Werckmeister Harmonies (Criterion Collection)

Béla Tarr's gravely haunting, challenging existential meditation is set in a bleak and wintry Hungarian village which is visited by a distinctly odd traveling circus. With its strange exhibits of medical oddities, and its disruptive and provocative manners, the circus has an increasingly destructive impact on the villagers, resulting in an apocalyptic breakdown of civil society. Lars Rudolph, Peter Fitz, and Hanna Schygulla star. 145 min. Widescreen; Soundtrack: Hungarian and German Dolby Digital stereo; Subtitles: English; bonus film "Family Nest" (1979): featurette. In Hungarian and German with English subtitles.