Rating: 
Summary: A minor flaw in a jewel does not detract from it's beauty
Review: Koyaanisqatsi is a landmark film, a modern rejoinder to old silent cinema conceived and executed with all the subtlety of a modern technological assault. Images and sound alone convey some essence of human existence.Life in the lens of Koyaanisqatsi moves in slow motion, drifting in near stasis only to quickly shift to incredibly high speeds, moments are filled with hours of images condendsed in seconds of time and strangely enough that when a scene presents itself in real time it becomes almost unreal. The velocity or stillness in the film do not become exaggerations but acquire a new dynamic of seeing and perceiving the very ordinary in an extraordinary manner. Many of us have waited for the DVD with much anticipation, wondering at times if it would ever be released at all. I have mixed reactions about the DVD, not so much with the images which are brilliant and more colorful than I remember them being when the film was originally released in the theaters (which was a long time ago indeed). Images are bright clear and focused. The DVD is in Wide-Screen format but it is 4:3 Letterbox and not 16:9 ratio. Sound is the only flaw in this DVD release and a definite disappointment it is. The DVD release is in 5.1 Dolby Digital and has great presence and fidelity, however, the first 30 minutes of the soundtrack seems to be mixed away from the voices and more pronounced on the accompanying instrumentation. This is bothersome for those who have the Audio CD and are all-too-familiar with how the soundtrack should replay. Considering the important coordinate film-music dichotomy, I would have thought that greater care would have been taken in mastering the soundtrack. Taken as a whole it is still a wonderful package. Images even more vibrant and beautiful than I remember. The soundtrack is mostly very good with sections that do not live up to the original theatrical soundtrack, but those sections are relatively few and should not detract from the overall greatness of one of the most original and ingenious films ever produced. Also comes with an extra bonus film "Essence of Life" which consists of interviews with Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass. A very good supplement with worthy insights from both Glass and Reggio on the nature and message of the film.
Rating: 
Summary: The DVD was hacked.
Review: I've seen the "explanations" put forth by the spokespeople. They don't make sense. If you saw the film as originally presented, or, like me, you happened to own an old home video version of this film, you'd be outraged. The MGM/UA version of this film is hacked. The "letterboxing" is artificial. I could create quite a list of wonderful things you AREN'T SEEING in this DVD version because of the artificial black bars covering the top and bottom of the screen. This can't be right. I loved this film. The new MGM/UA DVD is just wrong. The single star is for this DVD version. I wish I could give the five stars this film deserves, but I can't. I can't watch the DVD because it ticks me off. I'll just fire up my ol' Laserdisc and see the WHOLE film. ...And wait for a full-screen version of the DVD to come out so I'd have to buy Koyaanisqatsi AGAIN.
Rating:
Summary: Aspect Ratio Correct (with some background info)
Review: The issue with the aspect ratio of the MGM DVDs of KOYAANISQATSI and POWAQQATSI has come up here and on the Amazon website, among other places. As a producer and technical advisor on the third Qatsi film, while I was not directly involved in the process of manufacturing these DVDs, I was well aware of the decision-making behind that process. I can say definitively that the 1:1.85 aspect ratio (letter-boxed) on the MGM DVDs accurately reflects the author's intentions and reproduces the original theatrical aspect ratio of the projected films. KOYAANISQATSI and POWAQQATSI were both principally photographed in the 1980s, when widescreen television was a vague idea somewhere off in the future and a large picture tube was 27" across. While conceived as theatrical features, both films were shot with consideration of possible television broadcast, which at that time was almost exclusively full-frame 1:1.33 (4x3). The alternative to "protecting" for 4x3 by composing the image to work well in full frame would have been to "pan and scan" the widescreen image when transferred to videotape for home video release and TV broadcast. I am sure that anyone who has seen KOYAANISQATSI and POWAQQATSI would agree the pan and scan approach would have yielded a ludicrous result for these films: for this reason when the films have been broadcast they are presented in the full "academy" aperture of 4x3, showing _more_of the original film frame than was shown in the theater. And when video transfers of the films were made prior to the MGM DVD they were also made 1:1.33. This reflected the conventional practice at the time, when very few films were transferred to video wide-screen. However in the past few years there has been a markedly increased interest in wide-screen home video and the the technical means to display wide-screen video adequately in the home has become commonplace, arising chiefly from the popularity of larger displays. Reflecting this new environment the decision was taken now to release the films on DVD in their original 1:1.85 aspect ratio. I repeat that this image is exactly as originally intended by the director, Godfrey Reggio and the cinematographers. I don't mean to imply that the 4x3 image in earlier transfers is somehow "invalid". I think this way of watching the films is very interesting.
It is a mark of how carefully crafted were these films that both ratios work very well. However, in no sense is the viewer of the MGM DVDs "losing" something by watching the films as they are shown as a motion picture, at 1.85, anymore than the audience was "missing something" watching the premier of KOYAANISQATSI at Radio City Music Hall in 1983. Joe Beirne
Producer, NAQOYQATSI
Rating:
Summary: Should have been sent with Voyager
Review: If we sent this film to another solar system, and an intelligent species found it and watched (and heard) it, that civilization would have a very clear concept of what our planet and what modern human beings are all about without any exchange of spoken or written language. That is how simply and profoundly this film communicates its portrait of our world. I first saw it as a rental in the 80s; my Dad somehow thought it was a science fiction film. But as we watched it, we were absolutely mystified and awed. Yes, its message is obvious, but seeing this film one is confronted with the beauty of our world and the horrific excess of human civilization in a unique way. The Philip Glass score is wonderful and highly appropriate (I enjoyed his music in this setting far more than I ever did on its own), and the time-lapse sequences, particularly toward the end, are dizzying and bewildering. While one is struck by how dated many of the images of American society are - looking back on the early eighties - and one is aware that many environmental abuses have since been tamed somewhat, one also realizes that little has changed fundamentally in the past two decades, and that many things the film depicts merely hint at developments which are now seemingly insurmountable problems. A monumental film, and I look foward to the third part of the trilogy, "Naqoyqatsi," coming to theaters in October 2002.
Rating:
Summary: Koyaanisqatsi DVD--wrong aspect ratio???
Review: I too was concerned about the aspect ratio of the new Koyaanisqatsi DVD, so I e-mailed the people at qatsi.net. Their reply: "The DVD is how the film was and is projected in theatres in a 1:85 format and is how Godfrey Reggio intended it to be seen. The Laserdisc might contain more material because the original photography was shot full frame to be TV safe, but that was not the intended look. We did not control the pressing of the
Laserdisc so it was full frame. The fundraising IRE DVD was full frame as a cost saving measure as it wasbeing done on the cheap. Also it was intended to be different from anything that might be commercially released Consider it a bonus not intended by the Director, rather
than the MGM DVD being less." Thus it would appear that we have the original film as it was intended by the director.
Rating:
Summary: Finally..
Review: I'd never seen this movie before, so I can't echo the complaints of those who say the movie has been cropped in some way.. I had been waiting almost 2 years to see this movie, having heard the Philip Glass soundtrack and instantly falling in love with it, especially "The Grid". In spite of my high expectations, the movie still blew me away. Yes, its anti- modern society is repetitive and its presentation of that theme one-sided, but that doesn't mean it can't have an impact. I have never seen a movie like this (except the less striking Powaqqatsi), and the only thing I can compare the climax to is Requiem for a Dream.. it is absolutely gripping and horrifying. I'm not sure some of the images of this movie will ever fade from my memory.. a challenging film (the beginning, let's face it, is a little boring, but necessarily so), but an unforgettable one.
Rating: 
Summary: DVD has WRONG ASPECT Ratio
Review: As many already know, MGM's new DVD of "Koyaanisqatsi" is incorrectly hard-matted to an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 which IS NOT, and I repeat, NOT the correct aspect ratio for the film. Shot in full-frame 4:3, the film was obviously intended to be seen in 4:3 and WAS theatrically shown in 1.33:1 - I personally saw the film 3 times theatrically in Los Angeles upon it's original theatrical release (twice at the Plitt in Century City (a premiere cinema at the time) and once at the Royal Theatre on the westside. All presentations were 1.33:1 and NOT 1.85:1. It was distinctly obvious that the presentation was 1.33:1 upon it's theatrical release with much head room and unusually open scope to top and bottom, not this atrocious fake matting that MGM has now decided to instigate on their new disc. It destroys many scenes that are WAY too cropped - and this is NOT the intended format of the director as many may think. Godfrey Reggio oversaw the limited edition "members-only" DVD that IRE put out a couple of years ago to anyone who contributed $180+ to their cause to clear up the legal issues for the film. That disc was the original full-frame (no fake matting) version of the film and was identical to the way the film was originally theatrically presented. Reggio apparently oversaw the production of that disc and approved it - even personally signing the sleeve each one came in. Would he approve his own personally produced DVD with the wrong aspect ratio of his own film? I think not. Who came up with this idea that the film was theatrically shown in 1.85:1? It wasn't shown that way in Los Angeles, that's for sure. I understand the whole "matting/not matting" issue as far as some films shot open but are intended to be seen matted, but this is not one of those cases. "Koyaanisqatsi" was shot and intended to be seen open and MGM's disc is an atrocity to Ron Fricke's cinematography, cropping out important information from top and bottom. I am glad I didn't sell off my IRE disc of the film in anticipation of this new MGM release. The IRE disc will now be even more valuable to film fans and collectors - and any TRUE "Koyaanisqatsi" fan will most likely NEED to locate one of those IRE discs now if they want to have the film as it was INTENDED to be seen. MGM should have put both versions of the film on the disc if they were so adamant about including a "widescreen" print just to appease fans who always think widescreen is "right". Well, in this case, they have basically released a pan-and-scan version of the film, but a vertical pan-and-scan instead of the usual horizontal. A true disappointment all around. Boo.
Rating:
Summary: "Until now you've never really seen your world."
Review: Those words were used in the trailer for this unique film, and appear on the poster as well. More than almost anything else, I think, that sums up the movie's intentions. This is a film about observing our lives as we live it, but in a manner that forces us to see everything anew, to see both the harmony and the imbalance for what it is. In the words of Godfrey Reggio, we are seeing "the beauty of the beast." The movie does away with traditional narrative -- no plot, no story, no characters, no dialogue (not in English, anyway) -- and gives us instead a pure experience, something that other movies often try to do and don't achieve. By starting in a world without man and gradually adding him, we see that the world as we live it has become an artificial extension of our will. We don't use technology; we live it. But the movie is not blanket-condemning this -- the whole sequence "The Grid" shows mankind and his technological envelope coexisting in grand harmony, producing, living, interacting. When the movie does focus on the individual human being, a strange thing happens: because of the way the movie sees, the people we see seem strange, distant. When was the last time we really looked at someone, in the same way this movie forces us to really look at things? That's the main issue here, I think -- it's an education film in that it teaches us how to see our world all over again and think broad-mindedly about it. We can use our world badly (the atomic bomb) or we can use it intelligently and resourcefully (the nuclear power plant, in front of which we see people cheerfully sunning themselves). "Koyaanisqatsi" means life out of balance, of course, and I think the title applies to the film in a cautionary sense. We can live in harmony not only with our natural world but with our technological world, the one we have substituted for tha natural world. Or we can live badly with either, or both. The movie shows examples of all of the above, and quietly reminds us that beneath the skin of our technology we're still human, and we require humanity more than technology. About the aspect ratio issue: I have seen the movie in 1.33:1 and 1.85:1, and as far as I can tell this is the most correct aspect ratio for the film. The 1.33:1 prints appear to be cropped from the sides -- I have stills of the movie in that aspect ratio and they are definitely side-cropped to fit. MGM's compression job on the film is for the most part really good -- I spotted some artifacting here and there in a couple of scenes, but for a movie with this much motion they did a pretty solid job. See it on a really big TV (or better yet a 35mm theatrical print with digital sound) for the best effect. I do agree that the audio is a bit murky. I think they took the audio from a 2-channel magnetic master and rechanneled it for 5.1, but they may have had to do this because of the elements available -- the audio in the movie contains atmospheric effects which are not duplicated in other copies of the soundtrack. I've not seen the private IRE edition of the DVD, so I can't comment on how good that is. But for the time being this is still a very worthy version of a movie that up until now simply wasn't available to the public in a commercial release.
