Rating: 
Summary: Great Poetry
Review: Take your time to watch this movie , as you would do to watch pictures or to read poetry.
Rating:
Summary: Most exquisitely executed film ever made!
Review: The imagery and subtlety of this film is beyond compare.I bought Institute the night I rented it. The Brothers Quay make excellent animation pieces, and at first I didn't think they would be able to pull off a film with actual people in it quite as well. But Institute is by far their greatest achievement!! I'm not sure why some reviewers thought the characters were flat- I didn't see that at all... and the pacing was perfect for the film (not atin any way boring). Each line said in Institute had meaning and usually was brought up again in a different context later in the film that would alter the sense and thus understanding of the words, adding texture and depth to the story. It is difficult to always hear what the characters are saying, and so this film warrants multiple viewings in order to fully grasp the entirety of its concept. I loved the religious inferences made to Kraus (indeed all the main characters had some Jesus/Judas/devil characteristics)and how wonderfully it was all tied together. It was a film with humor and sensitivity completely without pretentsion, which is rare in art films (think "Begotten" and David Lynch). The cinematography was the most original and lovely I've ever seen- if Kafka and Carroll made a film, it would turn out like this. The film was based on a novel and some short works by Robert Walser (who was around in Kafka's time- Kafka actually took a little of his style from him)and it helps to read them to make better sense of what goes on at times. The music is typical modern classical stuff the Quays usually use, and it is as always exquisite, especially "classroom dirge"- that scene gave me goosebumps!. This is a hard film to describe because it is so completely otherwordly and original. A must see for any literature fan or lover of dynamic, elegant film. These guys deserve a lot more credit than they get as directors.
Rating:
Summary: the quay bros are a trip.period.
Review: these two directors are the answer to all the crappy movies forced upon the public these days.basically,all their films are done in distinctly different way by cinematagrophy,script,and just the whole "atmoshere" in general.if you think of yourself as an open-minded individual get this dvd and also pick up the collection of short films they've released(get that for "the street of crocodiles"alone!such a total trip!!!)if you find yourself getting rid of these after you've seen them then consider yourself not very open-minded at the least.
Rating: 
Summary: THE BROTHERS PRETENTIOUS...
Review: This film is the sort of stunningly arrogant, pretentious drivel that certain viewers fall all over because they have little or no confidence in their own aesthetic judgement. Yes, there is interesting lighting - but nothing new in black & white cinema. Yes, there is intriguing set decoration - if you enjoy seeing a production designer's masturbatory instincts gone unchecked. The Brothers Quay have freely plundered and unabashedly plagiarized many great filmmakers here, yet sadly - and inexcusably - have paid hommage to none. They have squandered their plunder by saying absolutely nothing. The conclusion, by some, that this is a work of dreamy, meditative genius is simply their inability to admit that they've spent almost thirty dollars and have, literally, nothing to show for it. When, Amazon, will you allow us to give zero stars to a film's rating?
Rating:
Summary: Intolerably Beautiful.
Review: This film was my introduction to the Quay Bros. It took me completely unawares - I happened to see it at a festival one day, having never watched the stop-motion shorts, and what can I say...it blew my mind. I had no idea what was going on and I still don't; I mean, there's the obvious domination and submission theme, the fashionable fascination with turn-of-the-century class politics, the inevitable reluctant revolt against the System, "similar to Eraserhead," blah blah blah; what you're really looking at is an arty, deliberately weird version of "Gosford Park." Yet it's chock-a-block with the most absolutely incredible, riveting, breath-taking visuals you will ever see. The Quays are indeed consummate master image-makers. In fact "Institute Benjamenta" is for me is almost completely about the atmosphere created; the plot and dialogue are simply layers in the mix. The grainy black-and-white expressionist beauty of the film, the scintillating light and looming shadows, the uncanny choreography of the characters: this is what trips my trigger. I rarely watch it all the way through. I find some of the "comedy" elements trite and embarassing, the sort of cute intellectual in-jokes that smarmy hipsters chuckle at in art-house theatres to signify the extent of their reading or whatever. The storyline is really pretty boring and predictable, if obscured by frequent formal attempts at strangeness. I'm not all that charmed by ineffectual, witless Jakob. But none of that matters. "Institute Benjamenta" is indeed "a great feast of fetishized imagery," an eye-candy tour-de-force, and I can't recommend it enough on these grounds to anybody capable of becoming completely visually immersed in an object of incredible aesthetic beauty.
Rating:
Summary: Intolerably Beautiful.
Review: This film was my introduction to the Quay Bros. It took me completely unawares - I happened to see it at a festival one day, having never watched the stop-motion shorts, and what can I say...it blew my mind. I had no idea what was going on and I still don't; I mean, there's the obvious domination and submission theme, the fashionable fascination with turn-of-the-century class politics, the inevitable reluctant revolt against the System, "similar to Eraserhead," blah blah blah; what you're really looking at is an arty, deliberately weird version of "Gosford Park." Yet it's chock-a-block with the most absolutely incredible, riveting, breath-taking visuals you will ever see. The Quays are indeed consummate master image-makers. In fact "Institute Benjamenta" is for me is almost completely about the atmosphere created; the plot and dialogue are simply layers in the mix. The grainy black-and-white expressionist beauty of the film, the scintillating light and looming shadows, the uncanny choreography of the characters: this is what trips my trigger. I rarely watch it all the way through. I find some of the "comedy" elements trite and embarassing, the sort of cute intellectual in-jokes that smarmy hipsters chuckle at in art-house theatres to signify the extent of their reading or whatever. The storyline is really pretty boring and predictable, if obscured by frequent formal attempts at strangeness. I'm not all that charmed by ineffectual, witless Jakob. But none of that matters. "Institute Benjamenta" is indeed "a great feast of fetishized imagery," an eye-candy tour-de-force, and I can't recommend it enough on these grounds to anybody capable of becoming completely visually immersed in an object of incredible aesthetic beauty.
Rating:
Summary: Zzzzz
Review: Unacceptable! Hauntingly pointless and mesmirizingly boring; "Institute Benjamenta" is a study in self-indulgence.
Rating:
Summary: A Visually Amazing Film
Review: WARNING: This is not the type of film where you can just sit back and guzzle a beer and expect to get blown away by. You must be in the mood to view it... perhaps best on a rainy day with the curtains drawn and a blanket wrapped around your shoulders. The film itself is rather hard to describe. It's gorgeous to behold. Shot in luminous black and white it seems to exist in another world and time. If you relax and take it in the narrative and sound and visuals slowly draw you in as a dream would. Very seductive and soothing and absolutely eerie.
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