SANATORIUM UNDER THE SIGN OF THE HOURGLASS | Quay Brothers | 2024 | In Polish with English subtitles | 76 minutes | NR (nudity and mature themes) | DCP
“The first feature in 20 years by animation masters The Quay Brothers is inspired by stories by Polish author Bruno Schulz (Street of Crocodiles). In a mixture of live action and breathtakingly intricate stop-motion puppetry, the Quays follow the journey of Josef, who journeys by train to a labyrinthine sanatorium in search of his dying father. Upon arrival, Jozef finds the Sanatorium entirely moribund and run by a dubious Doctor Gotard, who tells him that his father’s death, the death that has struck him in his country, has not yet occurred and that here they are always late by a certain interval of time of which the length cannot be defined. Jozef will come to realize that the Sanatorium is a floating world halfway between sleep and wakefulness and that time and events cannot be measured in any tangible form. Told in seven chapters corresponding with seven prophetic, mystical viewing lenses, the film bends objects, time, and dimensions as Josef navigates the realm between dreams and reality.” —Film Forum
Preceded by:
STREET OF CROCODILES | Quay Brothers | 1986 | In English and Polish with English subtitles | 21 minutes | NR
“The Quays’ masterpiece, Street of Crocodiles is adapted from a short story by Polish writer Bruno Schulz, and was their first film shot on 35mm. A museum keeper spits into the eyepiece of an ancient peep-show and sets the musty machine in motion, plunging the viewer into a nightmarish netherworld of bizarre puppet rituals among the dirt and grime.” -Zeitgeist Films
