Can you write 350 words on the Quay DVDs by Thursday?
- You do know that there's a major conflict of interest, what with me being the producer on the DVDs as well?
- Yes, but that makes you sensationally well qualified to write about them. Besides, you're the only one who'll see the discs before we go to press.
- But your readers aren't going to believe a word I say! I mean, it's perfectly true that the restored, remastered and Quay-approved transfers look eye-poppingly good; that the commentary recording session left me grateful they were in a sound-proof booth because of the number of laugh-out-loud moments; that the discs include loads of fascinating rarities (idents for the BFI and BBC2, a self-financed pilot that never found a backer, alternative ‘Scope versions of two shorts, their 'acting' cameo in Greenaway's The Falls, two hefty interviews); that the booklet is a collector's item containing a comprehensive Quay Brothers Dictionary and the original illustrated treatment for Street of Crocodiles, and that the Quays' personal involvement extended to supervising the menus and packaging - but won't this be wasted if it comes from me?
- Well, don't write that, just a brief pen-portrait of the Quays and keep it neutral.
- So something like 'Philadelpia-born, London-based, Mitteleurope-influenced identical twins the Quay Brothers have been refining their unique brand of stop-motion puppet animation since their debut, Nocturna Artificialia, in 1979. Whether working in documentary (The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer), literary adaptation (Street of Crocodiles), music video (Stille Nacht I-IV), installation (The Phantom Museum) or their own unclassifiable fantasies (Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies), each Quay film is a trip into a deeply strange and private universe of unsettling dreams, disturbing memories and unexpected movements, where natural and narrative laws have long since been abandoned'?
Idents for the BFI and BBC2l Short film - The Summit (1995)
Rare acting appearance (in stills) from Peter Greenaway's The Falls.
Film Description
This 2-disc DVD set celebrates the work of the amazing identical twin animators The Quay Brothers, who have produced a unique body of work, and have also made a major contribution towards establishing the puppet film as a serious adult art form. Includes The Cabinet Of Jan Svankmajer, The Unnameable Little Broom, Street Of Crocodiles, Rehearsals For Extinct Anatomies, Stille Nacht I - Dramolet, The Comb, Anamorphosis, Stille Nacht III - Are We Still Married?, Stille Nacht III - Tales From Vienna Woods, Stille Nacht IV - Can't Go Wrong Without You, In Absentia, The Phantom Museum, Nocturna Artificialia, The Calligrapher, The Summit and Archive Interview.
