Rent Damnation (1988)

Béla Tarr’s Bleak Rehearsal for Greatness - Damnation review by griggs

Rain, mud, coal buckets sliding endlessly across the skyline—Tarr’s world here is all entropy and erosion. The story of Karrer, a washed-up man clinging to an indifferent singer, feels less like a drama and more like a demonstration: long takes, slow repetition, and degradation staged with clinical precision. At times it plays like an exercise in film-making, a sketch for greater things to come.

Damnation narrows its gaze to personal decay. Karrer’s obsession rots from within, leaving him humiliated, barking into the void. By contrast, Werckmeister Harmonies widens the scope to a whole community unravelling—society collapsing rather than just one man. Seen in that light, this film feels like a practice run toward the later masterpiece.

Still, there’s a hypnotic pull in Tarr’s bleak vision. Life seems to be rotting before our eyes, and the rain never stops. You endure the gloom, half-admiring the method, half-waiting for the payoff Tarr would soon deliver.