Satantango by Bela Tarr, the one that's just under 8 hours long!
This is probably close to being my overall fave film. I love Bela Tarr and the complete mix of emotions he conjures up through:
Weather (constant cold, wind and rain mostly);
Landscapes (muddy plains, bleak Hungarian vistas and farms);
Architecture (crumbling, decayed and overrun with spiders, but also full of character - no modern soulless plasterboard boxes here);
Characters (the cursed, the oppressed, the sick, and plenty of tough-as-old-boots);
Story (the original story by László Krasznahorkai is not captured in full but it is ultimately what drives the viewer through almost 8 hours of film);
Music (simple, iterative, pulsating, emotional and imperfect - Mihaly Vig is the lead actor and the creator of the soundtrack - he must really understand Bela Tarr as they go together so well). The majority of Satantango has accordion music. Where it is used best in my view is the drunken scenes of the cafe/bar where the revelers don't appear to notice that they are dancing to the same music for hours. A similar scene in Damnation (Bela Tarr) was also one of my favorites, as it really showed the ugliness, and the beauty within the ugliness of the drunken dancers).
His speciality though is the camera and the minimal editing; what he achieves in film captures so many amazing still B&W images (if they were frozen in time and printed I would buy loads) and that is the biggest reason he has become so important to me (as an amateur photographer of landscapes).
Lovers of Hollywood and/or the easy-to-watch should avoid at all costs. This is only for the deep.
E2A
10/10 (but I am very deep!)