The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes

Jean Cocteau. Guy Maddin. David Lynch. Robert Wiene.

Do you know who those directors are? Do you like their movies? If so, then The Quay Brothers' latest film, The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes, will tinkle all your ivories.

I must confess my ignorance and admit that I had never seen a Quay Brothers movie before viewing The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes yesterday. Known mainly for their work with miniatures and stop-motion animation, this is only the identical twins' second full-length, live-action film — though, the theme of automatons and reanimated corpses does lend itself to the occasional flips to the animated side of things.

The quasi Phantom of the Opera storyline follows the deadly obsession of opera fan Dr. Droz (Cesar Sarachu) with a soon-to-be-wed diva, Malvina (Amira Casar). On her wedding day, the bad doctor steals the raven-haired beauty's life, then her body, and spirits it away to his remote island home. Malvina awakens to her new existence as a musical automaton but her despair keeps her silent, her cogs and wheels stubbornly unmoving. Droz's only hope to hear her voice again lies in the hands of the most gifted piano tuner (Cesar Sarachu) in all the land… but will the piano tuner also fall prey to Malvina's unearthly charms?

With Terry Gilliam on board as an executive producer, fans of visually arresting style and mood will not be disappointed. Although there is, without a doubt, some lack of substance and certainly a tenuous narrative at best (but I did love the use of voiceover, ala Philip Marlow in Wonderland), The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes is an elaborately fabricated art horror film of the highest order.

The movie opens in limited release on December 1, so if it's not in your area do be sure and catch the DVD release in 2007.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson