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40 Years of Koyaanisqatsi
- pestatije 3y ago[flagged]
- canjobear 3y agoDon't forget the Philip Glass soundtrack!
- zabzonk 3y agoi always thought that the score was the whole point just trying to think where i first saw it. i assumed it was at edinburgh university film soc (i was friends with the soc's chairman) but it can't be. some art-house place in london, i guess.
- binarymax 3y agoGPT
- teddyh 3y ago[Spider Crab] Silence, GPT!
- lebski88 3y agoA few years ago I saw go go penguin perform their imagining of the koyaanisqatsi soundtrack live. It was one of the best things I've ever seen. I was spellbound from start to finish.
- tgv 3y agoI've seen the Philip Glass ensemble playing live to the movie!
- dhosek 3y agoI’m thinking that the performance that I saw had the PGE plus the Hollywood Bowl symphony playing live to the movie, but I could be misremembering it and the symphony may have played other material with the PGE before or after the movie.
- iwanttocomment 3y agoI saw PGE and the LA Philharmonic performing live with the movie in 2009 at the Hollywood Bowl, and they also performed other pieces, so you're likely remembering correctly. https://www.nonesuch.com/journal/philip-glass-ensemble-la-philharmonic-perform-to-koyaanisqatsi-at-hollywood-bowl-2009-07-23 https://www.nonesuch.com/journal/philip-glass-ensemble-la-ph...
- dhosek 3y agoBingo! Thanks for corroborating.
- detourdog 3y agoMe too at BAM where did you see it?
- tgv 3y agoVredenburg, I think.
- eigenvalue 3y agoIf you like this then I can’t recommend Baraka highly enough, by the cinematographer of Koyaanisqatsi: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baraka_(film) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baraka_(film) No narration at all, just amazing visuals and music/sounds. Review by Ebert: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-baraka-1992 https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-baraka-1992
- radicaldreamer 3y agoSamsara is pretty great as well, mostly because of the impeccable cinematography and shelling out for 70mm film and lugging cameras and lenses which film in 70mm around the world.
- Alex3917 3y agoThis. Koyaanisqatsi might be more important in cinematic history, but Baraka is actually enjoyable to watch. IMHO the best use for Koyaanisqatsi is as an answer when playing charades.
- sfpotter 3y agoI find Koyaanisqatsi very enjoyable to watch.
- dhosek 3y agoBack in the 90s a bunch of us watched the whole movie by accident. Somehow it came up in conversation and the guy whose house we were in happened to have a copy on VHS and he put it in and we got so mesmerized that while we only intended to watch a few minutes of it, we watched the whole thing. There are two “sequels” to Koyaanisqatsi: Powisqatsi and Naqoyqatsi, both also with Philip Glass soundtracks.
- petercooper 3y agoI hugely prefer Koy to Baraka, but the world takes all sorts. Baraka just feels like a lot of nice vignettes in random sequence. Koy walks through themes, builds upon them, then repeats them. It's more like a symphony.
- liampulles 3y agoAs close as it gets to a good feature length music video.
- petercooper 3y agoAnd a direct inspiration upon music videos, too, particularly Madonna's Ray of Light: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3ov9USxVxY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3ov9USxVxY
- tempodox 3y agoIf you haven't seen the movie yet: https://watchdocumentaries.com/koyaanisqatsi/ https://watchdocumentaries.com/koyaanisqatsi/
- ncr100 3y agoJeez still gets my heart pumping - watched just 3 minutes (0:45:00 -> 0:48:00 where it does the 'cars flowing like blood through veins in a city) and the real human orchestra music just nails it. The composition of the shots makes me ask, Why are we living this way? Good and bad outcomes, ofc, and the film makes me ask myself questions.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Jysix 3y agoMovie deserves to be viewed in a better quality than this please
- eigenhombre 3y agoSeeing this post/thread brings back some good memories! Am happy to see Phillip Glass is on Bandcamp. I found an old cassette copy of Koyaanisqatsi kicking around but also just got a digital copy of the soundtrack there; happy to support a living artist.
- xnx 3y agoRandomized gif version: https://www.monkeon.co.uk/gifaanisqatsi/ https://www.monkeon.co.uk/gifaanisqatsi/
- kspyy 3y agothis is a cool idea, thanks for sharing
- ano-ther 3y agoI remember coming out of the cinema completely mesmerized. A but like reading poetry when you cannot express why it touches you. I watched quite a few experimental films and some can be long after only 5 minutes. Koyaanisqatsi on the other hand feels completely coherent and keeps its tension for 90 minutes even if I couldn’t re-tell the story.
- canjobear 3y agoDoes anyone have any information on the Hopi prophecies quoted in the article and in the film? Are they documented elsewhere? It seems a little suspicious to me that the Hopi text so closely matches 1970s American environmentalism/anxiety about nuclear weapons. I suspect there has been some creative translation. I actually wrote to the linguist listed in the Koyaanisqatsi credits for the original text in Hopi and he said he couldn't find it....
- bloqs 3y agoIntriguing
- eesmith 3y agohttps://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/83301/Of%20How%20a%20Hopi%20Ancient%20Word%20Became%20a%20Famous%20Experimental%20Film%20-%20Not%20Even%20Past.pdf?sequence=2 https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/83... (found by Google Scholar search for "Koyaanisqatsi Hopi" seems to give decent context > This episode of [Hopi] existence begins with the extraordinarily cruel act of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 by the United States’ Air Force, near the end of World War II. Among the remote consequences of this attack, one or two years later, a group of Hopi of the Second Mesa at their ceremonial reunions (kivas) started “equating the atomic bomb with a prophetic story about a gourd of ashes which brought destruction when it was cast on the ground,” according to anthropologist Brian D. Haley. By 1948, with the devastation of planet Earth in mind because of human greed, elders and religious leaders of the Second and Third Mesa decided it was urgent to share this prophecy with the “White people” so that everyone could be prepared for Purification Day, the moment when deity of the current fourth world, Maasaw, would come and redeem humanity, creating a new paradise on Earth. > The effort to spread the word on the ancient prophecies is what anthropologist Richard Clemmer designated the “Hopi Traditionalist Movement.” The Hopi agenda, though, was more than a spiritual calling; it was very political. In 1949 they sent President Truman a letter in which they detailed their prophecies and message of awareness, but also their position about land ownership, mineral extraction permits, the cultural and political rights of indigenous peoples, and pending US policies. With the help of non-Native People, the movement got the attention of conscientious objectors and draft resisters of the Second World War, pacifists, anarchists, spiritual radicals, and, in time, the different counterculture circles of the 1950s, 60s and 70s ... > It’s the mid 1970s and Godfrey Reggio does not have a name for the film he is shooting. His co-workers are telling him they are not going to get distribution or financial aid if he does not name it. Reggio had resisted to do so until then, because for him the images were the message. Persuaded, he starts searching for a word “with no cultural baggage, a new word to describe the world.” ... > Living in Santa Fe, Reggio was near the Hopi reservation and had friends that were “Hopi devotees,” as he calls them. They insisted on the connections between his creative project and the Traditional Hopi Movement’s prophecies. He met David Monongye, one of the Hopi spokesmen of Hotevilla, by giving him a ride from the reservation to a doctor’s appointment and they became friends. Reggio liked the idea of naming his film with an originally non-written language to evoke his argument that the literate culture he lived in was no longer a good describer for the insanity he saw all around. Thus, he contacted the linguist Ekkehart Malotki, who knew the Hopi language, and his Hopi co-worker Michael Lomatuway’ma. They introduced him to the word koyaanisqatsi, a concept that nailed his awareness. Reggio went to David Monongye for permission. “David said it’s an ancient word,” recalls Reggio today, “a word that’s not in popular use. He didn’t talk much about it, but he said the definition we had, took the meaning of the word.” ... > Reggio not only asked for Monongye’s opinion, he also went through two more examinations by clan leaders of other villages: first by Mina Lansa, the traditional leader of Old Oraibi, and her husband John, then by a group of members of the 2nd Mesa. Reggio felt as he had gone through an ecclesiastical interrogation once again, and in a language he couldn’t understand, but with better results. All of them gave him consent.
- contingencies 3y agoA classic trilogy. See also this list of films in the category: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_feature_films_described_as_non-narrative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_feature_films_describe... I can also recommend Manufactured Landscapes.
