Institute Benjamenta... (1995)

The Quays have created something of a meandering, creepy music video for head-trip enthusiasts. It might manage to be an evocative comedic melodrama for mentally ill viewers, but your average audience will probably just take it all in as pretentious crap. It's strictly for those who manage to keep a straight face listening to their friends tell you about their dreams. Thoroughly forgettable.

After reading a few negative reviews I had to see for myself.For me, the Quay brothers are right up there with Cocteau, David Lynch, Man Ray, Duchamp, ... you get the picture.I found this film mesmerizing from start to finish. The Quay brothers, as usual, lovingly, meticulously, and fervently pay attention to all details of their creation.With so much attention to detail, one would expect to find the film stultifying and stilted in result.However, the brothers stay true to and present myriad and interesting versions of their iconography, symbolic logic, and weird beauty referencing their other creations.I found this work to be very sympathetic with Guy Maddin's "My Winnipeg". In order to appreciate "My Winnipeg" or "Institute Benjamenta" you have to be a fine artist or have a very strong artistic bent.I highly recommend this film to all art film lovers and Quay brothers enthusiasts.

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.

As is usual for surrealistic fantasy films, do not even try to make sense out of this film in terms of story plot. For anyone who has watched films like Eraserhead, you must apply the same laissez-faire attitude and allow the fantastic imagery to speak for itself because any attempts at interpretation will only lead to confusion and frustration. This movie is an absolute masterpiece of surrealism and leaves you in wonder and awe! The bizarre actions and camera work leave you begging for more. The overall atmosphere of the film is sad and reflective, bordering on nearly being morbid, but that is it's allure. The spiritual numbness and insane behavior of the characters is somewhat similar to that in David Lynch's Eraserhead and leaves you feeling like you just got back from a funeral populated by inmates from an insane asylum, but the effect of the film is superb !!!It is pure genius !!! A MUST watch for anyone who loves surrealistic art films !!!

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 appreciate it--best to watch it on a cold, 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 slowly in, the narrative and sound and visuals slowly draw you in. Very seductive and soothing, meticulously realized and absolutely eerie.

I sought to obtain this film for my collection almost immediately after seeing it. I cannot give it enough praise.I was quite drawn into the 'perfumery' mythology the Brothers had created for this translation of Walser's work. Of course this mythology has a framework all its own, but is seamlessly fused with the story. Although I have yet to see the rest of the (stille nacht) series, it appears they had built the foundation of the visual largely from their previous pieces "Stille Nacht"(1988) and "The Comb". The photography and animation, as always, commands the highest respect.Some may have difficulty appreciating the dialoge in this film, but I for one thought it was delivered flawlessly; the unstable vibration in Jakobs voice, the side-saddle yet wanting manner of Lisa...I have no clue as to the extent of engineering that went into the voice track, but it exhibits a clever aesthetic nonetheless.The soundtrack is spectacular, not only according to its own merit, but also how closely it embraces the ambience and imagery of the film. Lech Jankowski is quite skilled as a composer, and I look forward to hearing more of his work.

Institute Benjamenta sees the American Quay twins (Stephen and Timothy, born 1947) making their live-action feature debut, having already gained an international reputation for richly inventive animated films. Borowczyk and Svankmajer are other celebrated animators - whose surrealist influence is perceptible in Quay work - to have successfully made this transition.Prospective viewers should acquaint themselves with Swiss writer Robert Walser's 1908 novel Jakob von Gunten on which Institute Benjamenta is based (the novel is published in the UK by Serpent's Tail under the film title). However, the Quays and screenplay collaborator Alan Passes have taken liberties with the novel, most noticeably by making protagonist Jakob (Mark Rylance) and fellow students at this extraordinary school for servants considerably older than Walser's schoolboys. While a certain vulnerability and pathos have thus been heightened, the complexity of Jakob's mental life has been disappointingly reduced to bewilderment and willing obedience. In the novel, which is his private journal, he is also capable of pride, pomposity, naivety, truculence, intellectual acuity, and sexual arousal. A few carefully chosen passages would have restored these important characteristics without upsetting the pervasive enigmatic mood of the piece.In terms of characterisation, most attention here has been devoted to Johannes and Lisa Benjamenta, the brother and sister partnership in command at the Institute. Jakob's arrival, and his subsequent status as unwitting agent provocateur, signal the gradual collapse of the Benjamentas' governance, as their repressed fears and desires surface. In Johannes, magisterially played by Gottfried John, the Quays sensitively draw out a homosexual inclination (less evident in the novel) towards Jakob, and a clear suggestion of a hesitant, unfulfilled incestuous desire between him and Lisa, again only very covertly hinted at in the novel. Lisa (which is also the name of Walser's sister) is played to perfection by Alice Krige who, with memorable equanimity, registers every nuance of emotion from abject lovelessness to mildly hysterical sexual frustration. The meaning behind these power games and ritualistic acts of subordination and subjugation, in which the Quays find delightful moments of bizarre deadpan humour, is never fully revealed; nor is the secret of the Benjamentas' "inner chambers" (surely not merely a goldfish in a bowl). One suspects that the Benjamentas' forbidden love - certainly the greatest act of emotional subjugation here - may be the underlying cause of the uneasy atmosphere in their dilapidated Institute.This atmosphere is superbly evoked by the Quays customary visual flair and meticulous attention to mise-en-scène detail, where live-action and animation sequences are seamlessly integrated. The black and white photography is exquisite, each gentle movement of light in shadowy corridors creates an air of dream-like enchantment (echoes of Cocteau and Vigo). Classroom scenes in misty greys are invigorated by Jankowski's versatile score: a waltz turns into free jazz. Repeat viewings reveal the subtlety of the Quays' art.

