The Institute (2013)

Why so much hype?

Well Deserved Praise

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

A wonderful interactive street-art project based on the philosophies originated by the Church of the SubGenius, the band DEVO, the David Cronenberg film Videodrome and the television miniseries Wild Palms is turned into a very tedious mockumentary. Unfortunately, unless you participated in the analog-geocaching-role-playing-game, watching The Institute can be a very eye-rolling experience. Much of the film is filled with poorly acted re-enactments, hokey "found footage" and phony interviews. If you make it past the sixty minute mark, it becomes very apparent that you are watching a semi-talented improv-group's re-imagining of David Fincher's The Game starring Michael Douglas. I love ingenious street-art and clever stunts and would have loved to have watched a serious documentary about how the artist(s) came up with this very well thought-out hoax, but to sit down and watch what you know is a joke, gets very tiring and very boring very quickly.

I didn't know what to expect and that helped a lot.Everyone is part of the game, I suspect even us viewers. Those moments when you are not sure what is real and what is not, happens to the viewer as well and boom... THEY GOTCHA...The idea of the art game project is wonderful and what stuck with me is the idea that the world can be a fun and interesting place, if you look at it through the right eyes, the eye of wonder and mystery.I laughed and smiled a lot while watch. That is a good sign.So if you want to see a documentary about something that happened and didn't happen and happened, this is the doc for you.

Imagine if the Darhma Initiative from the TV series LOST was real...Aren't you hooked right there? Well, I think that's how I felt watching The Institute. Hard to believe that this actually happened.Fascinating and thought provoking. Ultimately it does make you think that modern life has hollowed out existence to the point where creating an all-consuming "game" would be the thing that sparks people back to reality.And like the other reviewer commented, what is reality these days?Honestly I was pulled in by the deliciously beautiful artwork. But the trailer had me about 10 seconds in, when I knew I needed to watch this to find out what the heck this is all about.I supposed it would be nice if the ultimate objective of all this was really to create a better world, but maybe just giving people a little inspiration to be adventurous is doing just that.When I rented the movie this morning it had just become available on iTunes and now it's up to like the top 10 in the Documentaries section, which is pretty amazing. Maybe the game is still afoot? Maybe the Jejune Institute really is still out there pushing people's buttons.A mystery wrapped in an enigma shrouded in subterfuge. Gamers out there might want to put down their joysticks for 90 minutes and snack on this absurdly fun real-life game. Although apparently the people in this experiment did not like to think of it as a "game." And I guess they are right -- just as in LOST, if you experienced it, then I suppose to some degree it is "real."

Is the world we see around us reality or is it a series of layered perceptions? Who really runs the show and what is it all about. In The Institute, the viewer is taken as a few chosen ones are taken on a riddled filled adventure full of twist and turns. They are lead on a wild goose chase and their perceptions changed as the secrets of a whole unseen underworld is presented in front of them. This fictional narrative blends in true settings to where the lines between fiction and reality blur. The journey takes you in and out all type of locations, a busy street, a serene park, and the final resting place for some bookish type. The end is at a bringing together of these adventurous souls. I saw this film as part of the Atlanta Film Festival