• Welcome to my Movie Journal

    This is my attempt at keeping a journal of movies that I watch and my thoughts and experiences. This is, first and foremost, for my own personal gratification…although putting it online makes is a “bit” less personal. A few things to mention if you are going to be reading anything that I write: ............................................................ This is not a strict movie review blog…this is me capturing thoughts, etc. many of which may not even be coherent, so I apologize. ............................................................ This is a journal that I am writing for me so I am not hiding the fact that there most likely ARE SPOILERS included in the posts…I am not reviewing for an audience per se, but capturing thoughts and ideas that come out of seeing the movie... ............................................................ My ratings systems are somewhat arbitrary…more a generic scale to record my feeling on the movie…it isn’t necessarily strictly a comparison between all of the movies that I watch. I find that it is difficult to directly compare films anyway and can be silly when you're looking at different genres. Citizen Kane vs Annie Hall vs Halloween (’78) vs Once Upon a Time in China….hmmmm…. I TRY TO JUDGE A FILM ON ITS OWN MERIT FIRST, AND THEN PUT IT INTO CONTEXT WITH OTHER MOVIES ............................................................ My goal is not to pick on movies…well, unless they are really terrible... The Good Bad and Wonky items are more for fun than anything else, and just because I laugh at a movie or make fun of something doesn’t mean I don’t like it… ............................................................ I hope that this glimpse into my head (again, sorry) is somewhat entertaining for those of you who care to stop by, and if nothing else, will help to generate film discussion, or discussion in general, because that’s part of what makes life fun. Thanks for stopping in, ENJOY KZ
  • PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT

    Movies are better when they are shared------please leave any comments or questions or suggestions you might have-----
  • Sort by…

THE PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES (2005)

DATE: 3/12/2008 FIRST VIEWING [actually /3/20.2008]
WHERE: at home, DVD from the library.
So…I have film festival fever. As I have been going over and over the 2008 WI Film Festival schedule, and feeling that there are just so many movies there that its hard to know which ones to pick. I decided to look back at past festivals..there are many films presented that get me excited or intrigued, and then, I never try to seek them out. And so…looking over past festivals recently, I came across this title, that seemed incredibly intriguing. Directed by The Quay Brothers – animators who put together a number of videos for Tool – this movie sounded too surreal and potentially mind blowing to pass up.
THE GOOD: visually amazing; nightmarish atmosphere
THE BAD: payoff not as grand as the ride once it is over; some dialogue sounded “student film-ish”
THE WONKY: the woodcutter puppet; just about everything that happens…
So…I tried to watch this on the 12th, got about 20-30 minutes in while folding clothes, and had to go to bed.  I decided I needed to re-start it to be fair…and because, I couldn’t remember what the hell was going on.

On some level, it didn’t really matter…I don’t think that the movie is really designed for you to know “what is going on”.  It is more ideas and themes presented in a strange world with puppets, resurrected (?) opera singers and automata.  And a piano tuner who can hear to eternity, including when buildings were built.  And who may or may not be another character.  Oh, and the women in his family never gave birth.

I didn’t really expect much in the way of coherent plot, and I didn’t really get it, which, I guess, thumbs up!  It is more for the experience, and that’s cool.  I was down for that.  The biggest problem was that I think it could have been shortened a bit, maybe a little less sprawling…the images and unsettling happenings may have seemed more immediate, and maybe more organic to what was going on than just weird shit that would pop up every once in a while when you think that maybe, something is going to happen.

By the time I got to the end, I knew that I had enjoyed some of what I had seen, and over all appreciated some of the meditation on obsession, the role/importance of art, artifice vs real life, but all in all, put together, it was a bit underwhelming.

May have benefited from being seen on a large screen…some of the visuals would be killer when projected.

6 out of 10

9 Responses

  1. It (piano tuner) is a perfect coherent movie – totally rational, you didn’t get it at all. Please look again because you were wrong about everything – I promise. You missed it. This is one of the Greats.

  2. Hey thanks for visiting, and commenting!

    I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this is a perfectly coherent movie.

