- Actors: Christie Brinkley, David Brinkley, Pope John Paul II, Dan Rather, Cheryl Tiegs
- Directors: Godfrey Reggio
- Writers: Godfrey Reggio, Alton Walpole, Ken Richards, Michael Hoenig, Ron Fricke
- Producers: Godfrey Reggio, Alton Walpole, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Kurt Munkacsi
- Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language: English
- Region: (US and Canada This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 2
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Fox Video
- Release Date: April 1 2003
- Run Time: 184 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00003CXAY
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #23,412 in DVD (See Top 100 in DVD)
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Koyaanisqatsi
First-time filmmaker Godfrey Reggio's experimental documentary from 1983--shot mostly in the desert Southwest and New York City on a tiny budget with no script, then attracting the support of Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas and enlisting the indispensable musical contribution of Philip Glass--delighted college students on the midnight circuit and fans of minimalism for many years. Meanwhile, its techniques, merging cinematographer Ron Fricke's time-lapse shots (alternately peripatetic and hyperspeed) with Glass's reiterative music (from the meditative to the orgiastic)--as well as its ecology-minded imagery--crept into the consciousness of popular culture. The influence of Koyaanisqatsi, or "life out of balance," has by now become unmistakable in television advertisements, music videos, and, of course, similar movies such as Fricke's own Chronos and Craig McCourry's Apogee. Reggio shot a sequel, Powaqqatsi (1988), and completed the trilogy with Naqoyqatsi (2002). Koyaanisqatsi provides the uninitiated the chance to see where it all started--along with an intense audiovisual rush.
First-time filmmaker Godfrey Reggio's experimental documentary from 1983--shot mostly in the desert Southwest and New York City on a tiny budget with no script, then attracting the support of Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas and enlisting the indispensable musical contribution of Philip Glass--delighted college students on the midnight circuit and fans of minimalism for many years. Meanwhile, its techniques, merging cinematographer Ron Fricke's time-lapse shots (alternately peripatetic and hyperspeed) with Glass's reiterative music (from the meditative to the orgiastic)--as well as its ecology-minded imagery--crept into the consciousness of popular culture. The influence of Koyaanisqatsi, or "life out of balance," has by now become unmistakable in television advertisements, music videos, and, of course, similar movies such as Fricke's own Chronos and Craig McCourry's Apogee. Reggio shot a sequel, Powaqqatsi (1988), and completed the trilogy with Naqoyqatsi (2002). Koyaanisqatsi provides the uninitiated the chance to see where it all started--along with an intense audiovisual rush.
Powaqqatsi
Powaqqatsi (1988), or "life in transformation," is the second part of a trilogy of experimental documentaries whose titles derive from Hopi compound nouns. The now legendary Koyaanisqatsi (1983), or "life out of balance," was the first. Naqoyqatsi (2002), or "life in war," was the third. Powaqqatsi finds director Godfrey Reggio somewhat more directly polemical than before, and his major collaborator, the composer Philip Glass, stretching to embrace world music. Reggio reuses techniques familiar from the previous film (slow motion, time-lapse, superposition) to dramatize the effects of the so-called First World on the Third: displacement, pollution, alienation. But he spends as much time beautifully depicting what various cultures have lost--cooperative living, a sense of joy in labor, and religious values--as he does confronting viewers with trains, airliners, coal cars, and loneliness. What had been a more or less peaceful, slow-moving, spiritually fulfilling rural existence for these "silent" people (all we hear is music and sound effects) becomes a crowded, suffocating, accelerating industrial urban hell, from Peru to Pakistan. Reggio frames Powaqqatsi with a telling image: the Serra Pelada gold mines, where thousands of men, their clothes and skin imbued with the earth they're moving, carry wet bags up steep slopes in a Sisyphean effort to provide wealth for their employers. While Glass juxtaposes his strangely joyful music, which includes the voices of South American children, a number of these men carry one of their exhausted comrades out of the pit, his head back and arms outstretched--one more sacrifice to Caesar. Nevertheless, Reggio, a former member of the Christian Brothers, seems to maintain hope for renewal. --Robert Burns Neveldine
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
FINALLY available commercially on DVD, BUT....
Sep 19 2002
Format:DVD
....as another reviewer has said, KOYAANISQATSI is CROPPED. I own the limited edition DVD that was sold as a fundraiser around a year ago by the Institute for Regional Education (IRE) and it is in 4:3. The new MGM so-called "widescreen" release simply adds black bars to the top and bottom of the screen, with NO extra width shown- the other reviewer is 100% correct! I compared the IRE DVD with the new MGM commercial release on two DVD players at the same time, and the size of each picture is exactly the same, but the MGM release has black bars blocking Ron Fricke's cinematography. The bars take away 2 inches from the top and bottom of the screen of my 32" TV, or 4 inches of picture height total. I love widescreen movies, but purposely blocking out what was originally filmed is RIDICULOUS. KOY was originally filmed in 4:3, not widescreen.
These films are the two greatest combinations of music and film ever made- it's just a shame to see KOY treated so poorly. Nice interviews with Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass and cheap price still makes it a must-buy. All we can hope for is maybe a "special edition" in the future that's done right as this release is apparently selling pretty well.
Right now, the best KOY sound is found on the laserdisc, and the best picture is found on the limited edition IRE DVD which is no longer available. I'm so happy I didn't sell it! It's a priceless collector's item now!
