Koyaanisqatsi

[thoots]

Folks,

If you're familiar with this film, it has just been released on DVD. If you haven't seen it, you should. It's an incredible experience that's well worth the price of a DVD. You can get it coupled with the second film in the trilogy (the third supposedly will be in theaters "this fall"), POWAQQATSI, for a very good price at Amazon.com -- check it out:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...ref=sr_1_1/104-4899780-6823924?v=glance&s=dvd

At any rate, I think KOYAANISQATSI belongs in any film collection, and recommend it highly. Go for it! :

 

[Walt]

Tom,

Sounds like something you would burn incense to, while watching in the lotus position on a straw mat ...

Is it relaxing?

 

[thoots]

Walt,

Not exactly. Koyaanisqatsi "speeds up" as it shows modern life in the big cities, using time-lapse photography to great effect. And, the music speeds up likewise. It's not the equivalent of a "coffee table book" -- it's a fantastic voyage of images and music that, in the end, makes you see the way we live our lives from a different perspective, and makes you indeed reflect upon how we live our lives.

Hope that helps!

 

[Tonto Yoder]

The subtitle for "Koya . . . . . . " is "lives out of balance" (our modern city life) that is filmed in time-lapse photography; in between the city scenes are natural landscapes (i.e. lives IN balance). The title is taken from some Indian langauge I believe.

Philip Glass did the soundtrack --for anyone who might be interested in that type of music.

Tonto (life in balance) Yoder

 

[thoots]

Folks,

Yes, Koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi indian word, or perhaps a combination of Hopi words that they might not have combined themselves. The word was coined to express "life out of balance," which the film indeed tries to convey with time-lapse and slow-motion photography. The music by Philip Glass is a very important part of the film, as there are no words spoken in the film, with the exception of the "Koyaanisqatsi" chant sung at the beginning and end of the film.

Rest assured, once you've seen Koyaanisqatsi, you'll never forget it!

 

[Tonto Yoder]

Thoots,
you might like the first part of Dead Can Dance's "Toward the Within"-- DCD's music with accompanying dances from a variety of cultures (the point being that we are more ALIKE one another despite outward dissimilarities).

TY
Try this sample of the video---very short trailer for the movie but a taste at least of what DCD can do:
http://www.4ad.com/artists/catalogue/dead_can_dance/video.htm#

 

[michael w]

Just got my Koyaanisqatsi/Powaaqatsi twin pack from Amazon and it is superb.

Despite being reframed from earlier video releases (the 16x9 DVD has more picture on the sides but loses some from the top & bottom), it looks better than ever.

Much better color saturation and a fair bit sharper than my old laserdisc.

Great Philip Glass score in 5.1 too.

Nice interviews with director Godfrey Reggio which are not your usual Hollywood puff pieces.

I felt these could have been expanded into full behind the scenes documentaries as the supplementary stuff is rather thin on these discs.

But overall the set was well worth the wait.

I also got cinematographer Ron Fricke's Baraka.
Another non-narrative visual and sonic odyssey.

There's much more to film than bangs and booms !


cheerio

 

[thoots]

Michael,

Yes, I also got Baraka a little while back, too. Indeed, the interview with Reggio is VERY interesting. I'm not sure I really buy into the whole "life out of balance" thing, but his concept for the third film seems very correct -- "life as war." Gosh, it sure feels that way an awful lot of the time. We yell at each other in our cars, we have "turf wars" and personality battles on the job, and on and on and on. Sure seems like the world was a kinder, gentler place some time in the past.

On the other hand, maybe that's just part of "growing up." I was a kid in the 1960's, and while I remember the fun and the great music, the truth was that a LOT of strife was going on outside of my sheltered household. At any rate, points of view well worth pondering!