The short, dreamlike films made by Stephen and Timothy Quay are best appreciated as moving pieces of surreal art. Don’t even try to wrap your brain around the disjointed and stylized images found in their creepy animated fairy tales for adults. The Cinematheque’s two-part Tales From the Brothers Quay program gathers a dozen wordless films the Philadelphia-born identical twins made between 1979 and 2000. Best are The Unnameable Little Broom and Street of Crocodiles (showing tonight) and The Comb and Anamorphosis (showing tomorrow). Scenes of broken doll’s heads in dingy basements inspired every single video Tool ever made — as well as plenty of sweat-drenched nightmares.
March 1-2, 7 p.m.
This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 6, 2007.