Stateside cinephiles know György Fehér for his collaborations with fellow Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr on his masterpieces “Sátántangó” and “Werckmeister Harmonies.” But the late Fehér was a filmmaker of his own right, although his films prove challenging to see outside his native country.
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American audiences get a chance to see one of Fehér’s two feature films next month in NYC, when Film Society At Lincoln Center screens a 4k restoration of “Twilight,” Fehér’s 1990 serial killer drama. And “Twilight” proves just as bleak as some of Tarr’s best movies. Based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt‘s 1958 novella “The Pledge,” the film follows a retired police detective who takes desperate and obsessive measures to track down a serial killer known as “The Giant.”
Arbelos debuted their new restoration of “Twilight” at the Berlinale in February. Miklós Gurbán oversaw the film’s restoration at National Film Institute – Hungarian Film Archive and FilmLab. Other recent restorations from Arbelos include Tarr’s 1994 film “Satantango” and 1988’s “Damnation,” Marcell Jankovics’ “Son of the White Mare,” Nina Menkes’ two 1991 films “Queen of Diamonds,” and “The Juniper Tree,” which stars Björk.
Fehér’s other feature film, “Passion,” an adaptation of “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” premiered at Cannes in 1998 in the “Un Certain Regard” section. Both than film and “Twilight” share Tarr’s love of stark black-and-white photography. So expect the new restoration of “Twilight” to be a beautiful sight on the big screen.
“I want to show to what extent the search for justice stands in ridiculous contrast to the eternity of nature,” Fehér said about “Twilight” in 1991. “Meanwhile, it is precisely this search that I am so fascinated by.” Join Fehér on that search when “Twilight” hits Film At Lincoln Center in NYC on April 21. Watch a trailer for the film below.