User Reviews

This is the first short created by The Brothers Quay, and it shows. Their obsessive animation and dust-bunny mise-en-scene still hold, but the flow is a little off and it doesn't seem to go anywhere.

I still think it's a very incredible piece of work. These guys are deranged in their ability to create an almost perfect and seamless movement out of inanimate characters, and then to put them into a context beyond normal perception. To believe that dolls and small human-shaped figures are alive requires both the precise eye of the filmmakers (which they have in surplus, it seems) and a strong suspension of disbelief in the viewers (which is why, I think, stop-motion isn't used as often as other forms of animation... it takes a lot more work and often with a lot smaller pay-off). The fact that the Quay brothers can help create that suspension of disbelief AND put it into a confined dreamscape outside of the comfort zone of most viewers is testament alone to their skill, before even getting into the works themselves.

That's the reason why I don't think this short is as good as their later works. The problem with the flow is the same as the problem to the snippets of verse they keep cutting to: in terms of syntax, the sentences make sense, but in terms of general understanding, they're nonsense. They're either poetry with a deeper meaning missing because of the cuts between the lines, or they're just random statements.

I suppose one could argue that absurdity and nonsense is part of the point of this work. That's fair enough. This movie isn't bad, by any means. I just think it's not as good as their later works.

--PolarisDiB

"Nocturna Artificialia" is one of the earlier Qay Twins works and at 21 minutes also among their longer films. I really am not a fan of the duo, but this one here was still among their better efforts I guess. Animation and story were forgettable, but not as bad as some of the stuff they did in the 1980s. Sound effects and music were, as usual, the best thing in their works. Nonetheless, this cannot make up for the lack of class in more crucial areas and even if this is their first work, I cannot be any more generous with my rating here. Quite a shame what they become as I actually occasionally see some talent in this film from over 35 years ago. I do not recommend checking it out all in all. Underwhelming effort and still a contender for career-best. Go figure.

Even when the influence of the great Jan Svankmajer is still quite evident in this early short from the brothers Quay, "Nocturna Artificilia", there are several moments where the distinctive style of those two filmmakers could be noted, the same style that will get a fully development in later shorts, such as their adaptation of the Bruno Schulz's short story "Street of Crocodiles" and the fascinating "Stille Nacht" shorts.

Mysterious, fascinating and stylish, "Nocturna Artificilia" is an impressive work with a captivating atmosphere, having the dream-like quality that eventually became characteristic in all the works of the brothers Quay. The impressive animation and atmosphere are the best part of this short, largely compensating the apparent lack of a plot (or at least, a "plot" in the conventional sense) I'd rather think in the shorts of the brothers Quay as visual "poems".