Koyaanisqatsi - Life Out of Balance

Rating:
Summary: Koyaanisqatsi
Review: The photographic images by Director of Photography Ron Fricke and the musical score by Philip Glass make this a compelling
work of art.

Rating:
Summary: THE EDDIE VAN HALEN OF ART FILMS!
Review: Some of us are too young to remember just where we were when it was first announced that President Kennedy had been shot. But if you're near my age, you may remember quite well where you were when you first heard VAN HALEN's eponymous debut album in 1978. (I was riding in Al DiMente's Cougar.)

For those of us who were members in the "Disco Sucks" Club, it was like suddenly discovering The Holy Grail of rock guitar albums. Remember your jaw dropping open while hearing ERUPTION and wondering if it was really possible that this sound was emanating from a guitar and not a synthesizer? That album revolutionized the electric guitar in the context of rock 'n' roll. (Eddie "reinvented" the guitar according to Frank Zappa.) Of course, practically every hard rock guitarist since then has "borrowed" Van Halen's technique to the point that a 20-year-old hearing that recording for the first time today might say, "What's the big deal? This is nothing special." Little does our hypothetical "kid" know that THIS is where it all began.

The same could be said for Godfrey Reggio's, KOYAANISQATSI. When it first hit the theatres in 1983, it was truly a mind-blowing experience. I recall being absolutely dazzled, and dragging everybody I knew to that little theatre in West Los Angeles. In the following weeks, I must have seen it 8 times or more! The concept and the mesmerizing cinematography was as revolutionary as Eddie's guitar had been. In the ensuing 21 years, Reggio's cinematic style has been plagiarized to the point that a youngster viewing this film for the first time today might find it passe. But if "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", then KOYAANISQATSI occupies an honored position amongst the most highly regarded films in history. Of course, Reggio "remade" it a couple of times himself, but so many other filmmakers later copied his style. Not a day goes by that several commercials being shown on the boob tube don't obviously exhibit KOY's influence! But THIS was the progenitor, and it's STILL brilliant!

Clips of clouds seemingly alive and on a caffeine & cayenne buzz; buildings imploding; freeway traffic taking on the appearance of blood coursing through arteries; society's underdogs lost and meandering through the metropolitan jungles; and the shot of exploded rocket residue tumbling through eternity. What did it all mean? KOYAANISQATSI has been described as everything from "socialist propaganda" to "a call for rediscovering God." It will appeal primarily to the person who is capable of comprehending symbolism and thinking abstractly. I'm not presumptuous enough to tell you how I think you ought to approach it, but as I stated in my Listmania Movie List: If KOYAANISQATSI doesn't get the gears turning up in your attic, then you, my friend, need to replace your cranial duracell!

This ain't no cartoon, folks; this is serious business! Don't expect to find yourself in a jovial mood after viewing this masterpiece of filmmaking. You should be pensive or locked-up. (Although the movie does contain a couple of humorous moments: If you don't think that a shot of endless wieners being conveyed through a meat processing plant juxtaposed with an endless stream of human beings conveyed via escalator is funny, "then you'd better not go to college.")

To this day, KOY is probably my all-time favorite film. The finest artistic achievements affect a person on both an emotional AND a cerebral level. KOY does that. Even all these years later, I cannot watch it without seeing the world differently for days or weeks afterwards. I think everybody should view this film at least once in their lifetime.

Even though Eddie Van Halen's guitar technique has been duplicated ad nauseam, he will be remembered as one of the very greatest because he did it FIRST. KOYAANISQATSI is far more meaningful to me because not only was it the first of its kind, but it packs a greater wallop than just lightning fingers tapping on a fretboard. Uh-oh! Although there is considerably more that I would like to express about this monumental film, I see that I have very nearly exhausted my allotment of letters, and so I guess I had better cut this review short now and just say goodb