Quay Brothers: The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes - KarazwLaimoon

Cine Club: Wednesday 17 December 2014 (7 pm)

Title: The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
Director: Brothers Quay (UK)
Released: 1977
Language: English (Eng S/T)
Duration: 1 hour and 35 min
Key Actors: Amira Casar, Gottfried John, Assumpta Serna

 

Interesting Links about the Film:
Trailer on YouTube: Click Here
IMDB Click Here
Film Comment Click Here
Dreams Click Here (Conversation with the brothers about the film)
New York Times Click Here
Independent Film Quarterly Click Here
Eye for Film Click Here
Pop Matters Click Here
Art Note Click Here

Synopsis: (adapted from Wikipedia Click Here)
On the eve of her wedding, the beautiful opera singer Malvina is mysteriously killed and abducted by a malevolent Dr. Droz. Felisberto, an innocent piano tuner, is summoned to Droz’s secluded villa to service his strange musical automatons. Soon, Felisberto learns of the doctor’s plans to stage a "diabolical opera" and of Malvina’s fate. He secretly conspires to rescue her, only to become trapped himself in the web of Droz’s perverse universe. As the time for the performance draws near, piano tuner of earthquakes Felisberto sets out to activate the seven essential automata who dot the dreaded doctor's landscape and make sure all the essential elements are in place. Once again instilled with life after her brief stay in the afterworld, amnesiac Malvina is soon drawn to the mysterious Felisberto as a result of his uncanny resemblance to her one-time fiancé Adolfo.

 

Director: Brothers Quay (Adapted from Wikipedia Click Here)
Stephen and Timothy Quay (1947 - ) are American identical twins. They are influential stop-motion animators. They are also the recipients of the 1998 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design for their work on the play The Chairs.

The Brothers Quay reside and work in England, having moved there in 1969 to study at the Royal College of Art, London after studying illustration at the Philadelphia College of Art, now the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. In England they made their first short films, which no longer exist after the only print was irreparably damaged. They spent some time in the Netherlands in the 1970s and then returned to England where they teamed up with another Royal College student, Keith Griffiths, who produced all of their films. In 1980 the trio formed Koninck Studios, which is currently based in Southwark, south London.

The Brothers Quay’s works (1979 – present) show a wide range of often esoteric influences, starting with the Polish animators Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica and continuing with the writers Franz Kafka, Bruno Schulz, Robert Walser and Michel de Ghelderode, puppeteers Wladyslaw Starewicz and Richard Teschner and composers Leoš Janáček, Zdeněk Liška and Leszek Jankowski, the last of whom has created many original scores for their work. Czech animator Jan Švankmajer, for whom they named one of their films (The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer), is also frequently cited as a major influence, but they actually discovered his work relatively late, in 1983, by which time their characteristic style and preoccupations had been fully formed.[2] At a panel discussion with Daniel Bird and Andrzej Klimowski at the Aurora festival Norwich they emphasized the more significant influence on their work was Walerian Borowczyk, who made both animation shorts and live-action features.

Most of their animation films feature puppets made of doll parts and other organic and inorganic materials, often partially disassembled, in a dark, moody atmosphere. Perhaps their best known work is Street of Crocodiles, based on the short novel of the same name by the Polish author and artist Bruno Schulz. They have made two feature-length live action films: Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life and The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes.