Koyaanisqatsi - Life Out of Balance

Rating:
Summary: An A/V masterpiece, in a class of it's own.
Review: I have watched my copy of this so many times my tape is showing signs of wear. I recorded a copy off of a PBS broadcast so it is not even stereo, but I still love it. Have been trying for years to find a retail copy of this but no one seems to have it. It is treasure!

Rating:
Summary: Koyaanisqatsi - The Magnificent West
Review: One of the best films I've ever seen. Reggio's photography mixes perfectly with Philip Glass's scored to create an aura of complete magic. The Southwestern sequences (in particular the "Ghost King" rock art) transport the viewer back to the pre-history of the Western US, the world of the Anasazi.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing sights and sounds
Review: From the Hopi indian language, Koyaanisqatsi means "Life seriously out of balance", and then immediately shows us why - from nature to city and back again.The music is by Phillip Glass, whose minimalism one either loves or hates. I find the music fascinating, and well suited to the frentetic portions of the video. It is a truly touching video which has been out of print for entirely too long. It is well worth the purchase even for a single viewing. IT IS INTENSE, but a good starting point for self inspection of KOYAANISQATSI - when your life IS truly out of balance.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most thought-provoking films I have ever seen.
Review: This film is about the beautiful world in which we reside, and our own inability to enjoy what it provides, or to live in harmony with nature. I believe the title of the film means something along the lines of "a life in conflict with itself". That certainly describes our daily existence! The film has no dialogue, but relies upon imagery to convey meaning. This is by no means boring or difficult to sit through. The filming is extraordinary and captivates the audience from the moment it begins. I walked away after watching this film astounded at the beauty in nature, and at the banal existence of most of the world's population. I was so moved by the beauty of this film, that I am still searching for a copy of it eight years after viewing it for a college course.

Rating:
Summary: MESMERIZED
Review: From beginning to the end of this video I was overwhelmed by the fact that we as humans cannot see the beauty and balance of this place we call home,earth. That there is such destruction caused to our little, fragile planet with no regards to the price that will be paid.

Rating:
Summary: "Life"...Needs No Words...
Review: "Qatsi" is the Hopi word for life. In "Koyaanisqatsi", Director Godfrey Reggio, Composer Phillip Glass and Cinematographer Ron Fricke combine their brillance for "Life Out of Balance". From the beauty of Nature to the world of modern technology, the images are set to music in a documentary that needs no words.

"Koyannisqatsi" is the first in the "Qatsi" trilogy. It is followed by "Powaqqatsi" ("Life in Transformation") and "Naqoyqatsi"("Life As War").

You'll want to make sure that when you watch these films, you will not have any interuptions. You will not even be able to tear yourself away from a minute of these moving and mind stimulating events. So turn off the cell phone, pagers and make sure the kids are tucked safely away!

Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi are sold together in a two pack. This is probably the best way to go. Check the outside sellers for a good deal(The Amazon price at this time seems a little out of balance itself!). I suggest watching the first one, taking time to absorb it, and watching the second later on. These are films to be discussed, as each person may take something different away with them. And each time you view it, the experience may be different for you.

The DVD's do justice to these wonderful pieces of art. The pictures in widescreen are crystal clear, colors vibrant and gorgeous. The sound is in Dolby Dig 5.1, and with the music being the dialouge for these films, adds greatly to the whole experience. There are trailers for the trilogy, and some insightful commentary by the filmakers. This commentary is in the form of a featurette, not viewed during the film.

A combination of great talents, working together as one bring to film the most visually and musically stunning experience.

Go for it..and enjoy...Laurie



Rating:
Summary: A RE-Review (and improved rating!)
Review: When I first viewed this film (and I've left my original review intact, below), I REALLY didn't like it. In fact, I pretty much hated it, and gave it one star.

I happened to see that it was playing on commercial-free television this evening and decided to take another look. I'm glad I did. While it is not now one of my favorite films, I'm going to go halfway to great and up my rating to three stars.

I'm not entirely sure why I enjoyed it this time. Perhaps I was less distracted; maybe I was in a better frame of mind... but the net result is that my opinion of the film has changed.

I found many of the scenes to be fairly interesting. For some reason, the quality-control lady in the Twinkie factory pulling was I reason to be "bad" Twinkies from the assembly line, somehow struck a chord with me. In this sped-up scene, the woman working appeared to be getting a rather aerobic workout as she grabbed the snacks and placed them into a discard area. However, she was still rather overweight. I couldn't help but think that perhaps her life was "out of balance" because she wasn't discarding ALL of the malformed Twinkies.

I also had to up my review because an anonymous reader of my original review had let me know that her dad was in the movie... a scene in NYC when a number of people were emerging from an elevator. I exchanged a couple of e-mails with this nice lady, and in viewing the film again... I think I spotted her dad! It might be kind of stupid --this is a COMPLETE stranger to me-- but in a weird way, it made the film a tiny bit more personal.