- louthy 3y agoKoyaanisqatsi is just one of those Magic films that you can start watching and think yeah whatever - and then as it goes on and on you just get more and more blown away by incredible intensity of the soundtrack and visuals. A really transcendental experience. The backstory that Philip Glass originally didn’t want to score it is also amazing, as is the reason for Francis Ford Coppola’s name being on the artwork even though he had nothing to do with the film. absolutely awesome
- netsharc 3y ago> Francis Ford Coppola’s name being on the artwork even though he had nothing to do with the film. Sounds like a strange take. From [1]: > Koyaanisqatsi opens with the words “Presented by Francis Ford Coppola.” This simple endorsement by one of cinema’s most renowned directors solidified the film’s reputation and propelled it into movie theaters around the world. Not sure if FFC gave them money (I guess yes since he's credited as executive producer), even without money, his name would've been enough to open a lot of doors. Reminds of how Werner Herzog got involved in "The Act of Killing" [2], watching an 8-minute excerpt at breakfast was enough. [1] https://culturacolectiva.com/en/movies/francis-ford-coppolas-name-helped-koyaanisqatsi/ https://culturacolectiva.com/en/movies/francis-ford-coppolas... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=87&v=LLQxVy7R9qo https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=87&v=LLQxVy7R9qo
- louthy 3y agoFrom what I understood, he simply endorsed the film to help it get a wider audience. He didn't produce, direct, or have an involvement with the making of the film. That's what I meant. Producers, executive or otherwise, are usually involved in financing the film before and during its production. This didn't happen. He saw it after production and felt compelled to help spread the message. I think it's great that he did, but it's surely one of those weird artefacts of why Koyaanisqatsi is successful.
- kkarimi 3y agoAny good sources on the Philip Glass backstory?
- CalRobert 3y agoMy kids (age 3 and 5) wanted to watch a movie and I didn't really want them watching one so I bluffed and put on Koyaanisqatsi. They (and I, for the first time in ~15 years) were enthralled. Ended up talking about poverty, etc.
- mherdeg 3y agoThis is really special - glad to hear it went well.
- thrwaway71 3y ago[flagged]
- CalRobert 3y ago"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster." "Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky." "A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."
- lioeters 3y agoI was a teenager riding a bicycle through a neighborhood, when I came across a yard sale. Heard that someone had died. Among their things was a tape of the Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack composed by Philip Glass. Bought it for a couple of bucks, and later that night was blown away by the music. I had heard nothing like it before - it made me shiver with awe and fear. It felt like the dead was reaching out through the sounds. A few years later I watched the film and had a vision of the monstrous beauty, this ancient swarming organism called humanity, of which I'm like a finger or toe, a leaf and flower. Hard to describe the influence this film has had on my view of the world, and what art can do to you - even now it gives me goose bumps remembering that aesthetic experience in my youth.
- Hammershaft 3y agoI had a similiar experience watching Baraka as a young teen. It had felt like Humanity was some kind of mecanism propelling forward, and I was a tiny gear.
- em-bee 3y agoi was playing the soundtrack in my home until my flatmates asked me to stop "because it is scary"
- jnsaff2 3y agoAbout 15 years ago I saw the film while a band played the soundtrack live. Philip Glass himself was playing some instruments.
- awestroke 3y agoWhat was that like?
- jnsaff2 3y agoIt was pretty magical. This was 2003 (20 years ago then) in a massive soviet-era concert hall. It was the first time it saw the film and the live aspect left me a lot of questions whether this is somehow a completely different experience from the actual film. I've since watched it at home many times and the live-band aspect is obviously immense but the music was pretty close to the film. I attended the press conference as well and one of his answers really struck me. He was asked about how he composes film scores and his answer included something along the lines: "I only compose based on the script, I never watch any of the footage before the composition is finished."
- indigodaddy 3y agoDoes anyone know if either the iTunes or Vudu digital HD versions are from the Criteron Bluray versions, or just upscaled “HD” from MGM? I’m suspect of the quality that I might get if I buy the digital versions vs just shelling out for the Qatsi Bluray Criterion trilogy (I know that physical is always leaps and bounds better than streaming digital but that is not what this question is about).
- fjfaase 3y agoI saw Koyaanisqatsi in the theater when it was released in the Netherlands (june 1984).
- jabradoodle 3y agoWatching this movie on a large dose of LSD is quite the experience!
- speedgoose 3y agoI guess watching a tumble dryer too.
- krispyfi 3y agoTell me you've never used LSD without telling me you've never used LSD.
- speedgoose 3y agoWatching the tumble dryer is fun. You should try.
- KETHERCORTEX 3y agoIt gets repetitive and predictable pretty quickly.
- speedgoose 3y agoTrue. It’s nice visuals to listen to Philip Glass’ music.
