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In Absentia is a British film of genre Animation directed by Frères Quay
In Absentia (2000)
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Add to a movie listIn Absentia, a short film commissioned by the BBC as a part of a series called "Sound on Film International", was a collaboration with the filmmakers The Brothers Quay and musical composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, elder statesman of the twentieth-century musical avant-garde. Keith Griffiths produced the film with production companies, Illuminations Films and Koninck. Marlene Kaminsky plays the woman in the film.
Synopsis
A seated woman, alone in a chair at a table in a room on one of the top floors of an asylum, repeatedly writes on a piece of paper and sharpens pencils. The pencil point often breaks under her fingers' force. She places the broken points outside the window on the sill. A satanic figure is somewhere nearby, animated and made of straw or clay, not flesh. A spotlight lights up her window randomly. She finishes her writing, tears the paper from the pad, folds it, places it in an envelope, and slips it through a slot that contains many more letters. Great emphasis is placed on extreme close-ups of the objects central to her existence: the pencils, the sharpener, the paper, her cramped, clenching hands, blackened fingernails, endless stubs of broken-off lead, and finally the letters themselves, packaged up and 'posted' uselessly into a grandfather clock.Comments
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Suggestions of similar film to In Absentia
There are 5 films with the same director, 5015 with the same cinematographic genres, to have finally 70 suggestions of similar films.If you liked In Absentia, you will probably like those similar films :
Nocturna Artificialia (1979)
, 21minutesDirected by Frères Quay
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Animation
Rating63%
The story is told in eight parts and begins with a man in his apartment. He sees a red tram out his window and leaves his apartment to wait for the next tram to come by. As he sees the next tram approaching him, he puts his arms up to signal it to stop. At the same time, the wind begins to blow and a curtain from an open window in his apartment complex blows outward toward the sky. He boards the tram and for a while rides through the night continuously looking forward instead of out the windows at the scenery. Finally, in slow motion, he begins to move toward the curtain on the window of the tram and pulls it back. He sees strange objects as he passes through the night(such as a dart board and some tree trunks held up by metal bars). All these objects are the only thing he can see when he passes them because they are engulfed in light, while the areas surrounding the objects is pitch black. As the tram continues on, it appears to disappear around him and he is back in a makeshift version of his apartment looking out the blinds of his window. He closes the blinds and seems to be startled by something. He follows it to the vent in his wall and looks into it. There appears to be nothing in the vent and he turns away disappointed. The wind begins to blow harder outside as another tram passes by his apartment complex. He then gets the idea to take off the screen of his vent and stick his hand into it. As he reaches trying to find anything in the vent the scenery of the movie changes again and he is back riding on the tram holding what looks like a crumbled piece of paper with a blood stain on it. After he sees the paper he passes out in the seat of the tram and awakens in the makeshift version of his apartment. He puts the crumbled, blood-stained paper on a hanger to dry and the movie begins to spin showing different unidentifiable objects. Finally, the movie stops spinning and shows the front of a church. The man is again inside of the red tram, that seems to be driving through the middle of the church, looking out of the window. The screen switches from pitch black to different arts on the inside of the church in the point of view like the audience themselves are riding the tram. Time passes and the man is at a loss of where he is. He looks around confused and again, finds himself in his apartment. It is obvious that time has passed because the lighting is much darker and the mood is much more sleepy. After this, the man is on the tram and the scenery switches between him on the tram and the objects from earlier in the movie. The man is riding along and the tram accelerates. The tram goes faster and faster and the man's head thrusts back as the wind blows against him. This results in him falling off of a chair that he apparently played like it was the tram. He falls backward off the chair and hits his head on the ground. He tries to get up, but fails. More time passes (as can be seen as the light from outside rises and falls) and he is still motionless on the ground as the movie ends.
This Unnameable Little Broom (1985)
, 11minutesDirected by Frères Quay
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Fantasy, Horror, Animation
Rating69%
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, 1h44Directed by Frères Quay
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Rating70%
The plot follows Jakob, a young man who enters a school, run by brother and sister Herr and Lisa Benjamenta, which trains servants. The teachers emphasize to the students that they are unimportant people. Jakob finds the school to be an oppressive environment, and does not enjoy the lessons in subservience that he receives. He proceeds to challenge the Benjamentas and attempts to shift their perspectives. Lisa is attracted to Jakob and spends time with him, and shows him the secret labyrinth below the school. Lisa soon dies and after her death the institute closes. Herr Benjamenta and Jakob then leave together.
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Rating65%
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Rating61%
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Rating73%
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