koyaanisqatsi

[matthew5]

a remarkable film

the combination of music and images is hypnotic

watching it is emotionally draining for me but at the same time somehow intoxicating.... it has a narcotic effect yet makes you think... about everything.

[Taurus]

Great show. VERY thought provoking.

The dvd version (which I own) includes an excellent 30 minute feature about the film itself, and is not the usual fluff piece so many bonus features turn out to be on other dvds.

BTW on an off-topic note about the audio: this has a nicely done surround soundtrack, which is mostly ambient but does feature discrete elements when needed & are never distracting or gimmicky. And a pair of large floorstanders or a subwoofer is needed for the many powerful low-bass notes the music features.

[mjomalle]

I saw it in a film course in college. It was unanimously disliked. It actually made me consider slitting my wrists in the theater.

To each his own.

[93curr]

Yeah, I saw it when it came out and just hated every minute. It just seemed so intellectually dishonest. This is one of those films where I completely agree with Roger Ebert (though I would have given it less stars than he did):

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19830926/REVIEWS/309260301/1023

This film has one idea, a simplistic one. It contrasts the glory of nature with the mess made by man. But man is a messy beast, given to leaving reminders of his presence all over the surface of planet Earth. Although a Hopi word is used to evoke unspoiled nature, no Hopis are seen, and the contrast in the movie doesn't seem to be between American Indian society and Los Angeles expressways, but between expressways and a beautiful world empty of man. Thanks, but no thanks.

I had another problem. All of the images in this movie are beautiful, even the images of man despoiling the environment. The first shot of smokestacks is no doubt supposed to make us recoil in horror, but actually I thought they looked rather noble. The shots of the expressways are also two-edged. Given the clue in the title, we can consider them as an example of life out of control. Or -- and here's the catch - -we can marvel at the fast-action photography and reflect about all those people moving so quickly to their thousands of individual destinations. What a piece of work is a man! And what expressways he builds!

"Koyaanisqatsi," then, ... is all images and music. There is no overt message except the obvious one (the Grand Canyon is prettier than Manhattan). It has been hailed as a vast and sorrowful vision, but to what end? If the people in all those cars on all those expressways are indeed living crazy lives, their problem is not the expressway (which is all that makes life in L.A. manageable) but perhaps social facts such as unemployment, crime, racism, drug abuse and illiteracy -- issues so complicated that a return to nature seems like an elitist joke at their expense.

[Dillydipper]

Yeah, I saw it when it came out and just hated every minute. It just seemed so intellectually dishonest.

I don't see where there is "intellect" to it. It's an emotional statement, not a debate. It's not a documentary where solutions are expected to magically appear for their detractors to shoot the messenger. It's not trying to "sell" you on a path; the message is, the path we're already on, is harmful.

The subject matter was critical for its' time, because human impact on the environment was being ignored by those in charge, because they had no answers that would allow justification to their practices. The film is the start of a conversation that needs to have all participants responding on the same emotional plane, in order to move forward. At the time, merely bringing up the subjects was enough to get you painted as either "one of 'them'" or "one of 'us'", and nullifying either side to get their point across to the other.

As a form of non-narrative communication, this is to cinema what performance art is to theatre: it removes "script" and "moral" from the presentation, and demands you react to what you are shown on a visceral and emotional level.

And yes, I HAVE slept through it a couple of times...even though I've screened it several!

[matthew5]

I don't think this film even does have a 'message'

it merely presents reality.... there is no moralizing

you take from it what you want

it is what it is and for me it is an engrossing experience

[Taurus]

Ebert's review - BTW I stopped listening to movie reviewers loooooong ago - is proof of the power of one of this film's intents i.e. getting people to think.*

BTW seeing smoke stacks belching filth into the atmosphere does not evoke feelings of nobility in this member's mind.

* well.....I am 99% sure that is one of its purposes!

[Squealy]

I don't think this film even does have a 'message'

it merely presents reality.... there is no moralizing

The title of the film means "Life Out of Balance." I think that's the intended message.

[Chris Gerhard]

I have never watched any of the Qatsi trilogy:

Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of balance (1983)
Powaqqatsi: Life in transformation (1988)
Naqoyqatsi: Life as war (2002)

As recently as a couple of weeks ago, I considered starting with the first when I saw the DVD for sale for $5. I passed on the purchase, it just doesn't seem like interesting filmmaking.

Chris

[Matthew B.]

it merely presents reality.... there is no moralizing

Reality does not play itself out in time-lapse or slow-motion photography, and in real life people don't walk around with portentous Philip Glass soundtracks burbling through their heads. When Godfrey Reggio crosscuts sped-up footage of people riding banks of escalators with shots of hot dog weiners in a meat-processing plant, he's clearly making a moral point. An inane one, but a moral point nonetheless.

