Visual wit / cinematic poetry

Koyaanisqatsi

A mind-tripping impressionistic view of how the collision between nature and technology has given birth to an apolacyspe on earth. Using very innovative (in 1970s) time-lapse footage, the ordinary rythms of civilization are made alive and mesmerizing. Unlike the film Baraka (reviewed here), which later borrowed the same time-shifting and space-scanning techniques to create a prayerful ode to humanity, this documentary despairs about the consequences of our encroaching machinery. It shows we are seduced by the bright flashing lights of the city, while underneath run all kinds of explosions and destruction, captured in slow motion! If you like this surprisingly beautiful distopia, then you should know this is the first of four films by the same director, all similar in design, all ending in “Qatsi,” and all of which get increasingly darker. Setting aside its sermonizing, the film is a wonderful kailoscope of modern life on this planet, for better or worse.

-- KK

Koyaanisqatsi
1983, 87 min
Directed by Godfrey Reggio
$15, DVD

Available from Amazon

Rentable from Netflix

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