Shioka O
Ambiguous, abstract, and atmospheric. and this is rather theatrical.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/08/23
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Thinking he has no important calling in life, an ambitionless man enrolls in a school that trains servants; once there, he enters into an ambiguous, sexually repressed relationship with the headmistress and her brother. A beautiful looking black and white film that deliberately uses shallow focus and overexposure to tremendous artistic effect, though the sludgy, slow and surreal plot will turn the average moviegoer off.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/08/23
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Audience Member
Like Kafka in Cinema.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
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Audience Member
The exciting Institute Of Benjamenta, Or This Dream People Call Human Life is a 1995 art film and also the Quay Brothers' first feature film.
Stephen and Timothy Quay (both are now 63) are American identical twins and also stop-motion animators that work in England. Generally these two work on short films involving puppetry, their most eminent work entitled Street Of Crocodiles. The two don't particularly delve in to the avant-garde but more just the odd, their films are messy and consist of dolls created from organic and not so organic materials, the camera floating around in peculiar, sexy ways that emphasise the rather absurd areas of life that we all personally delve into ourselves almost every day. Their films are dark but very influential and very interesting. The Brothers Quay have taken certain mild elements from their shorts such as sound effects and camera techniques and incorporated them into this 104m black and white treat. The Quay Brothers' planning for the film lead to Institute Benjamenta, a film that has become a unique cinema experience that can not be equalled.
Institute Benjamenta is based on the novel Jakob Von Gunten by Robert Walser, a novel focusing on a young man named Jakob who runs from home and joins Benjamenta Institute, a place in which men are taught to be servants. In this film adaptation (written from the novel by the brothers as well as their friend Alex Passes), Jakob Von Gunten (played decently by Mark Rylance) enrols at the institute because he 'has no high hopes of life' ("I shall never let myself be rescued, nor shall I ever rescue anybody") but wishes to be 'of service to someone in this life'. To enrol Jakob is checked over eerily by Johannes Benjamenta (Gottfried John), his saliva is sampled and his head measured. When Jakob is taken to his first class of the day by Kraus (Daniel Smith) and his pet monkey, the new student is examined by the beautifully controlled Lisa Benjamenta (Alice Krige in a fantastic performance) and by the magically mysterious stick she takes everywhere with her.
Lisa and Johannes are Puritans that are slowly losing grip on sanity and their lives seem to be breaking at the seams, Johannes taking control of his sibling in a forced incestuous relationship that Lisa does not seem to enjoy. Jakob with seven other men are taught the same monotonous lesson each day with Lisa Benjamenta, eventually Jakob becomes entangled with their lives and becomes an attraction to both principals, Johannes at one point in the film comparing the man to Jesus Christ. Lisa Benjamenta falls for Jakob and Jakob for her, her breakdown is as alluring as it is disturbing. Winter and the snow cave in on the institute (the place itself sharing its premises with a perfumery), leading to the film feeling claustrophobic but more and more poetic as the audience watches.
What the directors have succeeded in doing is to create a surreal atmosphere in an otherworldly location on a low budget and a limited schedule. There is a mysterious spiral staircase, their set being a wondrous place completely suitable for the storyline they had conjured up in their unsettled minds. This film represents what would happen if The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) and a dark fairy tale came together. There are no films like this, pure imagination and innovation runs wild in this work of art, and it isn't hard to follow at all.
Institute Benjamenta is - to quote Alice Krige - less of a movie and undoubtedly more of a long piece of fantastic poetry, its scenes almost falling from sleep to wake. The viewer becomes entranced by the cinematography (the cinematographer Nic Knowland deservedly won an award at the Catalonian International Film Festival in 1995) and its overpowering qualities, its techniques work perfectly.
I personally feel that this movie's beauty is completely open and bleak. The film is not odd but imaginative, so untouched and raw. The freedom the actors were given to improvise and suggest emotion clearly shows in this film, the talent on show is impressive and the imagery is wonderful. This film just illustrates the definition of power and the fact that we all have desire. The dreamlike state that the characters live in exemplify we are all in fishbowls depending on how much freedom we have, and we are all feeling everything in our minds. 'This dream people call human life'.
Of course with Institute Benjamenta there will be some who find it to be awfully weird filmmaking and others who will find it to be an incredible feat in storytelling, an unforgettably mellow, visceral film that has and unfortunately always will be underrated. Films like this often make you think what determines a great film because you will never experience something as delicious.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
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Audience Member
Is our identity at stake in the civilized world? This film's story follows Jakob, a new student at the servant school, Institute Benjamenta, and the principal and principaless of that school who love him, Herr and Lisa Benjamenta. Lots of fascinating allusions and images: light---Jakob says, "Why can't there be light in light, but only in dark?" and the scenes outside of his room are filled with beams of spotlights in otherwise dark rooms, whereas Lisa says (in reference to herself) "it burns in the sun, that which does not know the hot gusts of life"; nature---Lisa carries a deer hoof pointing stick with her that she uses to indicate sexual preference and without which she suddenly dies, and the room of Jakob and Lisa's affair is littered with pine cones; desire---when she decides to die, Lisa tells Jakob, "Isn't it beautiful not to want anything anymore?" and Jakob responds, "From then on, it was always evening." The movie opened with Jakob saying he would do whatever was asked of him without preference. He did give in, in the end, to the will of Lisa's brother (Herr Benjamenta) after her death, but doing this caused "eternal snow," indicating the completion of Jakob's training. Jakob became a true servant of civilization by giving up on the light, giving into the darkness of repetition and the absence of desire. (posted to http://www.philmosophy.com April 27, 2009)
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/14/23
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Audience Member
dont think i can write a better review than what i already read down here.. just one of the most poetic movie I ve seen in my life. Quay brothers at their highest and one of the best black and white movie photography ever.. and yes you ll laugh every time you see alice krige in a movie after this one.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/09/23
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