    I mean, yeah, there is a narrative, and I followed that ok, and didn’t go in looking for something conventional. I guess that I just didn’t feel like the desired effect was hinging on plot or narrative but more on the overall gestalt…

    Basically, I enjoyed it, and some scenes/images were really great, but I was underwhelmed.

    I would be open to watching it again…may not get around to it for a while….and glad that you liked it

  3. If you knew what it really said, you would be overwhelmed times 10 — you haft to try harder – and, all you say that was good about it is totally bogus – unless you understand what the movie is talking about, it is just pure nonsense! I would be much more impressed with you if you were honest enough to say, ” This movie struck me as total nonsense because I understood exactly nothing of it!”

  4. Well, I’ll try to explain it to you – you have no doubt met the followers of Carl Jung, they are even more strange than the Carl Jung worshippers or the rich
    existentialists – but, in full bloom, they actually are adept at behaving
    “selfless” which they literally think they are. There is just one movie
    about such a perfect all-is-one-er, I read what all the critics said about
    it – every one was wrong as could be – yet they raved about the movie -
    about how spiritual it was, how ’symbolic’ and other non-sense – some said
    the movie had “captured the beauty of Europe’s mystical mountain ranges with
    it ghostly trees – ha! the whole thing was shot on one sound stage – but
    what you see is the Stockholm syndrome – when you suggest to people that
    they might not have a real self, it affects them exactly the same as if you
    threatened their life – but subconsciously – they fall in love with the main
    source of the unconsciously perceived threaten er – and will do anything for
    him (give his movie rave reviews when unless you understand the secret
    theology of the all-is-one-ers, you have no way of consciously seeing
    anything in the movie but total non-sense – I mean that the movie is exactly
    nonsensical confusion and nothing else – unless you understand the secret
    that keeps itself – there are now two such movies out now, one is THE PIANO
    TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES by the Quay brothers – to understand this movie just
    know that the villain of the play (Dr. Droz) is really the most enlightened
    all is oner on Earth (actually, no matter how many or separated by ever how
    much time – they are all one – They are just ONE because there is only just
    one (really). and his housekeeper and helper(Assumpta) is really his brightest
    student who in the end of the movie becomes ONE with all the other great
    enlightened Masters who saw through the Illusion of separate personalities
    and became The One and so a conscious Shepperd of the sleeping masses to
    keep the dream going – the movie will get them a lot of converts – if you do
    not know what is going on you will be subconsciously scared into submission
    to their hypnotic world – the mental ill woman is really Europe, and the
    Piano Tuner is really The Masons and the Buddhists, who (in the view of the
    all is one ers, deserved to lose the love of the intelligentsia in Europe in
    1755 after the greatest Masonic city in the world was wiped out by a huge
    earthquake and 300, 000 people were killed [a fact of history] – many rich Catholic Monasteries
    were destroyed where they secretly taught occultism ( all these last things
    are historical and really happened ) the movie pretends that the real all is
    one ers caused the earthquake to get rid of the half committed all is one
    organizations who were not scientifically inclined – the movie opens with
    frog legs hooked up to electricity and capped with a flower to temp Europa
    towards science and away form the old forms of the occult ( they consider
    that they are not Occultists because the “secret keeps itself” and Quantum
    Mechanics Science IS all is All is one ism – if you see the movie you will
    be the only one in your town who even slightly understands it! Want me to
    send it to you? The other movie which is not understandable in the least by
    anyone but some one who is in on the secret that keeps itself, is Maholland
    Drive, by David Lynch – it won big prizes in Europe – if you see these
    movies you will see what I mean and you will never feel inferior to Artistic
    Types ever again.

  5. Thanks…I obviously didn’t get all of that.

    I am not trying to impress anyone…and I’m not trying to convince anyone that I am smarter or more perceptive than I am…it’s just that, well, I really think that movies are a special medium, that can be viewed/experienced in many different ways. I know only very vaguely Jung and his philosophy…nothing to pretend like I can comment intelligently. I had a suspicion that the Quays “might” be going on something like this…they work closely with Tool (a band I really like) and some of their lyrics are based on Jungian philosophy.

