Directed by: Spencer McCall.
The
Institute is a documentary about something called an “Alternate Reality Game”.
Players saw flyers hung up on telephone poles around San Francisco (and already
you know the type of people the game attracted – people who actually read the
flyers put on telephone poles), and then call the number on them. They are
given an address of the Jejune Institute in the financial district. When they
go to the building, they are directed to a room – the room has TV that gives
them instructions, one of them being not to open the drawer in the desk, which
obviously means everyone opens the drawer in the desk, which gives them an
induction card, and a set of instructions on how to get out of the building and
what to do next. Eventually, they will be directed to listen to a radio
station, which gives other strange instructions. Players will be sent on a wild
goose chase – sometimes through sewers with other gamers they meet. Sometimes,
they have to make phone calls from a payphone, and the person on the other end
of the line will tell them to dance – at which point, a musician shows up and
starts playing music, and eventually, the player will be given something by a
man dressed as a Sasquatch, who danced right along with them.
What
is the purpose of the game? Even after watching the movie, I couldn’t begin to
tell you. The intricate plot of the game involves a feud between the Jeujune
Institute and another organization – led by a guru with the improbable name of Octavio
Coleman, Esquire. Or maybe, Octavio Coleman was the head of the Jeujune
Institute, and the other organization was the evil one. I don’t quite remember –
the whole thing gets confusing, with so much new age psychobabble going on –
and talk of inventions suppressed, and geniuses in need to rescue. Most of the participants
seem to be in on the joke from the beginning – they know it’s all just an
elaborate game, and they enjoy playing it. It adds some needed surrealism into
their regular lives. Some take it far too seriously, and may even think it’s
real. When the game ends, the reaction of the gamers is mixed, with those who
are let down by the “secrets”, those who simply shrug their shoulders and move
on, and those who view it as a life changing experience.
The
movie will probably play better to the type of people who would sign up to play
the game in the first place. There is something refreshingly strange about the
whole thing, and the film at its best has some wonderfully surreal moments (I
imagine David Lynch watching the movie, and swearing at himself for not
including dancing sasquatches in Inland Empire). But ultimately, I found
watching The Institute an extremely frustrating experience. Director Spencer
McCall really wants to string the audience along for the entire running time,
just like the creators of the “game” in question did to its participants,
albeit for a much shorter time (the game went on for months). If you like being
jerked around by a movie like this, or the game sounds like something you would
enjoy, than perhaps you’ll like The Institute more than I did. For me though, I
would have preferred a more critical look into the game itself – which apparently
is part of a larger movement that some have embraced, and some see as
dangerous. During the runtime of the game in the movie, some think it all just
may be a front for a cult.
When
The Institute was over, I didn’t feel like I knew much more about its subject
than when the film began – which seeing as I knew nothing about it when the
movie began, was problematic for me. You probably could make a good documentary
about this strange, strange “game” – but it would require a director with more
probing questions and critical insight and less of a need to string the
audience along on a quest that ultimately leads nowhere.
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