producers over a possible change in the film's financing.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Maloin and the bartender set up the chessboard and pieces for their daily game, they place the board with a black square in the lower right corner. (The baseball equivalent would be to have the catcher and batter set up at first base instead of home plate!)

Movie Connections:

Version of Homme de Londres, L' (1943)

Slightly disappointing effort from Bela Tarr

Tarr returns after a long absence. Unfortunately, it's not up to par. Well, I should say, I have much of the same problem with this film that I do with all of Tarr's films. I'm certainly not his biggest fan anyway. I love his aesthetic, and would definitely call him a genius just for his visual prowess. It's so extremely original. And he's so good at setting mood, although I should say that the mood of all of his films, at least his later, more well known films, is pretty close to the same. Dark, cold, lonely, the drudgery of life, etc. But as soon as the characters start to speak, I stop paying attention. I find most of the actual words of Tarr's films uninteresting, and, when the characters are talking, I start to realize that I don't find these people that interesting. They may look interesting, as Tarr captures their essence in severe close-ups, but they never say anything interesting. The Man of London unwisely adds plot to the mix. Tarr's earlier films have a wonderful meandering quality, where it feels like he's just capturing people going about their lives. That is true here to an extent, but this one has a pretty clear plot structure, and one that's been told often before: a man finds a pile of money that belongs to crooks, and he pays for it. It's not plot driven by any means, but that skeletal plot is followed, and it makes the film less interesting than Tarr's other films. Also, Tilda Swinton shows up as the protagonist's wife in what amounts to a cameo (she has about five minutes of screen time in this 2 hour and 12 minute film), and it's pretty distracting. There's a cute little nod to Satantango at one point, where people in a bar dance like they did in that behemoth. Also, the little girl with the cat from Satantango shows up as the protagonist's daughter. It's weird, because she looks exactly the same, except she's a woman now. A very, very creepy woman. Who probably still kills cats when nobody's looking.