- KETHERCORTEX 3y agoThe "output" of our brains is largely dependent on "input". Therefore, tumble dryer should produce less interesting results than a well crafted audiovisual work.
- cptcobalt 3y agoThis was my first experience with it. Transformational.
- trts 3y agoOne of my favorite films of all time, and still relevant today. As a young person it totally altered my view of time and humanity. Subsequent viewings have always revealed new interpretations as my life and surroundings changed. I think on the dvd director’s commentary the director said something to this effect, how so many people he spoke with had completely takes on what the movie was about. Also part of the magic of the film was the active collaboration between Glass and Reggio as it was being filmed and re-cut; the music and the cinematography are inseparable.
- JoeDaDude 3y agoA high school near where I lived at the time (southern New Jersey) created a mural in the cafeteria inspired by, and titled, Koyaanisqatsi. And this was in the early 90's well after the film had been shown in theaters.
- CalRobert 3y agoKoyaaniscafe, surely?
- santidexlorid 3y agosurely
- TedDoesntTalk 3y agoWhich town?
- JoeDaDude 3y agoIt was in the Deptford Township High School, but this was a long time ago, the early 90's. I have no idea if is is still there or if it has been painted over since then.
- CalRobert 3y agoThere's a fantastic post-rock cover of the film's best-known song (Prophecies) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwolSFreL3M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwolSFreL3M . I can't find anything about this band but I love this version of it.
- joelrwilliams1 3y agoUnder-seen and under-appreciated film.
- nonoesp 3y agoCan't count how many times I've played The Grid on loop. This piece resonates so much with what the movie and soundtrack evoked in me. I discovered Glass' works from it and love his discography.
- newsclues 3y agoI have smoked a lot of pot watching this.
- bscphil 3y agoThe film was shot and framed in 4:3 but was cropped down (for reasons unknown to me) into widescreen for the theatrical and later the Blu-ray releases. There is a rare uncropped DVD release of it by a distributor called "IRE" out there. My understanding is that every copy of this release is autographed by the director, if you need some proof of artistic intent. AFAIK there's no definitive proof that this isn't just "open matte", but IMO the superiority of this release is pretty clear. You can find it on public torrent sites. Some more info here: https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Koyaanisqatsi-IRE-Fullscreen-Version-MORE-IMAGE-Released/id/5872 https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Koyaanisqatsi-IRE-Fullscre...
- abruzzi 3y agoIts interesting that he mentioned that mentioned that the music was used in Stranger Things, season 4. Season 3 used music from Glass's opera Satyagraha, Season 4 (at least in the scene I remember) starts the Koyaaniqatsi music but subtly transitions to music from Glass's opera Akhnaten. They're both exposition scenes where the bad guy explains what he's doing or his world view. I thought the music was particularly effective in those scenes. Clearly there is a Philip Glass fan on that show.
- bazmattaz 3y agoWhile this movie is great and everything the author says rings true, I must be honest and say for me the movie that floored me more was Baraka. It’s just…astonishing, mesmorising, dumbfounding? I can’t put into words now this movie makes me feel
- ggm 3y agoMuch of what is shown in the trilogy is thought provoking. The scenes in the Brazilean open cut gold mine in Powaqqatsi are heartbreaking. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serra_Pelada https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serra_Pelada
- pgreenwood 3y agoI can recommend watching the entire film run backwards. The music sounds approximately the same, and it turns it into a feel-good story showing assembly lines pulling cars apart, pollution being sucked into factories and mining vehicles burying ores. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6-K-arVl-U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6-K-arVl-U
- Gatsky 3y agoJust came to say that this is a wonderful comment, and that people voluntarily playing with/remixing your creation is one sign of great art.
- cduzz 3y agoI've tried a couple times to coerce my kids into watching Koyaanisqatsi (one of them really likes watching "the way things go" so it isn't an absurd reach). I keep landing on that video rather than the "proper" one and it's disconcerting.
- oogali 3y agoI didn't realize that was the source video for this other video I periodically watch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY8ENJK0hvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY8ENJK0hvM). TIL.
- second_brekkie 3y agoSo I read the article having never heard of this before and then looked it up on YouTube. Having not watched it the right way round. It does kind of change the narrative. It kind of felt like society was disassembling itself, regressing which is sad in itself, but it was for a good reason? Also as an aside it was the clearest look I've seen into what everyday like was like in the 80s having not been alive at the time in a way that hasn't been glossed over like the media we consume.
