Waste of time

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

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 !

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."

I saw this movie at the Mill Valley Film Festival last year and have thought about it a lot since then. From the start, the film has incredibly compelling visuals and soundtrack, but the interviews with members (?) seem pretty straight forward. As the movie continues though, it seems as though things start twisting and the information may or may not be "real." Are these people acting? Is this even what happened? It might all be fake, or it might all be real, or a beautiful mixture of fact and fiction. Regardless, it looks like it was a lot of fun to participate, and I love the idea of having things like this going on around you without your knowledge. I recommend watching the movie (I think you can get it on iTunes) and seeing if you can tell what is real -- if anything.

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