The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes ***

In the end, when all is said and done, I have no clue what "The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes" was actually about. I did not have any connection to the story or the characters, and I stopped caring about midway about what was going on. Then why, you may ask, did I recommend this, and give it such a high rating? Well, the answer is simple. I was blown away with the effort and imagination that The Quay Brothers-and to sidebar that this is my first exposure to them-invested into this work. This was a visual masterpiece, and for some reason will for sure be ignored when it comes to handing out awards for visual effects. Every single shot and image had so much careful consideration into it, that I forgave it for the lack of any consideration in the script. Sadly this is another example of "style over substance"-see "MirrorMask," "Renaissance," and "The Black Dahlia" for other examples of this, but this was truly unique to the point where it's worth seeing no matter how bad the story was.

And here is the story, in a brief nutshell. On the eve of her wedding, beautiful and in love singer Malvina is killed and then kidnapped by the mysterious Dr. Droz. A few months later, we meet Felisberto, a piano tuner who is unaware of what awaits him. Felisberto has been hired by the doctor to come live in his secluded villa, to tune the doctors musical automatons. Felisberto is content with his work until Malvina begins to show herself to him. Little by little he pieces together what has been going on, and learns of Dr. Droz's intentions to stage a diabolical opera, and what that will mean for Malvina. He decides that he must neglect his work and rescue this woman, even if that means being pulled into the realm of Dr. Droz' strange and wicked universe.

"The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes" should have left it's narrative behind while telling this story, because the dialogue and characters take away from it. I wanted this story to be told to me through images and not through words. The Quay Brothers blew me away with the world they've created, but not the story itself. And then do not fail to include anything, and thankfully include stop motion animation into the mix. They transport you into a world where nightmares are made, and this is the deliciously dark fairy tale that I long for and rarely get. Sadly this should be a big screen experience, but the less than one thousand dollar box office gross in New York City does not sound promising. This needs to be seen large to bask in the visuals. And it ends on such a bang that I was left speechless and stayed to watch a large portion of the credits before I could walk away. When imagination is the only form of critique, "The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes" rates a perfect four starts. However, The Quay's try to hang onto conventional storytelling, which really does lower this down significantly. It falls that much short of the masterpiece it could have been, but this demands to be seen anyway. This is an unmissable experience that nobody will have. I only wish I had brought people with me.