Institute Benjamenta

[MichaelB]

Forgive my ignorance, and this pathetic aside, but I never noticed anything other than CC in the review section of the main page before. Is a BFI review a new thing?

No - Chris has been reviewing BFI releases for about a year. I put the relevant press officer in touch with him after noticing that he'd covered some MoC releases alongside the expected Criterions. For technical reasons, he only covers the region-free BFI Blu-rays, but they make up the majority of the catalogue.

[perkizitore]

Maybe BFI should buy Chris a region free player!

[MichaelB]

I fear this would set the kind of precedent that's best avoided.

[MichaelB]

Electric Sheep (long interview with the Quays)
AV Maniacs
Eye For Film
Little White Lies

[MichaelB]

DVD Outsider.

[MichaelB]

Excellent interview with the Quays by Gary Thomas - comfortably one of the best I've seen online.

There's also a competition to win a copy of Institute Benjamenta.

[bommelbot]

Great interview indeed.

Although I question the point of asking about who the older twin is and then quoting them as one.

[knives]

Fudge, I just wrote a really passionate thing on Songs for the Dead Children and it's been wiped clean. It's worth writing for again though. This disc has been my introduction to the Quays and while the feature was good it didn't move me much. The same could be said of The Comb, but Songs for the Dead Children was purely magic. It's the first time in a long time that's I've seen a film of visual music. Though there are other aspects to the film the emotional reaction to these images, much like with music, is my immediate concern. It was like they invited the id and banished the expository super ego. I had no need for reason or purpose for these symbols. The fact that they were there and giving me that mixture of excitement, love, and horror was enough. Again I'm sure there is reason for these symbols, especially the last, but I had no need for them. It's honestly amazing what in montage these images could bring without any explanation.
Also thank heavens for animation. This sketch really provides the reason why I prefer animation to live action even though animators are rarely given this freedom. Some of this inventiveness couldn't be done, especially today, in live action. respect for silence and this type of abstract seem to be missing everywhere. If just to get people to see it, if IMDB is any indication than this is an invisible film, I will tie everyone I know to chair and force them to watch this.

[bommelbot]

Does anyone know their budget for this movie? I remember reading, that they had $3.5mio for the PianoTuner.
Also, when exactly was Benjamenta filmed at the Hampton Court House?

[MichaelB]

Does anyone know their budget for this movie? I remember reading, that they had $3.5mio for the PianoTuner.

A lot less - I seem to remember it was only about half a million pounds.

Also, when exactly was Benjamenta filmed at the Hampton Court House?

1994.

[DeepBlueEdit]

Hello one and all. I have been searching for a US (Reg 1) copy of this in any format other than VHS. Is there anything scheduled or have I missed it? If not, my understanding of BR is incomplete so forgive this noob question but, will the UK release BR version play for me? Buying a region free player is an option but I want others to be able to see this as well and handing them a player and my copy would be awkward at best. Also, I am involved in a local film community and love showing clips of favorite films as stimulus to their young Hollywood addled brains.

Thoughts? Anyplace I should order from specifically? I see copies on EBay and Amazon but would prefer one from the proper originating source if possible, like Criterion or someone.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the not so in the know questions.

[MichaelB]

The package contains a Blu-ray and a DVD. Both are region-free, and the Blu-ray should play on any player worldwide. The DVD is encoded to the European PAL video standard, so may not work in many US players - but should play perfectly on any PC/Mac.

[bommelbot]

I just noticed 2 forthcoming books on amazon, Benjamenta and The Piano Tuner both to be released Oct 31st. Any info on this, are they simply misplaced new DVD editions?

[Zobalob]

I just noticed 2 forthcoming books on amazon, Benjamenta and The Piano Tuner both to be released Oct 31st. Any info on this, are they simply misplaced new DVD editions?

I looked at the Amazon pages for these and yes, they do seem to have them as hardcover books, most odd. I then copied the ISBNs into the search box on the Book Depository site and they came up as DVDs, issued by Zeitgeist.

[TMDaines]

The Book Depository randomly stocks various DVDs. They have a lot of stuff published by absolut MEDIEN from Germany, for example, and at fairly competitive prices too.

[MichaelB]

If they're DVDs, they're almost certainly Zeitgeist imports - they're the only English-speaking company that owns the rights to both Quay features. (In the UK, they're split between the BFI and Artificial Eye).

The Zeitgeist DVD was sourced from the BFI's master, but is presented in 480p as opposed to 1080p. If you have a Blu-ray player, there's not much contest, especially as the BFI disc is region-free.