The Institute

NOT !

I have no idea what I just saw exactly, but I was glued to the screen the whole time. Should there be some definitive resolution to art? This was a unique viewing experience. I give it a high score. Why? No idea, but that seems like the right thing to do for some reason. Maybe somebody else will get it and then explain what in heck just happened.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of stuff to wrack your brain on. Human psychology, belief, art, what kind of life are we living, would I participate in such a thing? Is modern society missing something like this? Should we ask for more? What kinds of "stone soup" have we created in the past, and is that a bad thing to do or a good thing...

Too many chefs... at least bring ingredients !

I'm not huge documentary guy, but this was great. I feel like everyone should know about it. I wish I could have actually been a part of it. It reminds me of the Darma Initiative or something, but real. I'm quite surprised by the negative reviews. I highly recommend this documentary.

Like a lot of people, I watched this after the terrific tv series dispatches from elsewhere.

This is presumably a documentary about the real-life alternate reality game that inspired the series. And at first, it's pretty interesting, as it interviews participants and creators.

When I read user reviews, they would complain it wasn't a real documentary, and at first I thought they were being too demanding. I thought, maybe it's fudging things a bit, since it's made by people involved in teh ARG, but it still seemed reasonable.

But as it goes along, this blurring of the real and the illusion, while true, I suppose, to the spirit of the ARG, means that this fails as a documentary because you don't feel you've really learned much. But it also fails as fiction, because much of it is incredibly boring.

Ultimately, this is just a really self-indulgent film that fails on multiple levels. Which is a shame, because I think something interesting could have been made out of the experience. But then, I guess that's what dispatches from elsewhere was - the interesting thing they finally got out of the event.

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."

An seemingly normal office building in San Francisco held a secret; a strange office for something called The Jejune Institute.

At first glance, The Jejune Institute appears to be a cult. But some of their claims seemed outlandish even by cult standards -- a machine that records your memories to a VHS tape? A method for talking to dolphins? Huh? Those looking for a strange adventure would visit The Jejune Institute, only to be presented with a trippy presentation, a scavenger hunt, etc.

Let me assure you that this film does document many real events. Yes, people really did visit a payphone and dance. Yes, there really was a protest at Union Square. Yes, the Jejune Institute was a real place in a real office building.

I can tell you all of this for certain because I participated in The Jejune Institute and the so-called "Games of Nonchalance" that are documented in this film. I suppose I can't review a film fairly as someone who is documented in it, even if only in the background. But the film is not the game.

Ultimately, with The Institute there's a moment during the film where you star to question whether what you're seeing is real, is part of the game, or is fictionalized for the purpose of the film. I'm sure that moment will be different for everyone.

Even as someone who played Games of Nonchalance in its entirety, I'm not sure I can decipher fact from fiction with 100% accuracy. Watching The Institute for the first time felt a lot like watching Exit Through The Gift Shop, where it's unclear how much of what the camera is feeding you is true and how much the director is winking and smiling.

There's no question in my mind that this was the right decision for telling the story of the Games of Nonchalance. An alternate reality game messes with your head; for a film to capture such a game, it must do the same.