Rating: 
Summary: Film - 5 Stars; DVD 4 Stars
Review: First, I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in the print quality of the DVD version - quite a few scenes show evident wear and tear on the print used. I have to keep reminding myself though, that this movie was made TWENTY years ago... the negative and master prints have certainly had quite an adventure during the past 2 decades. (If ever there was a perfect argument for film protection and preservation, Koyaanisqatsi is IT.) I'm also wondering about the aspect ratio. It seems incorrect at 1.85:1 - I could've sworn I've seen a version that was 2.35:1, but since it's been so long since I've actually seen the film, perhaps I'm mistaken. If however, this is not the full aspect ratio, then that's a ridiculous choice by the DVD makers - I mean, fans of a movie like this are the LAST people on earth who would be "scared off" by wide letterboxing, something the studios still seem to think consumers are terrified of. Ok, so how about the movie itself? Koyaanisqatsi came out the year I graduated from high school, and it was an extreme influence on me (and others - it's become quite legendary and has been name checked countless times everywhere from MST3K to The Simpsons). But after not seeing it for well over 10 years, how did it affect me when I watched it last night? Hmm. Maybe for the very reason it's become such an icon, it was just a bit of a letdown. On a superficial level, I am AMAZED at how much has changed in just 20 years. Many things in the film are downright quaint now - the cars, the hairdos, the fashions, the huge old mainframe computers, Ms Pac-Man, billboard ads for Betamax players! And MAN, Times Square really was totally squalorous, wasn't it!? On a deeper level, one of the inadvertent profundities of Koyaanisqatsi is that, in watching it now, the relentless march of time is all too apparent. When compared to the mountains of Arizona or the layers of the Grand Canyon, everything we do as a civilization seems thoroughly disposable. 5000 years - big whoop. One thing that hasn't changed is our relentless consumption of the planet's natural resources, and that's only accelerated since the early 80's. We were all well aware of the risks we were taking with the environment back then and we knew we had some difficult choices to make. The decision of the majority since 1983? Buy a 12-mpg SUV, build a McMansion and participate in adding another billion people to the world's population. Good going. OK, I'll get off my soapbox and back on the subject at hand :-) Koyaanisqatsi is still quite marvelous to behold - one thing that I've built an appreciation for over the years is how important EDITING is, and Koyaanisqatsi is BRILLIANTLY edited. And last but certainly not least is the absolutely astonishing music by Philip Glass - it can stand-alone from the film as a separate work of art. "The Grid" portion of the soundtrack is, in my mind, one of the towering achievements of 20th century music. (I can highly recommend the 1998 recording of the soundtrack which is even better than the version made for the film.)
Rating:
Summary: Not another sound bite
Review: This is a film that needs to be absorbed in its entirety to be fully enjoyed. The music and images blend together to create a mood and sets the film into motion. In our sound bite society most of us can't tolerate waiting 15 minutes to begin understanding a film...but if you are there are hidden treasures in the world.
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