Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

nikhil7179 PTOE is a sumptuous, seven course feast for the senses.Nic Knowland's HD cinematography is wonderfully rich and textural. The sound design is eerie and extremely effective.The art direction is equally fantastic.Amira Cesar is endowed with an ethereal, otherworldly beauty and is perfectly cast in the film. As is Gottfried John who delights as the diabolical Dr. Droz.The Quays have succeeded yet again in creating a strangely compelling parallel universe, falling somewhere between German Expressionism and Kafkaesque Surrealism.The twins have generally been tagged as image-makers rather than story-tellers. That is not necessarily true, as each picture says a thousand words.If you approach PTOE on a purely sensory level - you will be in for a spellbinding ride in which time will cease to exist. If you approach it as a conventional narrative, you will instead find yourself looking constantly at your watch.Alice or the white rabbit - it's really your choice.

feiziu in fact this movie wanna talk about"love"and "fate": fate control everything,and everything u do never be fresh and surprise..some one must did that before. "i am standing the painter which is someone have done it yesterday" and no beautiful thing can be stay forever: except the one who without live(died people) can get real love forever , just like machine of music(in this movie one) without live can get perfect voice forever. otherwise,u also can do what the tuner have done,lost yourself in somewhere and repeat the perfect part of your love forever...and cant take off control of fate forever ,either.and the color of this movie very beautiful too .when you have seen this movie ,you will think about (Sleepy Hollow \ Tim Burton),very similar style of design.if you are female with rich philosophic love idea ,you will love this movie very much.

Cliff Hanley The Quay Brothers have specialised in short films, predominantly animation, and this is only their second feature-length production. It's beautiful to look at, and full of imagery which all looks as if it must have had a long gestation and a provenance linked to some bizarre milieu with a logic of its own. The term, 'Art-house' has always seemed quite spurious, and especially now, as the defining line between mainstream and 'indie' is as blurred as it ever has been; but the Piano Tuner is nothing if not arty. Most of the action takes place in a landscape out of a Max Ernst painting, and the protagonist (Saracho) is a dead ringer for one of Egon Schiele's self-portraits. As Adolfo, a bearded composer, Saracho is in lust with the beautiful opera singer Malvina (Casar), who is abducted by the powerful and mysterious Dr. Emmanuel Droz (John). As Filesberto the youthful and clean cut tuner, he is summoned to the Doctor's mansion to repair his automatons. Here, Malvina, last seen falling dead on stage, is miraculously alive, although she appears as a ghost several times, and she and Filesberto appear to be doomed to share a permanent time hiccup reminiscent of Resnais' 'Je T'aim Je T'aim'. The entire film has the atmosphere of being under water or in a permanent sunset, and is so quiet that the (post-synched) dialogue often disappears entirely and only exists as the artfully added subtitles. It's an undeniably beautiful experience, but some merciless tightening-up in the cutting room would improve it greatly. CLIFF HANLEY

alexfnm I watched this film in the Athens Film Festival, having just watched "Institute Benjamenta" a few days earlier. The effect both of these films had on me was quite similar - as movies they were incredibly dull and boring, but as visual experiences incredibly beautiful. The main problem is that the Quays are mostly animators, and most of their work has been short films. If I'm not terribly mistaken, these are their only full length movies. They have beautiful images in their minds and an amazing talent to materialize them, but not the ability (or perhaps the desire) to transform them into a watchable 2-hour movie.The brothers were also present at the screening of the film. They admitted they were quite disappointed with the end result of the "Piano Tuner...", mostly because they had been forced to direct it with limited funds and in a shorter time than what they would have wanted. Because of the above problems, they had to film it in Liepzig instead of Portugal, and they had to wrap it up about a week earlier than it had originally been agreed. Also, they weren't afraid to admit that they have never been able to finance a full-length animation movie, so they thought that a "regular" film would be a good excuse to squeeze some of their own animations in. Indeed, there is a puppet showing up regularly in the film that does not really have anything to do with the happenings.All in all, both these films make excellent memories when you recollect them some time after the screening. You have, however to put up with the actual screening. If these phenomenally talented guys could find themselves a sharp screenwriter, and most importantly, some better financing, they could easily create some timeless masterpieces.