- sambapa 3y agoThat reminds me of one of the most poignant fragments in Slaughterhouse V
- idiocrat 3y ago
- EdwardDiego 3y ago>...an advertising campaign for the American Civil Liberties Union involving invasions of privacy and the use of technology to control behaviour... ...The campaign was popular enough to remove Ritalin from being used in New Mexico schools Um, what? And I'm sure that was great for the kids who needed their ADHD treated.
- nologic01 3y agoI first watched this film back at a time when sustainability was not discussed widely as an emerging crisis. It resonated deeply yet it was somehow disconnected from the day-to-day struggle of living a life. As the years passed and more and more we have come around to see the dead-ends of our ways, that original disconnect has been finally resolved: the movie was just way ahead of its time.
- foobar1962 3y agoI used to watch Koyaanisqatsi in the Valhalla, an "encore" cinema in Glebe (Sydney, Australia). This, and Spinal Tap, and 2001. Oh, and A Clockwork Orange. This is back when VHS players were a luxury item, and seeing old movies was difficult or impossible. The Valhalla also ran controversial new movies, which usually meant gay themed like My Beautiful Laundrette, which mainstream cinemas would not touch. The Valhalla published 3 month (or 6 month, I don't remember now) calendars that were about the size of a tabloid double-page spread. They were a common sight on fridge doors.
- sien 3y agoIn Canberra there was Electric Shadows and the ANU film club that did the same thing. In Melbourne the Astor did that as well. Possibly there was one in each Australian capital city. Now much more is easily available but it was good to go to those places.
- kodisha 3y agoStrange how with all modern advancements and crazy resolution cameras those movies still look stunning and incredibly beautiful. No RED or similar camera had came close to this.
- shultays 3y agoI guess I am the only one that is not cultured enough for this movie. It looks like a bunch of random, mostly fast forwarded, clips changed so many lives on HN
- cptcobalt 3y agoBeauty may just be in the eye of the beholder. Have you tried watching it through—not just clips? Despite it having no dialogue, it tells an enthralling story about society & technology. I always give the caveat "this may not be for everyone" when I recommend it, but people usually follow up gleaming about the movie to me.
- soul_grafitti 3y agoThe article is a moving tribute to the power of Reggio's vision and the brilliance of Glass' score. I was living in Santa Fe in the '70s and was at that first screening, it was the world premier, at the Lensic Theater. I still have the stub. I was there because Godfrey Reggio came into the sandwich shop I was a partner in and because I was friends of friends of some of the guys on the camera crews shooting footage in the Southwest and working with Alton. I recall it as a pivotal moment of my 22 year old life. It was like nothing I'd experienced. The lack of 'anything happening' lasted a few minutes. But I recall starting to 'get' the symbolism and the narrative the images convey. Much like the author I was floored by the music. I was a prog rock fan with an appreciation for classical music. Well, Beethoven at least, so the concept of a long form piece was engaging. The epic sweep of the imagery and music gripped me and held my attention throughout. Since then many of those images have come to mind at various times. And the final sequence of the Saturn V leaving the launch pad in slow motion coupled with the beautiful, haunting score to it blew me away in the moment and I can still recall its impact now. Koyaanisqatsi is a rare work of art. The article brings me hope. The world is quite fucked up right now and while it's completely possible for us, all of us, to change things to mitigate the situations there is little cause to believe that will actually happen. Then I come across someone articulating such a profound resonance with a work actually closer to 50 years old and it sparks that hope.
- zrav 3y agoWell said. The movie is powerful enough and the subject relevant enough to still resonate with the younger generation. I do wonder, however, if the older the movie gets, the more distant the imagery from the seventies might intuitively appear to a young viewer. This led me to think about how the movie would look if (re)made today. I keep getting ideas for recent footage / subjects which would work in place of the original shots, whatever the merit of such an undertaking might be.
- dreamcompiler 3y agoAbout 10 years ago I went to a lecture in Santa Fe by Reggio where he talked about the movie, screened it, and answered questions after. 10 years before that I saw Glass perform the music in Albuquerque with his orchestra while the movie played on a big screen above. At that point I had watched the movie perhaps 100 times. To say I am a huge fan is an understatement. The overwhelming impression I got from Reggio and Glass was that they didn't so much create the experience as give birth to it. Of course they both intended to create something great, but I think the movie's success as a cultural artifact exceeded their wildest expectations. There are very few movies I care to watch more than once. There are even fewer that will still be watched and studied 10,000 years from now (assuming we survive that long). Koyaanisqatsi is one of them.
