Before you make the joke, Werckmeister Harmonies does sound like the embodiment of the meme about a film bro trying to get you to watch a two-hour, black-and-white movie about the Serbian government shown through the eyes of a pigeon. However, in addition to swapping out the pigeon for a giant stuffed whale and Serbia for Hungary, this film defies any other easy comparisons. Using only 39 meticulously staged shots over 145 haunting minutes, the precise director that is Béla Tarr makes each one count, immersing us in a film that could initially appear small in scope but reveals itself to be mesmerizingly vast in ambition. The premise, about a small town that becomes forever changed by the arrival of a traveling circus, is merely the beginning of a gorgeously shot experience where a looming darkness soon takes hold of the characters, creating a reverie as oddly alluring as it is subtly disquieting. by Chase Hutchinson