"Institute Benjamenta : or This Dream People Call Human Life" is unlike anything you'll have ever seen. Unless you watch Lynch's "Eraserhead" every time it rains on a Saturday afternoon like myself, that is. Brother's Stephen and Timothy Quay are better known for their amazingly disturbing and surreal animations, but with this and their later feature, "The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes", they entered the world of live-action film and yet somehow managed to embed them with the feel and look of their unique animations to boot.The plot involves a young man called Jakob who arrives at the eponymous institute to study servitude under the brother-sister team of Johannes and Lisa Benjamenta. Enduring never-ending and ludicrous lessons about such things as drawing circles endlessly (makes you a better servant, apparently) Jakob and Lisa (played by the criminally under-used Alice Krige) seem drawn to eachother, but whether the attraction is unrequited is unclear. As Lisa becomes Catatonic as the winter draws in, it seems that it's Jakobs presence and actions are the cause, but the reasons for this have to worked out.... But all this is moot really, as the Quay Brothers aren't interested in anything as trifling as plot - rather the visuals, the surreal dreamlike interludes, the black-and-white photography are what they concentrate on as they do within their animation. And like the aforementioned "Eraserhead" it does indeed mess with your head on a grand scale, so the Brothers can rest assured their goals were met. However, don't watch this movie with a purpose of ferreting out meaning within it's symbolism, as this isn't a puzzle. It's all perfectly spread before you, but like many things of such grand scale, it's sheer size can frighten you.Praise be to the BFI, once again they've released a beautiful package of a feature, and with their new "dual format" discs you're getting both Blu-Ray and DVD, so if like so many others you haven't gone hi-def yet, you've been well-and-truly futureproofed. Extras are also glorious; a new documentary commissioned by the BFI ("Inside the Institute"), three Quay Brothers shorts, a booklet contaiting comprehensive essays regarding the film.... All for such a small price natch. One thing though, BFI... The sticker on the top of the case that trumpets it's "Dual-Format" nature... why won't it just peel off without leaving a sticky/papery mess? So small a quibble, but YOU try having OCD.

Literary sensibilites that arose from viewing/witnessing this artisans masterwork...Pessoa's Book of Disquiet, because this film is based on Robert Walser, & the dream/real poetry/prose of the whole piece felt so similar in tone & a microcosmic/macrocosmic abstraction and emotional obfuscation that i simply sat slack-jawed as i watched.Other authors who wandered through the mind were of course Kafka, Meyrink or even Grabinski.Filmic memories that arose were: Dreyer's 'Vampyr', which has the similar twilight sensation of faerytale threaded with precise shadow & light play (and play is exactly the Quay's methodology), touching upon Murnau's 'Sunrise', and a sense i felt watching 'Phantom Carriage' by Sjostrom; pertinent also would be the world of Has, namely 'Saragossa Manuscript', 'Hourglass Sanatorium', in the persistent filling of the frame with surreal interest & ferment!Personally, as i am very much a photographer, the macro/close-ups & use of monochrome is a sheer delight to see focused and refocused, the focus-puller should have had a field day..ho ho.But, as ever, cast aside the mere intellect and memory keys, and the film eagerly struck a chord, which it maintained throughout, art and artifice, the superlative acting skills, the precision of effects, all amass to an 'Outsiders' metaphysical, existential theatre.A very deft, subtle use of eccentric literature, artisans attention to occultic elemental detail and an eye for the depths inherent in inanimate objects.. Any praise i heap upon this work of 'pure' cinema (that does sound pretentious but its harkening back to silent cinema and innocent clarity), would be faint praise indeed...In short, lets be slightly vulgar, one either embraces eccentricity in artforms or shuns it as one would a plague carrier. Couple my enthusiasm with decent sized insightful booklet, useful thought provoking features and it is only now that i realize that i have waxed lyrical and nostalgic about a simple, monochrome flickering riddle. A come-down indeed into the real world, imposing order on this exquisite participation mystique.

Forget what you know about mainstream Hollywood movies, and go with the flow of dreamlike images in  Institute Benjamenta (DVD + Blu -Ray) . Based on a 1909 book  Institute Benjamenta (Extraordinary Classics)  a novel by Robert Walser (sort of), it tell the story of a man, Jacob, who arrives at the Institute Benjamenta where he intends to train as a servant with brother and sister Johannes and Lisa Benjamenta. It's not a place like any other. Why should you watch it? There is certainly no strong narrative flow in this film, but the photography is stunning and the images will stay with you long after. If you do want to puzzle out what's going on a little more the DVD extras and the booklet that comes with this edition are excellent. The interview with the Quay brothers (Timothy and Stephen) the twin brother directors of Institute Benjamenta and just as off beat and unusual as the film they've created.And if you liked this, then try Quay Brothers' second feature  The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes [DVD ]. It's just possible it might be even stranger... Institute Benjamenta (DVD + Blu -Ray)Institute Benjamenta (Extraordinary Classics)The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes [DVD

Dark, enigmatic, full of surprises. Intriguing and captivating movie.