- zw123456 3y agoOK I watched it. I think it would have been better if I had smoked some weed before hand. One of those 80's stoner movies for sure. Very cool "trip" down memory lane :)
- bdowling 3y agoFYI, the distracting, stilted writing ("It is [date] and I am [doing something]") is a reference to Watchmen, which the author cites as an influence.
- pryce 3y agoThe soundtrack to Koyaanisqatsi is also used in the opening scene of Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013), which pairs a deep feeling of foreboding over footage of the beaches of Norfolk. While it might appear to be an incongruous choice to open a comedy film, I note that Koyaanisqatsi, Watchmen (book and film) and Alan Partridge are all works primarily concerned with whether it is in our own nature to destroy ourselves, and whether we might deserve it.
- lukeh 3y agoThe score, shivers every time.
- chrisandchips 3y agoThis movie is incredible. To many people, its lack of characters and a traditional storyline makes it alienating and boring, but there’s such a deep beauty embedded within that. There might not be a story, but there is a narrative that is clearly commenting about our relationship to nature, and in lacking those traditional elements of mainstream cinema it exposes us to a new way of thinking. We see life on earth taken at face value; the scenes are familiar to us but without any characters or words to ground and bias us. I’ve always felt that its as close as we can get to observing earth for the first time from a distant place. It forces us to detach from all the basic axioms that fuel our day to day experience, and in doing so makes an extremely salient point about our societies relationship with nature. Paired with the words « life out of balance », its hard to complete a viewing without a sense of dread that we’re doing a wildly bad job of taking care of our planet.
- babyshake 3y agoSurely, we still live in a life out of balance. But something about how digital much of human life and industry is now makes it seemingly difficult to create a modern successor to Koyaanisqatsi. I suppose you could just have a panning shot across massive server farms and maybe some footage evoking the sheer amount of carbon and water requires for these operations, but not sure it translates to film in the same powerful way as other footage in films like Koyaanisqatsi, Baraka, and the most recent film along these lines that I have seen, Anthropocene (2018).
- nologic01 3y agoHundreds of people in public spaces all sliding their fingers on algorithmically controlled touch screens (and oblivious of each other) would make another shot. A scene of a roomful of people all wearing VR goggles while some "coordinator" walks around would be the climactic transition scene. What is incredible is that in the four decades since Koyaanisqatsi the imbalance has only gotten worse and there is no evidence that some equilibrium will ever be reached.
- beloch 3y agoSome people think of the qatsi trilogy, Baraka, Samsara, Chronos, Visitors, etc. as documentaries without words, or just pretty pictures and music. I think of them as audiovisual essays. They're not just a delight for the senses. Each of these films says things. They cut unexpected subjects together in comparisons that speak about the human condition. They use music queues to force new interpretations of familiar settings. The qatsi trilogy uses those hopi sayings to set your mind on rails and then the visuals and music propel you on a roller coaster of emotion, but Fricke's films dispense with the rails and simply let you draw your own meaning. That meaning changes a little every time you watch the films. These are films that invite you to create your own interpretation. You are invited to watch them with an active mind, always looking for new details, correlations, and how they fit together. This is totally unlike a documentary whose narrator tells you what to think. Here you are not being taught, but invited to teach yourself. Give these films a chance if you've never watched them. They are uniquely rewarding.
- ccppurcell 3y agoFunny story, we wanted to watch it recently and found it streaming online somewhere. Unbeknownst to us, it was in reverse, presumably to avoid copyright infringement/getting caught. But there was no mention of it in the description so we had no idea and watched it beginning to end, or rather, end to beginning. After a while I was wondering why nothing I'd read about it mentioned the very interesting artistic choice to play all the footage backwards. The famous music was also istaqsinaayok but I thought maybe after a little while it would switch. It didn't but by then it seemed perverse not to continue. It's really quite poignant in reverse, i recommend it!
- cptcobalt 3y agoI discovered Koyannisqatsi last year — it was profoundly striking, and has since become probably my favorite film. Incredible.
- jfengel 3y agoYeah, I'd say it felt about that long.
- schaum 3y agofirst heard in GTA IV I think, dunno the radio station though :D
- racl101 3y agoSoundtrack still slaps.