#the brothers quay

[spooky-chicks]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cabinetofquay/

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

MEAT PUPPETS

In theaters this weekend:

Stopmotion--The peculiar low-tech magic of stop-motion animation has always been one of the special delights of cinema for me; it's one of the reasons I became a movie lover as a child. Because of the work of masters like Willis O'Brien, Jim Danforth, Karel Zeman and the great Ray Harryhasuen, the labor-intensive, expensive technique is often associated with whimsical fantasy or science fiction. But it can be used for nightmarish horror as well, and this nasty, self-referential British chiller, directed by Robert Morgan from a script he wrote with Robin King, takes us to that dark side.

Ella (Aisling Franciosi) is the daughter of famous stop-motion animator Suzanne (Stella Gonet), and an animator herself.  Because she no longer has the use of her hands, Suzanne directs Ella in painstakingly manipulating her puppets; she refers to Ella herself by the affectionate--or maybe not so affectionate--nickname of "puppet," and she's quietly, passive-aggressively tyrannical toward her, constantly unsatisfied with her work, constantly demanding retakes. Ella would like to contribute her own ideas to her mother's work, yet when asked what these ideas are she's stymied, daunted by Suzanne's greatness. 

But when Suzanne falls into a coma, Ella meets a nervy little girl (Caoilinn Springall) in her building who talks her into abandoning Suzanne's project--a traditional tale involving a cyclops--and starting a new stop-motion film based on a storyline she suggests. It involves a terrified girl fleeing through the forest and taking refuge in a cabin, stalked by a hideous figure called the Ashman. She also insists Ella start using actual dead animal parts, and worse, over her armatures. Before long Ella is haunted by visions, some of them pretty hair-raising, of the gruesome characters in her film.

The live action side of Stopmotion has a strong streak of Cronenberg-esque "body horror," while the stop-motion sequences show the influence of Jan Švankmajer and the Quay Brothers. It's a potent one-two punch of creepiness. This is one of those movies where the line between dreams and reality isn't always certain, but Morgan keeps enough of a coherent narrative that this doesn't become tiresome, and there are freaky erotic touches, as when Ella is having sex, and fingers her lover's back as she would a stop-motion puppet.

Like many films of this sort, when Stopmotion shifts to overtly murderous, gory grapples in its last half-hour or so, it loses some of its macabre potency. But Franciosi, who played the stowaway in The Last Voyage of the Demeter, is a compelling presence, and on the whole, this is one of the more memorable horror pictures in a while. The only real complaint is the same one that applies to most films that showcase stop-motion: there isn't enough stop-motion.

[goblinpumpkin]

Punch and Judy: Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy

1981

An unusual documentary from the Brothers Quay and Keith Griffiths about the history of the Punch and Judy puppet show.

[tobylitt]

Just Dust

My favourite living filmmakers, the Quay Brothers, have a new film out.

Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass.

Here's something I wrote about their use of dust.

Very important to them, dust.

[toiich]

Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995), dir. Brothers Quay

[hayaomiyazaki]

I couldn't hurt you. It's so nice to talk with you, like we are almost related. The way you speak, your gestures, your mouth, everything. It's delightful to behave in that rather weak sort of way with you. Just think: me, your master, confessing to you, my pathetic little worm whom I could utterly crush if I chose to.

a film from each year of my life: Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995) dir. the Brothers Quay

[somewhatsentientspellbook]

if nydas had survived, do you think he would've followed zerxus like fy'ra rai followed opal?

[sesiondemadrugada]

Stille Nacht I: Dramolet (Stephen & Timothy Quay, 1988).

[jareckiworld]

Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (directors: Timothy Quay, Stephen Quay, 2024)

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Puppets

Robert Morgan: submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the tale of stopmotion Morgan: ok so imagine Morgan: what if your mom was richard williams

Morgan: just imagine a domineering parent using their disapproval to control their child as a vessel of their own creativity Stephen King: what the- King: that's terrible! King: what parent would do that?! King: i could never do that to my boy Joe King: he's too precious to me!

Clive Barker: hey steve what's your boy joe do again King: he's a horror writer Barker: uh huh Barker: and what do you do again steve? King: i see what you're getting at clive King: but the answer is no King: i could never disapprove of my boy joe King: my perfect little man

King: joe i just want you to know that your mother and i love you very much Joe Hill: ok dad King: did you write a new book? here, let me post it on the fridge! Hill: dad, you don't have to King: No, I want to! King: I want everyone to see! King: look what my boy did, everyone!

Morgan: so Morgan: this woman is the daughter of a famous stop motion animator Morgan: and she starts making her own movie Morgan: but you know how it is when you try to do stop motion and you've got mommy issues Stephen Quay: do i ever! Timothy Quay: mom always liked you best

Morgan: you know how it is when you have mommy issues Morgan: it means Morgan: real fucked up puppets

Morgan: what do you think of these puppets? pretty fucked up, right? Jan Švankmajer: yeah kinda Švankmajer: i mean, i guess they're pretty fucked up Morgan: Morgan: you seem disappointed Švankmajer: no no Švankmajer: i mean Švankmajer: i mean they're fine

Morgan: ok but what about this Morgan: what if this fucked up puppet Morgan: was constantly making these really annoying little cooing and gasping noises? Švankmajer: now you're talking!!

[las-microfisuras]

11]

LOS ÁNGELES no son dorados, brillantes ni luminosos; son grises y caminan entre la multitud que arrastra los pies; entre la muchedumbre, sin color y sin rostro, de los domingos, hacia el fútbol, hacia el concierto mañanero, entre la pálida muchedumbre de los días de fiesta vacíos del mundo moderno. Ángeles grises de la pobreza y el anonimato que nadie ve, pero que muchos han sentido: un roce leve, una ligereza, un estremecimiento en el mar de la multitud anónima...El mundo de hoy no permite otros...Los de fuego y luz no vienen hoy. Sólo los otros, los ángeles de polvo y ceniza.

María Zambrano, Poemas. Edición de Javier Sánchez Menéndez. La Isla de Siltolá

Fotograma de Institute Benjamenta, o This Dream People Call Human Life,1996, primer largometraje de Brothers Quay. Se basa en "Jakob von Gunten", novela escrita por Robert Walser.

[spooky-chicks]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cabinetofquay/

[bobbole]

My dear @windsweptinred this little fairytale is my festive present for you 😸

Thank you for your fabulous gifts and for being the most amazing partner in crime/esteemed and precious corinthiel colleague ever!!!

Hope you will like it 😊

🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚

A Dream people call Human Life

[clemsfilmdiary]

Street of Crocodiles (1986, Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay)

2/6/24

[davidhudson]

Happy 77th, Stephen and Timothy Quay.

Photo by Piet Goethals.

[cinnamaya]