Koyaanisqatsi (1982)

Director:

Godfrey Reggio

Writers:

Ron Fricke (writer)
Michael Hoenig (writer)

Release Date:

11 November 1983 (West Germany)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

October 4, 1982. More than 5,000 people filled the sold out Radio City Music Hall to experience a remarkable film event. That event was the world premiere of KOYAANISQATSI. Now everyone can share the power of that experience.

Plot:

A movie with no conventional plot: merely a collection of expertly photographed scenes. Subject matter has a highly environmental theme.

Plot Keywords:

Fast Motion Sequence | Demolition | Cult | Television | Avant Garde

Awards:

5 wins & 1 nomination

Also Known As:

Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance (USA) (poster title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

None

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:G (video rating) | UK:U | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:7 | USA:Unrated | Germany:6 | Australia:G | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Santa Fe Institute for Regional Education

Trivia:

One shot of a mountain range was provided by MacGillivray-Freeman Films; the shot was leftover footage from The Shining (1980).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: About an hour into the movie, the camera operator is reflected in the elevator's glass window as the elevator passes "between" floors while shooting the escalators.

Movie Connections:

Features Superman II (1980)

Kind of like 2001: A Space Odyssey, but without the constant barrage of dialogue...

Koyaanisqatis is an extremely unusual film, and by far one of the most unusual I have ever seen. It takes on the daunting task of portraying the history of the world until modern times (or the early 80s, at least) entirely without dialogue. It is a documentary of sorts, in that it is amazingly informative, but it is filmed like a Hollywood film. Expertly framed shots and flawlessly smooth camera movement and shot composition. There is an unbelievable amount of talent behind this film, both in the fascinating images that are presented and the mesmerizing score by Philip Glass.

It is a very slow moving film, but it manages to keep your attention because, in many cases, it is just so interesting to see the things that are portrayed and the way that they are shown. This is the only film, for example, where you can see a shot of a 737 approaches directly toward the camera over a hot runway in a shot that is possibly over a minute long with no movement other than the sluggish lumbering of the massive plain.

Godfrey Reggio takes Glass's score and places images over it that add to the sound and create an experience that is far greater than, as they say, the sum of its parts. The shots contain camera movement or lack movement, are sped up or slowed down, and have live sound or no live sound depending on the desired effect, and the end result is absolutely hypnotic.

This is a wonderful cinematic experience for people of all ages, and possibly my favorite thing about this film and it's successors is that, because they have no dialogue, they can be shown in any country in the world and not have to worry about subtitles or even altered meanings. This is a film for humanity.