    But I knew next to nothing about that, so I tried experiencing the film from where I could…you are totally right…if I knew more, and could see “the secret” etc., the film would resonate much more with me…and I might be better served learning more of Jung, and then coming back to this film.

    Mulholland Drive is a movie that I have seen before, and a movie that I love….And, like you say, the more I read and got into it, and dug at the “secret” as to what was going on…the better the film became.

    Thanks for your efforts in putting this down for me…like I said I did like the film…and what I could get out of it…but I obviously was missing something…

  6. Jung is “Aldophal” in the movie Piano Tuner – not where it is at ! From any point of view Jung is a dead end – When you see the frog legs hooked up to the battery, think “enlightenment” the end of the old world which ended in 1755 by the earthquake and the flood – and look at the scientific occultism that replaced it terminating in the Quantum Mechanics of today. You still don’t get it and I know it is because of the Stockholm Syndrome – if you go to //www.godmodern.com/ and read that easy to read E book which explains everything, you will then know the secret that keeps itself – and if that doesn’t work, I will explain it to you in person, Love, hal

  7. Also, Mulholland Dr. is understandable and clear – if it is not that to you, you do not get it at all – it is like 2+2=4 — just like that! Please trty harder – I already told you the secret – don’t you believe me?

  8. Dr. Droz wants you FATHER OF TWO BOYS, if you read what is below you will be lost !
    When you saw the frog legs jump, you were looking at the dead being moved -
    then you saw one of Droz’s automatons singing out a hole with a human tounge
    and human teeth – you assumed that they were not real human teeth and
    tongue, but you were wrong – it was a real human tongue and teeth – remember
    when Droz was down in the deep subconscious mind of Europe (he was a ray of
    light) and he said, ” I have come to lift the stone, to raise up your voice
    ” And later he shows Piano Tuner a voice box separated from the Body of
    Malvina – it is not what Europa says, it is the emotional acceptance of
    Europa that makes her superior to America – or any other part of the
    universe.If you do not get *schwindlig* [dizzy] sometimes when you think
    about these things then you have not really understood it [quantum theory].
    - Neils Bohr

    One of the most surprising discoveries of modern physics is that objects
    aren’t as separate as they may seem. When you drill down into the core of
    even the most solid-looking material, separateness dissolves. All that
    remains, like the smile of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, are
    relationships extending curiously throughout space and time. These
    connections were predicted by quantum theory and were called “spooky action
    at a distance” by Albert Einstein. One of the founders of quantum theory,
    Erwin Schrödinger, dubbed this peculiarity *entanglement*, saying “I would
    call that *one* as it is *the* characteristic trait of quantum mechanics.”

    The deeper reality suggested by the existence of entanglement is so unlike
    the world of everyday experience that until recently, many physicists
    believed it was interesting only for abstract theoretical reasons. They
    accepted that the microscopic world of elementary particles could become
    curiously entangled, but those entangled states were assumed to be fleeting
    and have no practical consequences for the world as we experience it. That
    view is rapidly changing.

    Scientists are now finding that there are ways in which the effects of
    microscopic entanglements “scale up” into our macroscopic world. Entangled
    connections between carefully prepared atomic-sized objects can persist over
    many miles. There are theoretical descriptions showing how tasks can be
    accomplished by entangled groups without the members of the group
    communicating with each other in any conventional way. Some scientists
    suggest that the remarkable degree of coherence displayed in living systems
    might depend in some fundamental way on quantum effects like entanglement.
    Others suggest that conscious awareness is caused or related in some
    important way to entangled particles in the brain. Some even propose that
    the entire universe is a single, self-entangled object. That is, God.
    Allisone All is One father of none but the illusion of two, three, and more? Or are you going with me? find out what this movie means please

  9. By now, no doubt, you think I agree with the themes of Lynch and Quays, but nothing could be further from the truth – I am against them //www.godmodern.com/

Leave a Reply