Rating: 
Summary: If only the actors would shut up
Review: "Institute Benjamenta" has all the positive attributes one would expect from the Brothers Quay: poetic and haunting scenic composition, magnificent photography with ultra-shallow depth of field (a Quay hallmark), and an eerie off-key musical score perfectly mated to the visuals.What the film lacks -- and lacks quite desperately -- is effective writing. The Brothers' verbal skills are, unfortunately, several orders of magnitude below their compelling visual imagination. The result is that scene after scene is damaged by lines of dialogue that range from pedestrian to downright painful. While "The Brothers Quay Collection" DVD of (dialogue-free!) short films remains an enthusiastic five-star recommendation, "Institute Benjamenta" is much more hit-or-miss. Fans of the Quays will at least want to take a look; others may be better off skipping this one.
Rating:
Summary: If only the actors would shut up
Review: "Institute Benjamenta" has all the positive attributes one would expect from the Brothers Quay: poetic and haunting scenic composition, magnificent photography with ultra-shallow depth of field (a Quay hallmark), and an eerie off-key musical score perfectly mated to the visuals. What the film lacks -- and lacks quite desperately -- is effective writing. The Brothers' verbal skills are, unfortunately, several orders of magnitude below their compelling visual imagination. The result is that scene after scene is damaged by lines of dialogue that range from pedestrian to downright painful. While "The Brothers Quay Collection" DVD of (dialogue-free!) short films remains an enthusiastic five-star recommendation, "Institute Benjamenta" is much more hit-or-miss. Fans of the Quays will at least want to take a look; others may be better off skipping this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Eccentrically sombre
Review: A quiet and softly spoken man arrives at a ghostly building to enrol for the servants class taught there. He rings the doorbell and is greeted by a monkey's face through the small hole in the door. The man's name is Jakob. He enters and meets one of the two owners (a brother and sister). The brother is unpleasant, and informs Jakob that there are no favourites here. Jakob goes into class to meet the other students. They all announce their names to him and then fall over. The lessons are presumptuous and iterative. They involve the men swaying from side to side and standing on one leg. They really are quite eccentric. The institute seems to be its own little world away from reality, with its low ceiling rooms. The sister soon has a strange fondness for Jakob. This is a very sombre film, but has a unique air to it. The pacing is pedestrian, but you stay with it. The acting is good, and the camerawork is meticulous and probing.
Rating:
Summary: Quickly becoming my favorite film
Review: A total dream. Definitely not a film for everyone! This film can truly be called "artsy fartsy". :) If you're familiar with the Brothers Quay short animations, then you'll recognize many of their concepts here. I own this DVD and only watch it every now and then. It's one of those movies you keep around to watch when the mood is right. Warning: you should only buy this movie if you KNOW you can tolerate the bizarre.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece!
Review: After viewing their collection of short animation pieces I had high hopes when I purchased this DVD.
I just viewed it a couple of days ago and I was astonished by the beauty of it.
I noticed a lot of the themes the brothers used in their short animations. For example, Anamorphosis is being used for the image of two copulating deer, a lot of 'Stille Nacht' influences and there appears an animated piece in the movie that is taken directly from 'Stille Nacht 3' (the Brother's obsession with deer antler is very noticeable throughout the whole movie).
Some accuse the Brothers of being pretentious but you can't deny the beauty of this movie, especially the use of lighting and their play with shadows.
After viewing 'Institute Benjamenta' I only hope for Zeitgeist to release more of the Brothers' alchemical short movies.
BRAVO brothers Quay!!
Rating:
Summary: A Gift from God
Review: Basically this is great movie. It so uncomprimisingly original, and its style and mood is second only to Eraserhead.
If you have a place in your heart for Eraserhead, this is a no-brainer. The Bros. Quay have made a movie that touches those same bent regions of the imagination. Not as frightening, but certainly as beautiful.
To say this movie is self-absorbed is to deny the power of the unique vision seen on the screen. There is nothing self-absorbed about outright originality.
Rating:
Summary: feast for your eyes
Review: Beautiful imagery, intense plot line, lots of symbolism... This is a great movie.
Rating:
Summary: 5 stars. Not because it's perfect.
Review: But because there is very little else up to this standard.
Whilst not as magic as the Quays short films, (Personally I can't think of anything that is). This film is still a beautiful one. Others have commented on weakness in the dialogue, while this may be true in places, scenes such as that where members of the institute act out scenes from life are wonderful. A classroom full of grown men, (where did they find the actor who looks more like Egon Schiele than Egon Schiele did?), chanting in unison "The institute is no place for your vile fantasies duchess, please remove your hand from my knee". Well it made me smile anyway.
Self indulgent? Yes, (who else do you indulge, focus groups?).
Boring? In places.
Leagues more interesting than anything that mainstream cinema has to offer? Definately.
Rating:
Summary: Visually pleasing
Review: I found the Bros. Quay by accident at the video store. After seeing their short films, I wanted more. Institute Benjamenta was visually amazing and the musical score along with it haunting. It is hard to compare with their collection. Definitely a must-see but I did start to lose interest towards the end. Maybe this type of cinema is better in short films. Their next project should be a collection of short films with real actors. I hope that they continue to produce!
Rating: 
Summary: Not the best Quay film...
Review: I had such hopes for this movie... Seeing the short works of the Brothers Quay was an inspiration; particularly considering how easy it is to make a bad film of this type. So I had hopes that they could provide a full length film with the same intensity and hypnotic tone of their shorter, primarily stop-action, works. Unfortunately, the same tactics used for puppets do not work when applied to humans. The anonymity and mechanization of puppets allows them to be recognized and related to by most people. Once you have a human actor, a bit more life is required. It's the difference between your standard 'smiley face' and a portrait of a particular individual. Trying to make a human face/character, with it's inherent complications, into a blank slate is contradictory to its very nature and power and that is what the whole movie was trying to accomplish; making something that, left to its own devices, can elaborate upon intricate subtleties... instead a vacuum that leaves the viewer more willing to give in than to examine what it means to be alive. On the positive side, there were images in this movie that have remained in my memory several months after viewing it. Regardless of their subject matter, the Brothers Quay are capable of starkly beautiful tableaus. But this is the prime difference between this and their shorter films; whereas this film simply left me with visual notions, their shorter works leave me with a sense of haunting recognition.
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