Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi (1982) created quite a fuss at the time of its release, with its sped-up images (later co-opted by probably 80 percent of all indie films) and its mesmerizing Philip Glass score. It was a must-see—and if you’ve never seen it, it still is. It is not, for me anyway, much in the way of a repeat-viewing movie. It’s a one-message movie: Nature is beautiful and man ruins it. That’s fine, I suppose, but the fact that it’s 28 years later and there’s yet to be a mad rush to go live in mud huts and earn a precarious livelihood in the woods, makes me question if it can actually be said to have had the impact it intended. I suppose that’s not very respectful for such a well-meaning movie, but it seems to me an inescapable conclusion. However, as an unusual piece of filmmaking, as a thing of almost abstract beauty, it remains a successful experiment.
Koyaanisqatsi
Movie Information
Classic Cinema From Around the World will present Koyaanisqatsi at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24, at Courtyard Gallery, 109 Roberts St., in the Phil Mechanic Studios building, River Arts District. Info: 273-3332.
| Score: | |
| Genre: | Documentary |
| Director: | Godfrey Reggio |
| Starring: | |
| Rated: | NR |
Really Ken? “Nature is beautiful and man ruins it.”? Nothing about the meaning of the title, or the fact that it is one of a trilogy?
Anyway, fantastic movie. I bought the soundtrack not just because it’s great, but because it evokes the film for me. I have watched it over & over, and the sequel Powaqqatsi is even better.
You are perfectly free to watch it as many times as you like. Never suggested you oughtn’t. I clearly said it was a one viewing movie “for me.”