Product Description

Prepare to experience a truly remarkable filma cinematic masterpiece so extraordinary that it regales the senses, stimulates the mind and actually 'redefines the potential of filmmaking (The Hollywood Reporter). Celebrated director Godfrey Reggio, innovative cinematographer Ron Fricke and Golden Globe-winning* composer Philip Glass have created a 'spellbinding [film] so rich in beauty and detail that with each viewing it becomes a new and different film (Leonard Maltin). Unique profound mesmerizing and thought-provoking (Boxoffice), Koyaanisqatsi contrasts the tranquil beauty of nature with the frenzied hum of contemporary urban society. Uniting breathtaking imagery with a hauntingly evocative, award-winning score, it is original and fascinating (People) one of the greatest films of all time (Uncut). *1998: Score (with Burkhard Dallwitz), The Truman Show

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7976 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-09-17
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 87 minutes

Amazon.com
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, in similar movies such as Fricke's own Chronos and Craig McCourry's Apogee. Reggio shot a sequel, Powaqqatsi (1988), and is planning to complete the trilogy with Naqoyqatsi. Koyaanisqatsi provides the uninitiated the chance to see where it all started--along with an intense audiovisual rush. --Robert Burns Neveldine

Customer Reviews

Impressive film/unimpressive DVD
I love this film. One of the most moving works of art ever created, however the DVD transfer is underwhelming. DVD can use up to 10 MBPS. When surround sound is used up to about 9 MBPS. I work preofessionally with video (shooting/editing) and spend a fair amount of time authoring DVDs. Why they chose to stick to 3 - 5 MBPS is appalling. For those of you who do not know MBPS = Mega Bits Per Second. MBPS is similar to Megapixels (when speaking about a digital camera). The higher the Mega Bits used per second the more information used to store thie picture and thus the higher the quality the picture will be and the better it will look. I would still recommend this DVD...only because this is as of now the best way to see the film (outside the off chance it will be shown in some art house theatre). Beware,however, it will not look great...good maybe. I can't wait until Kayaanisqatsi is remastered for Blu-ray.

What have we done?
I first encountered Koyaanisqatsi in 1984,and was awed by the photography used to create the images that I saw. As time went on and I watched it several more times, I slowly began to understand the story this film was telling:We are slowly destroying the very planet we live on,our only home in this vast universe. When I've shown this movie to family and friends the first thing they do when watching it is recognize some of the locations that were used and they get a kick out of that.It's not until they see it again that they start to understand what it's about, and it's very touching to see the looks on their faces as they realize what is happening.
The music used is very mesmerizing, but there are a couple of places where it goes on and on and it makes you feel like "enough already!" Give it a chance,as it helps make the movie what it is.

This certainly is a "remarkable film event"
Fast-moving clouds, hydroelectric dams, congested highways, abandoned buildings, grand canyons, waterfalls, Wall Street, gigantic airplanes, the Twinkie Factory, the list is endless in "Koyaanisqatsi". This film shows how Mother Nature will stay the way it is, and how human society will transform into a worse shape than today's. It was made in 1983, but its message is still powerful 25 years later. A+