Damnation (1988) & The Girl with the Needle (2024)
"I like the rain. I like to watch the water run down the window. It calms me down. I don't think about anything. I just watch the rain"
Dissecting these films has been difficult because to watch and appreciate both of them, you must experience them. Mere words fall short of capturing the sheer provocation these cinematic works evoke. They are different in theme but similar in conjuring a sense of despair and portraying the decay of humanity. In both films, an onus is placed on the audience to consume the work, sit with it, and pause with it. Actively participate even when it feels as if the films linger and alter time.
Damnation (Karhozat)
Directed by: Bela Tarr
Rated: 15
Damnation (1988) is slow-burning visual poetry that follows Karrer, a lonely drifter who fixates on a nightclub singer. The experience of watching this film embodies isolation and existentialism. As the hypnotic long shots move throughout the black-and-white world of Damnation, a less conventional narrative plays out and, more accurately, a visual descent into moral ruin and emotional trauma.
Trapped in cyclical inertia, the story, on the surface, sees Karrer come to an inevitable fate of solitude after pursuing the nightclub singer of the Titanik Bar. Sinking to desperate measures to rid himself of The Singer's husband, his romantic obstacle, Kerrar becomes embroiled in a smuggling job and convinces The Singer’s (her official character title) husband to take on such a job. Despite taking the job, Kerrar fails to act on opportunity and passively falls victim to his ‘fate’ and inevitable spiral that ends in a surreal and harrowing end where he loses his humanity.
That is the story on the surface; however, underneath, an apocalyptic future is presented to the audience, one that shows humanity in the most grotesque ways. An unmotivated narrative that lingers and haunts the screen forces us to watch decay consume the unnamed place. Despite a recognisable setting, Tarr creates a surreal and post-apocalyptic world in Damnation, through disintegration and texture. Rain is not just a backdrop but an active participant in the film’s atmosphere and a metaphor for Karrer's inner deterioration. It consumes the environment. The rain erodes, creating an unflinching textural canvas.
