An art-house circuit sensation, this feature-length documentary is visually arresting and possesses a clear, pro-environmental political agenda. Without a story, dialogue, or characters, Koyaanisqatsi (the film’s title is a Hopi word roughly translated into English as “life out of balance”) is composed of nature imagery, manipulated in slow motion, double exposure or time lapse, juxtaposed with footage of humans’ devastating environmental impact on the planet. Starting with an ancient rock wall painting, the film moves through sequences depicting clouds, waves, and other natural features, then into man-made landscapes such as buildings, earth-altering construction machinery, and cars. –amctv
Godfrey Reggio (born March 29, 1940) is an American director of experimental documentary films.
Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Reggio co-founded La Clinica de la Gente, a facility that provided medical care to 12,000 community members in Santa Fe, and La Gente, a community-organizing project in Northern New Mexico’s barrios. In 1963 he co-founded Young Citizens for Action, a community organization project that aided juveniles among the street gangs in Santa Fe. In 1972, he co-founded the Institute for Regional Education in Santa Fe, a non-profit foundation focused on media development, the arts, community organization, and research.
Reggio has been involved in many progressive political causes in the United States, including work for the American Civil Liberties Union, co-organizing a multi-media public interest campaign on the invasion of privacy and the use of technology to control behavior. Reggio resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is currently focusing… read more
Absolutely incredible, especially the ending. Some scenes are so fascinating and some very moving. I dont think this masterwork seems to be getting the recognition it deserves here on Mubi. Which is a shame because i think a film like this is vastly more important and ever more relevant than the majority of films so highly regarded on here.
Nice trip to the dark side, but paradoxically it shows more of a bright side of humankind, since there is so much more behind it. But I guess it would be too disturbing to put the real deal out there - the movie would loose it's poetry. I hate the end, cause it's so disconnected. And if you don't know it yet: be high when watching!!
I saw this last night in the Lincoln Center in New York. The Philip Glass Ensemble including Philip Glass himself and Michael Reisman played the score through the projection of the movie. I never thought Glass' beautiful music could fit so perfectly with the power this images.
What is the legacy of mankind? We shaped the world so it could fit our needs; we have created, destroyed, transformed this planet beyond all recognition, therefore, in an almost literal way, we are gods. And yet, as one of the last images so poetically suggests, we have failed to reach the stars.
Glass’s Ninth Symphony is performed tonight and the revived opera Einstein on the Beach tours the world this year.