I haven't yet checked the new MGM DVD of POWAQQATSI compared to my VHS POW videotape as far as the black bars taking away picture from the original- but the new POW DVD indeed has an incredible picture quality and the soundtrack fared very well in the conversion to Dolby Digital- it sounds excellent. KOY sounds muffled and too rolled off in the highs.
Steve Glassfan
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Powaqqatsi Cropped as well
Nov 13 2002
Format:DVD
After reading the previous review from the gentlemen who owns an IRE special edition of Koyaanisqatsi I suspected they must have done the same "image cropping" to Powaqqatsi.
Well, after comparing the Powaqqatsi DVD with an old VHS edition published back in the late 80's I can confirm that in order to go from 4:3 (VHS) to the 16:9 format of the DVD they simply cut the top and bottom part of the image. The DVD does NOT show extra stuff that would come from a wider picture.
Very stupid I think. The movie was probably shot in 4:3 originally.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Fantastic Movies - Widescreen Lunacy
Sep 30 2002
Format:DVD
Finally, the first two movies of the Qatsi-Trilogy are available on DVD. Since the movies are an individually different experience (hypnotic and mind-boggling for one, dull and boring for others) I won't try to explain the content.
The DVD Version is 16:9 enhanced which is, in fact, a mutilation of the original 4:3 picture. The cover states "as seen in theaters", but I have seen it in theaters many times and never saw it vertically chopped like this. Essential parts of the picture are missing, all this just to please people, who like
their 16:9 TV-screens filled. What is the point in omitting vertical information just to enhance the resolution of the cropped picture? You can see in almost every frame that there is something wrong, not fitting quite well. This is simply because the camerapeople certainly filmed most of the footage in 4:3, not with modern widescreen-lunacy in mind. I don't really enjoy the DVD's, I rather put in the VHS copy of Koyaanisqatsi made from Laserdisc or the german DVD-version of Powaqqatsi, which is in the correct non-cropped aspect ratio. 16:9 enhancement is fine when done on widescreen movies, but not this time.
5 stars for the movies, 2 stars for the DVD's.
The DVD Version is 16:9 enhanced which is, in fact, a mutilation of the original 4:3 picture. The cover states "as seen in theaters", but I have seen it in theaters many times and never saw it vertically chopped like this. Essential parts of the picture are missing, all this just to please people, who like
their 16:9 TV-screens filled. What is the point in omitting vertical information just to enhance the resolution of the cropped picture? You can see in almost every frame that there is something wrong, not fitting quite well. This is simply because the camerapeople certainly filmed most of the footage in 4:3, not with modern widescreen-lunacy in mind. I don't really enjoy the DVD's, I rather put in the VHS copy of Koyaanisqatsi made from Laserdisc or the german DVD-version of Powaqqatsi, which is in the correct non-cropped aspect ratio. 16:9 enhancement is fine when done on widescreen movies, but not this time.
5 stars for the movies, 2 stars for the DVD's.
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Most recent customer reviews
Yes, get the 2- pack!
The first film, "Koyaanisqatsi," is superior, but the second film, "Powaqqatsi," has many visually stimulating moments as well. Read more
Published on Mar 5 2004 by D. Knouse
Astounding
This film is one of few that has used this form of media to it's full potential. The combination of images and music presented in a fashion that allows the view to extrapolate... Read more
Published on Dec 11 2003 by G. Campbell
Life distilled into a shot of on-screen espresso
After viewing Naqoyqatsi at SA's NPR CinemaTuesday event, I had to watch the first of the Qatsi trilogy to help me understand why I never forgot the haunting vision. Read more
Published on Aug 19 2003 by B. BIRD
The Irony Of The Subtitle: Life Out Of Balance
People who think this film is boring are suffering from the out of balance nature of modern life. Okay, that's just my opinion, but there it is. Read more
Published on Aug 5 2003 by True believer
A Cinematic Masterpiece......Experience "Qatsi"(Life)!...
This review refers to "Koyaanisqatsi" and "Powaqqatsi" (2-Pack) DVDs(MGM)....
You'll want to make sure that when you watch these films, you will not have any interuptions. Read more
Published on Aug 4 2003 by L. Shirley
Wow bad
I went in thinking it was gonna be something cool like gangsta ewoks. I came out feeling violated like that kid in clockwork orange forced to watch snuff films for weeks. Read more
Published on July 29 2003 by Christian W. Klay
Boring
This had all the promise and excitement that a recommended experimental type film can deliver. One problem. It didnt deliver. I couldnt even watch all of it. Too wierd? No. Read more
Published on July 21 2003 by "hulkisangry"
Lovely
I've bought this double pack and I've just seen Powaqqatsi, the second part. I'm still astonished of it. I love it.
It shows planet earth the way it is. Read more
It shows planet earth the way it is. Read more
Published on May 22 2003 by Balai Zsolt
I waited for years for this DVD
Koyaanisqatsi is one of those movies that changes your life. Set to the rythmic music of Philip Glass we see images of empty spaces and the natural environment highlighted... Read more
Published on May 9 2003 by L. Suha
A fantastic waste
The idea is great and there is a lot that could have been done with it. Many praise it because it looks so different -- and unique. But the result is essentially bad. Read more
Published on Feb 16 2003
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