The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes is the breathtakingly beautiful and long-awaited second feature film from the Quay Brothers. On the eve of her wedding, the beautiful opera singer Malvina is mysteriously "killed" and abducted by the malevolent Dr. Droz. Felisberto, an innocent piano tuner, is summoned to Droz's secluded villa to service his strange musical automatons. Little by little Felisberto learns of the doctor's plans to stage a "diabolical opera" - and of Malvina's fate. He secretly conspires to rescue her, only to become trapped himself in the web of Droz's perverse universe.


SPECIAL FEATURES
New 16:9 anamorphic transfer, enhanced for widescreen TVs
“The Making of The Piano Tuner”: A 45-minute featurette including behind-the-scenes footage and an interview with the Quay Brothers
Locarno Film Festival press conference with the Quay Brothers, producer Keith Griffiths, and cast members
Original theatrical trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

Executive Produced by Terry Gilliam (Monty Python, Brazil, Fisher King, 12 Monkeys)

Catalog Number: MC-673	Type: Feature	Genre: Art / Artist
Copyright: 2005	Length: 99 minutes + extras	Format:  DVD  Region: 1
TV System: NTSC	ISBN:	UPC/EAN: 795975 108836
Label: Zeitgeist Films

Wholesale Purchasing: Program MC-673 is available for wholesale from Microcinema DVD. Contact info[at]microcinema.com or call at +1-415-447-9750

Exhibition: Microcinema is not authorized to represent this title for exhibition. Write us for this contact information.

Films In Compilation

2007-05-22  Film Threat By Phil Hall In their first live-action feature film in 11 years, the Brothers Quay plumb the mines of well-worn hoary horror to arrive with a new feature that is brilliant in its style but empty in its substance. Set somewhere in Europe in the 19th century, “The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes” finds mad Dr. Emmanuel Droz in obsessional love with the soprano Malvina. He somehow manages to kill her during a performance and then snatch her away from her dull lover Adolfo. Dr. Droz spirits Malvina’s body to his remote island castle, where he brings her back to life. But it’s not much of a life, as Dr. Droz isn’t exactly Dr. McDreamy – and his mania for creating life-sized automatons is more than a bit creepy. But the arrival of the piano tuner Felisberto at the doc’s castle could mean an escape for Malvina – either that or perpetual imprisonment for her and the hapless Felisberto. The film goes riotously go overboard in creating a lush production (complete with intelligent CGI effects and haunting camerawork) that reconfirms their standing as being among the most visually imaginative filmmakers. If this was a silent movie, it might be a new classic. Sadly, “The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes” has some of the worst sound design imaginable. Dialogue is either inaudible or the actors are off-screen when they whisper their lines. It appears much of the movie was dubbed in post-production, and none too expertly at that. This creates a jolting disconnect between audio and visual: the film is stunning to watch but a pain to hear. Even if the soundtrack was intelligible, there’s really not much worth listening for. The Quays toss too many gothic chillers into their celluloid mix: one can spot references to everything from Orpheus to “Dracula” to “Phantom of the Opera” to half of Rod Serling’s “Twilight Zones” plot twists. By the end of the 99 minute running time, there is a terrible sense of been-there/done-that. And for artists of the Quays’ caliber, that is a huge mistake.

	Avoid Eye Contact Volume I MC-538, 2003 In September 2003, eleven animators met in a large Chelsea loft. Eleven went in, Avoid Eye Contact came out. Welcome to Avoid Eye Contact, a tour of the best Independent Animation from New York City. The films on this volume span the last few... more >	$US 16.99$US 19.99 Educational Sales Format: DVD, NTSC
	Avoid Eye Contact Volume II MC-519, 2005 New York City is a place of constant change, invention and chaos; Avoid Eye Contact sums up these urban qualities in animated terms. Avoid Eye Contact Volume 2 continues to explore the thriving contemporary independent scene going on in New... more >	$US 16.99$US 19.99 Educational Sales Format: DVD, NTSC
	Bill's Dirty Shorts MC-555, 2006 A collection of Bill Plympton's newest naughty shorts. This DVD contains 80 minutes of material from the years 1997 to 2002. Includes short films: • “Sex and Violence” • “The Exciting Life of a Tree” • “More Sex and... more >	$US 21.21$US 24.95 Educational Sales Format: DVD, NTSC
	Fever Dreams and Heavenly Nightmares: The Short Films of Chel White MC-553, 2006 Fever Dreams and Heavenly Nightmares is the long awaited DVD compilation of independent filmmaker Chel White's visionary work. Spanning 20 years, this collection is an hours worth of award-winning short films, astonishing animation, and more. ... more >	$US 21.21$US 24.95 Educational Sales Format: DVD, NTSC
	Inhaling the Spore MC-559, 2004 Behind a storefront in Los Angeles is one of the most unusual cultural institutions in America - The Museum of Jurassic Technology. It's a modern-day “cabinet of curiosities,” filled with juxtapositions of the genuine, the strange, and the... more >	$US 16.99$US 19.99 Educational Sales Format: DVD, NTSC
	Monster Road - Collector's Edition MC-856, 2005 Monster Road is a feature length documentary exploring the wildly fantastic worlds of legendary animator Bruce Bickford. Tracing the origins of Bickford's iconoclastic worldview, the film journeys back to Bickford's childhood in a competitive... more >	$US 21.21$US 24.95 Educational Sales Format: DVD, NTSC
	Phantom Museums: The Short Films of the Quay Brothers MC-661, 2006 To coincide with the theatrical release of THE PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES, Zeitgeist Films presents a thirteen-film retrospective of shorts by famed twin animators the Quay Brothers. Two of the world's most original filmmakers, identical twins... more >	$US 29.74$US 34.99 Format: DVD, NTSC

No screenings found