Koyaanisqatsi - Life Out of Balance
by Godfrey Reggio
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Philip GlassDirector: Godfrey Reggio
Brand: Sony
Cinematographer: Ron Fricke
Editor: Ron Fricke
Writer: Ron Fricke
Producer: Godfrey Reggio
Writer: Godfrey Reggio
Editor: Alton Walpole
Producer: Alton Walpole
Writer: Alton Walpole
Producer: Francis Ford Coppola
Producer: Lawrence Taub
Producer: Mel Lawrence
Producer: Roger McNew
Producer: T. Michael Powers
Writer: Michael Hoenig
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 86 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-09-17
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of Koyaanisqatsi - Life Out of Balance
Movie Review: MY FIRST.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my FAVORITE movie. A true work of cinematic art, poetically melding visuals and music into one singular experience. It just cannot be translated into any other form of art or communication.
Of course all of this hype is in vain. Now, to me, this movie IS that good. (As good as can be translated by strategic use of capitalized text? Don't be sarcastic.) But my first viewing of "Koyaanisqatsi" was unplanned, spontaneous. It just happened. (And I love it when that happens.) It wasn't part of my curriculum as a photographer or college student, and never mind the exact circumstances -- I could go on for pages -- but I came to this movie with absolutely no hype, a little curiosity, and an hour and a half to waste. It ended up changing the way I look at motion pictures, my country, and the world. (No BS.)
Having seen the whole Qatsi Trilogy and Baraka, several times each, and owning all those DVDs and soundtrack albums, I think I'll compare and contrast a little. (Well, at least between this and Baraka. So much has already been said of both pictures by themselves.) First of all, the two movies are very different. Their ideas, pacing, and execution differ very much, despite being shot by the same guy (who is a genius, if not a bit mad.)
::MUSIC VS. IMAGES::
Baraka feels much more like a 'movie', where the music of Michael Stearns, Dead Can Dance and the rest, serves to follow the images (which take top billing,) and have little bearing on where the movie goes. Koyaanisqatsi is more like a music video, or musical, with Philip Glass's music being the only sound on the movie's audio tracks (aside from wind and traffic noises during "Organic" and "The Grid",) and was edited together with the images in a series of movements. Sometimes music comments on action, other times they are equal partners. "The Grid" deserves particular mention, aside from being a musical/technical masterpiece, it sounds exactly the way it looks--and vice versa. Complete cinematic poetry. And in both movies, Stearns' and Glass' music serves to put you in a state of mind and body; it lets your mind wander and wonder as you digest the imagery. And in my case, my mind wandered far and wondered deeply.
::PACING::
Reggio, Fricke, and Glass could have been young, tenacious, naive, ballsy, pathetic, or any one or several of those things when they were making Koyaanisqatsi back in the late seventies-->early eighties, but the fact of the matter is that it plays with your attention span, and tests your tolerances for the peripatetic and hyperkinetic more than any film the three have made afterwards. The film won't come to you---you must come to it, because for the first third or so, it could care less whether or not you're watching. Some people interpret this as boring and lazy filmmaking (and maybe it is) but it does contribute to the film's major point. And it wasn't meant to be pure entertainment anyway. But if you are watching and listening, there is a chafing strength that rumbles beneath the surface and only intensifies, until you are practically watching an ultra-commercial. This film cranks up the tension like no other.
----And speaking of commercials, most every one made since '83 when Koyaanisqatsi came out have borrowed from its cinematic flourishes and knack for visual puns and illustrating simple truths... and made it all *shudder...* marketable and commonplace. How blasphemous! How tragic. Nonetheless, what you see in commercials nowadays (though technically brilliant) is only a lame attempt to emulate greatness. Doesn't come close to even scraping the tip of the iceberg.
I cannot conclude which film is the better one. Baraka is techincally heads and shoulders above its predecessors (and its sequel Samsara promises to be phenominally even better.) Its scope is broader (both in its ideas and from a cinematographical standpoint,) it is less critical with regards to the way we live our lives, is arguably more beautiful to watch, has more tolerable music, and is generally a much less jagged pill to swallow. However, Godfrey Reggio once said that some negativity these days is healthy for a change, just like a body that is able to feel pain knows something is wrong. And with that knowledge, change is possible. It would also be too simple to say that Baraka tries to do in one movie what the Qatsi Trilogy explores in-depth over the course of three. It's just that the planes on which they operate are different, but are nonetheless enriching for the soul.
Koyaanisqatsi was the first film that made love to me, in a spiritual/mental/physical way. Before that, I didn't know a movie could have such power. Seeing my other favorites again and again can't possibly compare to the experience I had when I saw THIS movie for the first time. Don't invite your friends. Watch it alone.
Summary of Koyaanisqatsi - Life Out of Balance
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