Fantastic Fest 2009

Austin Pemiere

A dark fairytale about a demonic doctor who abducts a beautiful opera singer with designs on transforming her into a mechanical nightingale. THE PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES is the breathtakingly beautiful and long-awaited second feature from the Brothers Quay. On the eve of her wedding, the beautiful opera singer Malvina is mysteriously killed and abducted by a 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.

“For their first feature in a decade, the Brothers Quay draw heavily on the tone of the surprisingly adult and sinister fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm to create a world distinctly their own. Though they are best known for their animation work, the film is simply stunning to look at. Filled with a gentle soft focus glow, the film is by turns dark and sinister, dreamlike, disorienting and as flawless as a classical painting. Though they are clearly kindred souls with a number of other film makers - Guy Maddin, Chris Marker, David Lynch and Terry Gilliam all came to mind at different times - their world is unique. The Brothers have learned a great many lessons from their animation work and they are all put to great use here. Forced perspectives, richly detailed miniatures, composite shots, reverse film, and stop motion elements are all fused into a remarkably cohesive whole. Every inch of every frame of this film has something spectacular to look at.” - (Twitch)