“Omniscient cyclopean dolls, sentient micromachines, bristly wine forests and a pugilistic plush bunny are among the distressingly tactile treats. Underscoring meticulous attention to detail and rigorous at dedication to form, but also tenderness and oblique whimsy. Simultaneously mournful, antic and imbued with a pleasingly nostalgic loneliness, this megadose of the Quays' singular vision will haunt your perception for days.”
– Mark Holcomb, Time Out (New York)

“Their obsessive, painstaking stop-motion puppet animations are discomfitingly close to musty assemblages or mad museum dioramas and there's an ineffable delicacy to their juxtaposition of mannequins, miniatures, and assorted mechanical detritus.”
– J. Hoberman, Village Voice

“The Brothers Quay generate a powerfully specific vision that seldom screens in theaters and yet translates poorly to the small screen...all self-respecting cinephiles must get to this far-too-rare 11-film retrospective.”
– Flavorpill

“This prolific duo have cranked out some of the most imaginative, mesmerizing animation since the late 1970s. The massive retrospective attests to the animators’ unparalleled vision and the collection forms a gorgeous visual spectacle.”
– Eric Kohn, New York Press

“Unlike anything you’ve ever seen—even in your dreamiest dreams.” – JAMI BERNARD, NEW YORK POST

“The most perversely fascinating body of work this side of David Cronenberg.” – NEWSDAY

“EERILY MOVING.” – TERRENCE RAFFERTY, THE NEWYORKER

American identical twins working in London, the Brothers Quay (Stephen and Timothy) find their inspiration in Eastern European literature and classical music and art, their work distinguished by its dark humor and an uncanny feeling for color and texture. Masters of miniaturization, they turn their tiny sets into unforgettable worlds suggestive of long-repressed childhood dreams. This program of 11 Quay masterworks, several of them in new 35mm prints, includes weird architecture, living skulls and found-object robots in REHEARSALS FOR EXTINCT ANATOMIES (1986; “hallucinated into being with wire, glue, metal and mortar” – Newsday); a porcelain doll’s explorations of a dreamer’s imagination in THE COMB (1991; “most beautiful of their recent films” – The New Yorker); ping-pong balls battling a bunny in ARE WE STILL MARRIED? (1992; “among the most sophisticated and hauntingly enigmatic music videos ever created” – NY Times); a pair of severed hands in TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS (1992; “suggests the monochromatic mildew of Eraserhead” – Film Comment);broken pencils and lead shavings in IN ABSENTIA (2000; “a dazzling piece of work” – The Guardian); the nightmarish netherworld of STREET OF CROCODILES (1986; ”their crowning achievement” – Film Comment); and more! “To enter the impossible, haunted night of a Quay Brothers film is to become complicit in one of the most perverse and obsessive acts of cinema.” – Michael Atkinson, Film Comment. “These astonishing artists, working in an unlikely form, awaken our senses. They combine a demiurgic, Caligari-like mastery over their creations with the gentle dream archaeology of Joseph Cornell: their puppets look less like things invented than like things discovered.” – Terrence Rafferty, The New Yorker.
A ZEITGEIST FILMS RELEASE.
1:10, 4:10, 7:20

NOTES ON THE FILMS (Word .doc file)

The program includes the following films: