Monday, March 05, 2007

At last, the newly-refurbshed Quay set comes to Region 1!!!



Phantom Museums - Short Films of the Brothers Quay

I just happened across this exciting link tonight while on another errand. This must be the American version of the fantastic DVD set Michael Brooker authored for European release (that I discussed a while back).

There are no real details listed yet, but here are the juicy details of the PAL set (no guarantee this one will be identical, but I suspect it will be extremely close):

DISC ONE: FILMS

Twelve restored and remastered short films in Quay-supervised and approved native PAL transfers. All aspect ratios are as specified by the Quays, with anamorphic enhancement where necessary. This really will be as good as they've ever looked on a domestic format.

- The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer (1984)
- This Unnameable Little Broom (1985)
- Street of Crocodiles (1986)
- Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies (1988)
- Stille Nacht I: Dramolet (1988)
- The Comb (1990)
- Anamorphosis (1991)
- Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married? (1992)
- Stille Nacht III: Tales From Vienna Woods (1992)
- Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You (1993)
- In Absentia (2000)
- The Phantom Museum (2003)

plus
- Quay commentaries on This Unnameable Little Broom, Street of Crocodiles, Stille Nacht I, II and III, and In Absentia;
- Optional subtitles on commentaries and Anamorphosis

DISC TWO: FOOTNOTES

Around two hours of extras, including more shorts:

- 1990s BFI Distribution ident (designed by the Quays)
- Video introduction by the Quays (20 mins, recorded in May 2006 and copiously illustrated with clips and stills)
- Nocturna Artificialia (1979 - their debut film)
- The Calligrapher (1991 - unbroadcast BBC2 ident)
- The Summit (1995 - previously unreleased/unbroadcast live-action short)
- excerpt from Peter Greenaway's The Falls (1980) featuring the Quays
- archive interview (29 mins, recorded in February 2000 at the Paris Doll Museum)
- anamorphic 2.35:1 versions of Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies and In Absentia
plus
optional HOH subtitles wherever necessary

Accompanying booklet features:
- Facsimile of original eight-page illustrated treatment for Street of Crocodiles (this accompanied their original funding application, and it's fascinating to compare it with the final film);
- A Quay Brothers Dictionary of people, places, themes and motifs (containing nearly sixty entries).


....DROOL!

4 comments:

jriggity said...

I finally got to see one of these Quays films....

I got to see the one i heard about most....Street of crocodiles.

cool stuff!.....but so dark...
I cant watch a marathon of this stuff without feeling a bit sick.

which are your favorites?

jriggity

Anonymous said...

I also see that "Piano Tuner..." is coming out on April 24th. Double Drool!

http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Tuner-Earthquakes-Sub-Dol/dp/B000N2G3YC/ref=pd_bxgy_d_text_b/102-7659821-7871341?ie=UTF8&qid=1173096574&sr=1-1

Darkmatters said...

Oh, Street is definitely the best! After that my next fave would be Epic of Gilgamesh. Then I guess they all sort of turn into a mishmash of nightmarish stuff that makes me feel a little queazy.

And I hear ya J-Rig, I can only watch them in small doses!

Thanks Grant, been waiting for the Piano Tuner.

Darkmatters said...

Actually Institute Benjamenta is a lot more watchable than most of it. It's mostly live action, but mesmerizingly beautiful to watch.