My favourite review of Koyaanisqatsi comes from the Time Out Film Guide:

A wildly charitable viewer might describe this as an ecological documentary. Less than 90 minutes transport us from the primordial cuteness of the American South-West (a Good Thing) to the squalor of a Manhattan rush hour (a Bad Thing); and in case you still don't get the message, there's plenty of time-lapse photography to make people look like machines, and an apocalyptic score by Philip Glass to tell you off for daring to find visual pleasure in New York's skyline. At once maudlin and doggedly sarcastic, the film gives you the uncomfortable sensation of being condescended to by an idiot; it is, transparently, a product of the advanced technology it purports to despise. The title, by the way, is pilfered from the Hopi tongue and means 'vacuous hippy'.

Author: KJ

[ROLO46]

Vacuous Hippy indeed

I hate the Glass score

My copy is a poor TK transfer

Never viewed again

Roger
imho

[therockman]

I don't think this film even does have a 'message'

it merely presents reality.... there is no moralizing

you take from it what you want

it is what it is and for me it is an engrossing experience



True that!!

[matthew5]

some negative reactions

which is understandable. I can see why people would dislike this film...

by the way I think the Glass score is great and stands on its own. The high tempo parts can be grating, but I still enjoy them... and I find the earlier movements soothing

[rburly]

I watched it when it was on PBS for a while.

I watched for as long as I could, then just turned the channel. I think I was waiting for a plot or theme. I see now that there was a theme, but it held me for maybe 30-45 minutes, then I turned the channel. As I recall, I liked the music for quite a while, but then it just seemed monotonous.

[MikeT]

I love this film, because the visuals with the music (which I love), as was pointed out by the OP can cause an almost intoxicating effect. I don't fully look at the message of the film as GOOD vs. BAD, but as two polar opposites of what life can be like on Planet Earth. We have the serene, natural aspects of the planet vs. the technological man-made aspects of living on planet earth. Maybe the filmmaker is trying to get us to feel that the man-made aspects are "bad", but I just view them as opposite of the natural serene beauty of the "untouched" world. I don't tend to place a good or bad feeling on either. I really view the movie as a 90 minute ride that leaves you feeling a bit "dizzy" when it ends.

Yes - I also believe that the man-made world can be "out-of-control" (i.e., fast paced, moving towards what, mechanical - I can relate as I sometimes feel this in my "working" lifestyle).

[AndrewS]

I first saw this on PBS when I was in high school. Apart from enjoying it visually, I really liked the soundtrack, and it was my first introduction to Philip Glass.

I also enjoyed Powaqqatsi, but for some reason, I haven't watched Naqoyqatsi in its entirety, yet.

[Dudley Morris]

Saw a film called Baraka when I was in grad school, and it was pretty much a copy of Koyaanisqatsi, with a similar "message". Lots of contrasts/comparisons between developed-world living, business, factory farms, nature, primitive tribes, and third world povety. Visually interesting, but the "message", such as it was, was kinda hamfisted.

[crimsoncing]

I saw this many years ago at UCLA on a double feature with The Stones In The Park...lol I loved it considering we were all in a later state of mind at the time. I went out and got the LP of the sound track. Turned me on to Phillip Glass.

[Dragun]

Saw a film called Baraka when I was in grad school, and it was pretty much a copy of Koyaanisqatsi, with a similar "message". Lots of contrasts/comparisons between developed-world living, business, factory farms, nature, primitive tribes, and third world povety. Visually interesting, but the "message", such as it was, was kinda hamfisted.

Baraka was directed by Ron Fricke, the director of photography on Koyaanisqatsi.

[wayneklein]

I saw it once when it was first released and liked it but not enough to watch it again. The soundtrack is terrific.

[Pinknik]

Baraka, and Fricke's other film Chronos, were both shot in 70mm. I haven't seen either, but I'd like to check them out on blu-ray.

[Dillydipper]

It was screened locally with Phillip Glass and ensemble accompanying the film live. I understand he was touring doing that at one point.

[AndrewS]

It was screened locally with Phillip Glass and ensemble accompanying the film live. I understand he was touring doing that at one point.

I didn't see that, but I did see Powaqqatsi with live accompaniment in Ann Arbor (nice town!).

[Rando]

Love the movie. I have a pre-release DVD signed by the director. :thumbsup:

[mr_mjb1960]

It was screened locally with Phillip Glass and ensemble accompanying the film live. I understand he was touring doing that at one point.Glass' music also was on WNET as bumper music...he was/is one of the premier "New Music" pioneers. Michael Boyce