Though based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s 1958 crime novella The Pledge (which was also the source for Sean Penn’s 2001 film of the same name), György Fehér’s Twilight plays more like an existential horror film than a noir or police procedural. Indeed, the ins and outs of the investigation into the mysterious murder of a child are of little concern to Fehér, who crafts a mood piece that’s keyed to the aura of dread and despair that grips a community in the wake of this and other similar murders.
Set in a small, remote Hungarian town surrounded by vast hills and dense thickets of trees, Twilight exists in a sort of metaphorical purgatory. Throughout, the film’s spare black-and-white images, deliberate pacing, and glacial camera movements, coupled with the near-constant rumbling ambiance that dominates the soundtrack, brilliantly conjure how an unseen but ubiquitous evil haunts the townsfolk. Long tracking shots of the landscape enveloped in fog and mist further arouse feelings of impending doom as the child serial killer—known only as “the giant” and “the wizard”—wreaks havoc, seemingly in non-corporeal form.
The killer’s inscrutability becomes a defining feature of Twilight, which frequently jumps ahead in time, often eliding crucial events without contextualizing much of what’s occurred in the interim. That the characters, including the lead detective in the case (Péter Haumann), don’t have names further contributes to the constant feeling of uncertainty. Even the pledge that informs the title of Dürrenmatt’s novella—a promise on the detective’s part to bring the killer to justice—is delivered as the camera, already on the other side of a window, tracks away from another detective (János Derzsi), who’s speaking to the first victim’s mother, and toward Haumann’s character, who’s eavesdropping on the conversation from outside the house. It’s as if the evil forces themselves are drawing Fehér’s attention away from the details of the case.
The lack of any propulsive narrative highlights the stasis that’s of a piece with both the murder investigation at the center of the story and Twilight’s own slow-cinema style, which bears the clear influence of Béla Tarr (who served as consultant on the film). The killer kills again, yet the inability to make any headway in the case leaves the lead detective obsessing over clues that go nowhere, searching for a truth that remains frustratingly out of reach.
In one of the film’s most haunting shots, the camera gradually tracks left from within the police station where detectives discuss the case and lands on a group of citizens standing outside, motionless and unblinking, like ghosts stuck in a liminal space seemingly brought on by the horrific murders of the town’s children. At its most arresting, Twilight gives a grueling, almost paradoxical significance to a force of evil that’s as inexplicable as it is unimaginable.
Image/Sound
Transferred from a 4K restoration approved by cinematographer Miklós Gurbán, Second Run’s Blu-ray boasts fantastic detail, tight and even grain, and an impressive range of subtly differentiated grays. Deep blacks are present only on occasion, such as an early scene in an elementary classroom, but as Gurbán intentionally avoided stark contrast between black and white in most scenes, this is clearly an aesthetic choice rather than a flaw in the transfer. The audio is top-notch, especially in its robust presentation of the film’s dense sound design.
Extras
In their respective interviews, Gurbán and editor Mária Czeilk discuss György Fehér’s working methods in detail. The disc also comes with filmed appreciations by filmmakers Peter Strickland, James Norton, and the Quay brothers, as well as one by critic and author Chris Fujiwara. The Quay brothers eloquently discuss Fehér’s career and influences, Hungarian cinema, and their encounters with Twilight over the years, typically in degraded VHS dubs. Fujiwara’s thoughts are also insightful, given his focus on the adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s novella. The package also comes with a bound booklet containing an essay by filmmaker Stanley Schtinter, who lyrically and humorously delves into his relationship with Twilight, which sparked a trip to the locations in Hungary where it was shot.
Overall
Second Run’s new Blu-ray of György Fehér’s haunting, evocative Twilight comes with a stunning 4K transfer and a slew of fascinating new interviews.
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I think there is a problem with the transfer to blu ray. The image is full of digital compression artifacts. I think you will see these even on the special features.