Koyaanisqatsi Review

Koyaanisqatsi (KOY-AH-NISS-KAHT-SEE) is a documentary full of imagination, creativity, and depth through its depiction of images and clips seen across the world. The beautiful, flashy, and even argumentative viewings made viewers wonder just what it is they were watching.

It is a film with no verbals at all, an occasional chant of the name appears throughout different scenes of the movie but as far as dialogue goes, it is non-existent in this piece of work. There is not a main character to become emotionally attached with or a counterpart to play the role of his sidekick. There is not a developing story or even plot for that matter.

It is just a rolling video for eighty-six minutes of nothing but video clips of some of the most random places, objects, people in the world.

For nearly an hour and a half, the audience sat through clips of busy highways, a moon rising, ocean waves crashing, airplanes landing, windy deserts, old people smoking, the list is just getting started.

It seemed to have no use to me personally, but apparently I didn’t see the art behind it. This film was actually the first in a three part series and was also the first production for director Godfrey Reggio. Reggio was a big hit, claiming numerous awards including the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards (KCFCCA) for Best Documentary as well as the Best Feature award at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival.

The music is the real pleasure to the film. The dramatic tones and yet melodic harmonies not only compliment the film itself but really add more emotion and thought to each clip.

Phillip Glass brings the background to this picture. Glass was also recognized for his musical genius with a win at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) in the Best Music category.
             Personally speaking, I would never watch this documentary again. In short, it is nothing more then a sequence of video relating to different areas of civilization from different locations of the globe. Endless clips continue to roll back to back in no hierarchy of order. It is annoying but somehow kept drawing me in. I was indulged to the point where I wanted to know what the next clip was going to be.

The music throughout the film was genius. The documentary actually took three years to produce but they only filmed for a year. The extra two years were spent getting the music to fit with the sequence of clips. Numerous changes were made in both music and the order of video during the documentary.

             Doing background research, Godfrey says the film has no direct meaning; it is intended to be a film that makes you think. The audience is supposed to come up with their own definition for the film and the meaning behind the images on screen. With images ranging from cloud formations to a busy highway, Godfrey painted a masterpiece if his goal was to confuse his audience as a whole. Several other memorable scenes from the film include The Grand Canyon, Ocean waves, and even more socialized environments like stores and movie theatres. These scenes mixed with the award winning music from Glass, gives off numerous expressions and feelings ranging from complete isolation and loneliness to a feeling of dependence in a world run by computers and technology. Although this is not in my top choices for films i would like to watch again, Koyaanisqatsi is a documentary that not only challenges the human mind, but composes a perfect scenario where the definition of art stands true; it is what the audience makes it to be.