The Brothers Quay are a couple of American kids living in London who periodically send out short film dispatches from the far side of their collective unconscious. The best of their work, such as Street of Crocodiles and Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies, combine Freud-on-acid imagery with story lines by Kafka. Imagine the Muppets as directed by Dali or Bunuel.
(The Brothers Quay: Imagine the Muppets as directed by Dali.)
The majority of the Quays' work is stop-motion animation - a technique where artists move models or objects a fraction of an inch, photograph them, and then move them again until the final movements simulate the natural motion of film. Unlike many other animators, however, in the Quays' world, any object in the film frame has an equal chance of becoming an actor. In Street of Crocodiles, for instance, the detritus in a broken-down tailor shop - straight pins, a child's toys, dressing mannequins, rusted screws in the floor - come to fantastic and grotesque life, tormenting the tailor and delighting his son.
Currently, five of The Brothers Quay films are available on two videocassettes from First Run Features. And in February '94, Voyager will release The Brothers Quay work on two laserdiscs.
The Brothers Quay, Vol. 1: US$39.95; Vol. 2: US$49.95. First Run Features: (800) 229 8575, +1 (212) 243 0600. The Voyager Company: +1 (310) 451 1383.
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The Brothers Quay
