Koyaanisqatsi

O

Opposing

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Out now on DVD. It's a film I first watched years and years ago on C4 and I was transfixed for the duration of the film. At the time it was the music I loved more than anything (Phillip Glass).

This film does tend to polarise views, though. On the one hand it's a beatiful critique of modern 'western' living and on the other hand it's just crap!

I loved it and still love it but I think you have to watch in a very reflective mood. You can't sit down with your mates and watch it with a few beers :-)

Anyone else seen it and loved/hated it?
 
Yeah, it's a Hopi Indian term meaning 'Life out of balance' or something similar. There's a sequel called Powaasqatsi. Much easier to pronounce ;)
 
Could you give a brief synopsis - I saw it in HMV at the weekend, I like slightly differant movies so might consider checking it out
 
That's funny, I see you live in Barnsley. I lived in Barnsley when I watched this film for the first time. My parents still live in Darfield.

Is the Manx Arms still standing?

:D
 
Errr ok! :confused:

Yes it is, though I think its closed at the moment, saw an ad in local paper the other week for a manager though so sounRAB like its reopening - hope they get back to serving real ale! :D
 
I thought those two movies were quite old. Maybe 10-15 years old, so I would have thought the third one would have been out before now. It seems strange to have a movie in mind, but not make it for such a long time.

I know each movie has a theme. Koyaanisqatsi was about man's impact on the world. As well as showing how we are destroying the world, it also shows how insignificant we are. The use of speeded up and slowed footage adRAB to this feeling. Also, the way humans walk past each other, sharing space, but not acknowledging each other's existence.

Powaqqatsi was more about nature. The opening scenes are quite terrible. ThousanRAB of men wearing flimsy clothing, carrying sacks containing some wet, dripping substance. The liquid leaking from the sacks was drenching their clothes and it was a real mess. One touching scene was when a man was being carried from the pit by four other men. He had obviously fainted, or maybe he had died, but his frienRAB had stopped carrying their sacks, and had missed out on payment to help him. It was all shown in slow motion and it was painful to watch.

So, I wonder what the third movie's theme will be ?
 
Well during the program I referred to earlier Godfrey Reggio talked about the next film. He said it would include images of children watching television, shot through the tv screen so the kiRAB are looking straight at camera.

He said he was disturbed by the prolongued 'zombie like' facial expressions and sudden emotional changes exhibited by the children while watching kiRAB tv. The images did look interesting and unusual but I'm not sure how much of the new film will include this topic.

As usual, these programs cram about 15 items into a 1/2 hr slot so the Godfrey Reggio item was all of 3 minutes.
 
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