If you want to read my original review, please read on...


..................................
THE ORIGINAL REVIEW.... ENTITLED,

"PAINFUL"

Well, I might be bucking the trend of glowing reviews for this 22-year-old "arthouse" flic, but here goes:

While I recognize that the production was ahead of its time in 1982, and elements have been imitated over and over again --with very good results-- by many other filmmakers, I cannot in good conscience recommend this film.

When my wife and I sat down to watch it, we honestly didn't know what to expect. I had *heard* of the film, but didn't know what it was about. With apologies to Seinfeld, it is basically about nothing. Yes, it starts out with dramatic footage of beautiful scenery overlayed with some haunting music (Native Americans chanting "Koyaanisqatsi" over and over again), but my FIRST comment to my wife was: "This looks like file footage."

In my attempt to watch the movie without knowing anything about it first, I hadn't realized that it was 22 years old. It looked like file footage because it WAS essentially file footage. More to the point, the cinematography looks dated.

As the film continues, the beautiful natural scenery is supplemented by scenes that have been dramatically sped up, or dramatically slowed down... images of human activity are generally shown sped up. While some of these scenes were effective in conveying the idea of "Life Out of Balance" (which is what "Koyaanisqatsi" means), I thought that most of them were way too drawn out.

As for the soundtrack, unlike most people I absolutely love ambient electronic music. Most of the time. But not in this film.

Finally, I'll just say that my negative opinion of this film has nothing to do with a general dislike of 'artsy' films. I thought "Winged Migration" was wonderful. "Whale Rider" was fabulous. "Rabbit-Proof Fence" was incredible.

I just thought "Koyaanisqatsi" was painful.

Rating:
Summary: Inspired by Kubrick?
Review: A friend loaned me this DVD. I guess me must know I'm partial to Phillip Glass's music.

This film starts with cave painting. The next scene is slow motion of a Saturn 5 taking off. The next several minutes are scenes from places in the Western US--you know, those places many of us long to be. Wild, open.

I ask if it's Kubrick inspired because of those scenes. They remind me of the flight "beyond the infinite" in "2001:A Space Odyssey."

It then proceeds to contruction sites, with huge construction equipment altering the nature we've already seen. Then onto the urban environment.

Like the director says in one of the elements included with the film on the DVD, one can do whatever he likes with that. While I'm a city person, I have an almost Romantic aspiration to the beatiful countryside, the places, again, which we've already seen. There's so much movement in the city. Constant movement. And you see it all the more because of the fast action photography. (An interesting point of the photography: some cameras must have been set to pan incredibly slowly. While the action was very fast action, the panning was very, very slow. It would have been interesting to watch. I suspect you wouldn't even have been able to see the lateral movement of the camera).

Then the scenes went to the military, aircraft, even the Fat Man and some atomic explosions.

Then back to urban scenery, but including large buildings being razed. Hmmm...inspiring.

What intrigued me more was, after the fast movement of so, so many people in the city, the scene went to a production line to hot dogs, then to Twinkies. One might ask: Who or what is being manufactured?

Another thing the film made me think about, thought I doubt this was the intent of the director and editor, was population. That's not something we talk about much these days, though we did when we became aware of the "population bomb."

I'll have to think about this for a while. If you're looking for a plot, forget it. If you're looking for a film-as-art experience, I recommend it. Sure, you can do with it whatever you'd like. But at least it'll get you to think.

Heaven forbid, I almost forgot the music! Well, it's pretty typical Phillip Glass. If you like him, you'll like the music. If you don't, you'll probably find it pretty repetitive, monotonous.

Rating:
Summary: No Film Comes Close
Review: Everyone obviously has taste and opinion, but simply put, this is my favorite movie of all time (altho, as at least one other reviewer mentioned, not as powerful as the big screen). There is no film like it, except perhaps the Imax film Chronos (which is basically the eye candy with no substance) and possibly the sequel. But those are only similarities in style of filmmaking, not in quality.

But I will say, while it's my favorite movie, I can only stand to watch it about every 5 years, because for about 3-4 days after watching Koyaanisqatsi, I can barely deal with this society. It just makes me want to cry to drive on city streets.

So if you're already trying to come to grips with reality, this movie probably would be counter-productive. But for everybody who thinks everything about modern western civilization truly is "progress", I couldn't recommend this film enough.

What it will be for those people, is a priceless perspective adjustment. It won't make you permanently pessimistic or anything, it will just give you a new perspective.

Rating:
Summary: mesmerizing, if you have the attention span...
Review: ...and/or a widescreen TV with a killer sound system.

Otherwise, in a smaller TV it's nowhere as powerful as seeing it in the theatre.