Be careful what you ask for. I was praising French films for their ability to just meditate on loss and death without the melodramatic antics of American films, and then I decided to watch The Turin Horse, which makes French and Japanese films seem gaudy in comparison. I would not recommend this movie to the average movie goer. Bela Tarr makes Chantal Akerman look like Michael Bay. There is almost no talking for the first hour after the initial narration about Nietzsche. The movie is an unblinking, bleak, long shot examination of six days with a father, his daughter and a horse on their property. It feels like an older film: not only because it is shot in black and white, but because of the earnest philosophical meditations, the characters and the atmosphere. When American comedians joke about art house films, they are not exactly referencing films like this, but The Turin Horse is fairly close to it. Even I questioned my fortitude, but in the end, I am glad that I stuck with it, but regretted that I did not see it in the theaters because there were so many times that I got distracted and wanted to turn away and do something else. Is it about the futility and inane torture of daily life? Is The Turin Horse about the apocalypse or an anti-creation story? I vote for the latter, but perhaps philosophy lovers agree with the prior. I would point to the barren tree in the distance; the inability to escape a restrictive barren area; potatoes from the ground, instead of fruit; a father and daughter so no hope for productiveness or a new beginning; the failure of the elements; the abandonment of natural desires such as the desire to eat, sleep, move. Philosophers may point to the longest dialogue as a prophecy fulfilled by the events of the movie. Watch and decide for yourself then explain it to me.