Almanac of Fall

The occupants of a large apartment desperately try to relate with each other: fighting over financial matters, trying to establish their sovereignty, revealing their fears and their loneliness, grasping for love, all the while clinging to each other and hating themselves for it. To say that this a harsh tale, is to really note how bleak their lives are, how grim the large apartment is, and how unsatisfying is their love life and everything around them.

Tarr's camera is everywhere, under them, over them, close-up and panning the room. His choice of colors for the grim apartment is curious and provoking. This is a tough film to watch, but if you want to see something that is introspective, something that has a rawness to it that is uncompromising, then this existential-like film fits the bill, as it generates an uncomfortable and uncompromising tension that is very perceptive about the human condition. Above all, its message is, you must love someone, which is easier said, than done, as the filmmaker subtly asks the question, what is it that you believe in?