The Turin Horse is one of those films that film school grads with a fragile sense of self-worth insist they like even though it’s really just 150 minutes of watching an old dude eat a potato and they goddamn well know it. Still, these same film nerds double down on the belief that The Turin Horse is a profoundly moving work of art that shines a dark light into the most terrifying corners our our meaningless human lives because, well, it just makes them feel special to “get” something so unwatchable. However, perhaps we can’t fault those delicate egos for pretending to connect with such an impenetrable film. Perhaps, the supposed fans of this film were simply suckered into loving it due to its spectacularly dark soundtrack:
Like some kind of combination of Phillip Glass bullshit crossed with the darkest parts of “Venus in Furs,” Mihâly Vig’s “Horse” is played relentlessly, over and over through most of the run time of The Turin Horse. It’s a simple, almost structureless song, repeating the same three-note dirge-like melodies over and over. Dark, low-end strings make up the bulk of the instrumentation, with an exquisitely placed organ in the background, rising in and out of the mix.
It’s as perfect a song as there ever could be for a film that so relentlessly probes into the melancholy absurdity of the human condition. Like The Turin Horse, this song works its way into your psyche, taking root and laying bare all of your preconceived notions as to the meaning (or lack there-of) of existence. Both the film and song are masterworks of minimalist horror, otherworldly gates into the black nothingness beyond the veil.
Or, at least, all of that is what someone who can’t bring himself to admit that the new Baywatch movie might have been a more enjoyable 2 and a half hours of his life than The Turin Horse was WOULD say if he were going to discuss this song.
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