The R.I.P. Thread
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Béla Tarr has died, age 70.
If you love slow cinema (which I do), Tarr is really the benchmark. The Hungarian master has become a reference point with his meditative films that last for hours and hours. I’ve seen THE TURIN HORSE, WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES and – the best of them all – SATANTANGO at its whopping 7 hours and 30 minutes. It’s challenging, for sure, but also something to get positively lost in.
Just found out about Béla Tarr, that’s no age to leave us. I’m the proud owner of the Curzon Tarr boxset, but (much like Antonioni) it takes some stamina to sit down to a one of his films. I’ve seen the three that Thor mentions above (love Werckmeister Harmonies in particular) plus The Man From London.
One of the things I like most about the films are the scores by Mihály Vig. Mournful, hypnotic and artisanal, they could hardly be more different from the usual Hollywood composers. I listen to it a lot on YouTube.
I haven’t really checked out Vig’s scores on their own, if they exist on album at all. Thanks for the nudge, TG. I’d also like to check out Tarr’s early films, i.e. the pre-SATANTANGO films. They aren’t as crazy-long as the subsequent ones, so should be doable. But I definitely have to be in the mood.
Tarr really was the natural extension of Tarkovsky (along with Angelopoulos, sorta), and I’m not really sure if there are any current filmmakers that could follow that particular brand of slow cinema.
Sorry to hear it, but I’m not familiar with him, I’m afraid. I’ve heard vaguely of that score in some previous discussion. I’ll give it a shot.
Sorry to hear that Catherine O’Hara died yesterday, at only 71. She’s been a “figure” for most of my film conscious life, especially because of her Elfman/Burton connection. But obviously also HOME ALONE (there’s some weird cosmic irony when both of Kevin’s parents now have died, while the thieves are still alive). I also enjoyed her work in SCHITT’S CREEK in recent years.
I indeed remember her for HOME ALONE only without having her name conciously remembered… Although I saw BEETLEJUICE I wasn’t aware she was in there. In any case 71 is far too young by nowdays standards…
Just realized that she sang Sally in NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, one of my favorite Elfmans… Elfman had posted about her on Insta reminding me…
Ouch. Robert Duvall has died. Yes, 95 is incredibly good innings, but still sad. What a legend. He played in many of my favourite films; loved his stoic calm in many of them. From TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD to THE ROAD.
Yeah, on of the all time great screen actors.
For some reason I always first think of LONESOME DOVE although he was is no many other movies. To me one of the kind of actors with a certain screen presence you cannot learn.
…and now Frederick Wiseman, the legendary documentary filmmaker, has died. I came to him late in the game, with the excellent films EX LIBRIS, IN JACKSON HEIGHTS and CITY HALL (the 2020 documentary, not the 1996 fiction film with a Goldsmith score), then the great CENTRAL PARK from 1990. But 96…like Duvall, a great age to reach.
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/16/1184170407/frederick-wiseman-obituary
Jürgen Habermas has died, at a whopping 96 years old. So good innings.
https://apnews.com/article/juergen-habermas-dead-germany-2b541721af6cb19abfaa923359d091b5
Habermas was a genius philosopher and sociologist, no doubt about it, but he was also a frustration point for me when I was at uni. Some of his texts were very difficult, especially because he had sentences that ran for almost half a page. But I got through his 1962 classic tome Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit nonetheless, and – in retrospect – have found some of his musings helpful.
Habermas was part of the socalled Frankfurt School and a pupil of Theodor Adorno. I’ve always found the School interesting as an idea and “movement”, although I disagree with many of their musings – especially in relation to film music (like Hans Eisler and Theodor Adorno’s seminal 1947 book Composing for the Films, where they dig into Hollywood film music as the enemy and Brecht-ian verfremdungseffects as the “ideal”….never understood why it had to be so black and white, despite a rightful call for critical attitudes).
Oh no, appears Chuck Norris has died, age 86. I always felt he was basically immortal. All those memes. Like Keith Richards.
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/chuck-norris-dead-walker-texas-ranger-dies-1236694953/
I’ve never really had any connection to his films, like Bud Spencer he was more a reference point while growing up. Loved him in the EXPENDABLES movies. Some good scores have come from his movies.
He only was in EXPENDABLES 2.
Some good scores:
DELTA FORCE – Alan Silvestri
FIREWALKER – Gary Chang
CODE OF SILENCE – David Michael Frank
WALKER TEXAS RANGER – Chris FrankeYes, DELTA FORCE is great. And CODE OF SILENCE was a nice discovery a few years ago.
I also dig Francesco de Masi’s LONE WOLF MCQUADE.
Norris’ legacy will be more as a cult icon than anything else, but you can have a long afterlife as just that.
….and on which other messageboard can you have death notices for Jürgen Habermas and Chuck Norris right after each other? 😀
We’re total nuts over here. Those Norris action movies were part of the 80s for me although I was never a big fan. Some nice scores indeed and even those rather problematic MISSING IN ACTION have probably better score than they deserve (although not too familar in detail).
I’d like to offer up Len Deighton to this thread. Not sure how well known he is outside of the UK, but he wrote The Ipcress File and a host of other spy novels, plus wartime and post-war thrillers, non-fiction and a cook book (!)
Long one of my favourite authors, his magnum opus is the trilogy of trilogies generally referred to as the Game, Set and Match set (also Hook, Line and Sinker and Faith Hope and Charity), and the tenth book of nine, Winter, a prequel of sorts. Made into a tv series in the 80s, Deighton suppressed it after one showing I think due to casting issues. It’s available on YouTube, with the great Ian Holm as dual German/English spy Bernie (Bernd) Samson.
RIP that man.
Not familiar with him, but I know the film THE IPCRESS FILE, of course. And since Ian Holm is one of my five favourite actors who ever lived, you sold in WINTER pretty good.
Yeah, know the movie ICEPRESS FILE (nice Barry score) and ofcourse Ian Holm. I think that series I never saw though.
As we spoke of ICEPRESS FILE: Quartet Record just announced that they will release a new recording of it:
Produced and orchestrated by Leigh Phillips
I have the old album digitally. Nice one from IMHO Barry’s best time.But I didn’t really long for more or a better recording…
A real shame. Just the other day, you brought up PATRIOT GAMES, and I was singing the virtues of “Harry’s Game”. I’m also a fan of their score for LEGEND (no, not the Ridley Scott film). Not that thrilled with their other stuff (I prefer sister Enya’s solo material over Clannad’s more folksy music), but most definitely a classic band and an iconic voice.
I don’t think Clannad is that folksy. They often used synths in a very nice way, and was very successful in that pop/new age landscape. Lore from 1996 has many highlights.
Oh, the voice of CLANNAD… LEGEND is of course a classic from childhood, too (Wasn’t there a re-release recently ofthe score, too?), Never really explored their work but also had the “folksy” impression despite synth usages. Don’t mind celtic folk styling though at all. Good time to start with the LORE recommendation probably!
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