Hacker Cinema
Naqoyqatsi
2002 · Film · documentary · 89 min
Part of Qatsi Collection
Directed by Godfrey Reggio
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
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10 comments on Hacker News
I'd say Naqoyqatsi has all the qualities of the first two movies, except in the area of visuals. The score is phenomenal, up there with Glass' best.
Ron Fricke is person who made Koyaanisqatsi the beautiful visual journey that it is. I would recommend watching any of his other works. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Fricke (FWIW, Powaqqatsi is also pretty good, but I would strongly suggest avoiding Naqoyqatsi which is just not very good).
Back in the 90s a bunch of us watched the whole movie by accident. Somehow it came up in conversation and the guy whose house we were in happened to have a copy on VHS and he put it in and we got so mesmerized that while we only intended to watch a few minutes of it, we watched the whole thing.
There are two “sequels” to Koyaanisqatsi: Powisqatsi and Naqoyqatsi, both also with Philip Glass soundtracks.
Koyaanisqatsi is my favorite movie by a mile, so obviously I love this. Koy is interesting because it's not simply a movie painting a certain picture (which an experiment like this can't do), but because it's a format too (which this experiment focuses on).
The third in the trilogy of Qatsi movies, Naqoyqatsi, while the least well known is probably the closest fit for this experiment since it's almost entirely stock footage laid over the (orchestral – in contrast to Koy) soundtrack. For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgM46I-ZryM
Koyaanisqatsi has been my favorite movie ever since the first time I accidentally caught it on TV almost 20 years ago. I've since been to live screenings with Glass and his Ensemble playing it, etc. :-)
And.. despite eventually discovering what Reggio is about, I have always taken the opposite view of the movie. To me it feels like a neutral view of how systematized our world is, how technology enables such systems, and how such systems are a fundamental and valuable part of moving forwards as a species. Humans = technology = systems.. but positivity for such things is my world view anyway, and Koy is a blank enough canvas to take this on.
The second sequel Naqoyqatsi felt like a more on the nose critique of the ills of technology and modern society to me, made up entirely of stock video set to a fragile but very human soundtrack, in contrast to Koy.
If you want something "easier" to start with I would suggest Naqoyqatsi soundtrack, the Symphony No. 3 is a nice listen as well.
http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Naqoyqatsi/212925 http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Symphony+No+3/3708522
Koyaanisqatsi was the first Glass' piece I remember hearing and to this day still remains my favourite. But perhaps it is best experienced while watching the movie, the score is meant to work along with the pictures.
http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Koyaanisqatsi/296839
Now for a truly hardcore experience try Music in Twelve Parts or the massive opera Einstein on the Beach.
http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Music+In+Twelve+Parts/4677966
http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Philip+Glass+Einstein+On+The+Beach+Disc+1/5213820 http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Philip+Glass+Einstein+On+The+Beach+Disc+2/5213777 http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Philip+Glass+Einstein+On+The+Beach+Disc+3/5213813
If you still haven't got enough, why not listen to some hip-hop remixes :)
http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Glassbreaks/465696
Hope this helps.
the fact that Glass’s music contains no fully developed melodies
I had to look up the date on this piece because taking into account Glass's post 1995 (at the very latest) works, I couldn't disagree more with the conclusion and perhaps misunderstand the author's concept of melody.
Glass's distant history with melody is not particularly strong (although Façades is a good example of early melodic work), but his work has become more (and to choose a rather tricky term) "human" over the years. Reviews of Naqoyqatsi (both the movie soundtrack and the concerto it turned into) frequently cite its "melodic" nature and "lyrical melodic lines" (BBC Music) and it is far from the only modern Glass piece to adopt a melodic approach (his epic first Violin Concerto comes to mind). Heck, I'm sure I even saw Glass and Yo Yo Ma being interviewed about Naqoyqatsi and how it was designed for the cello to drive a powerful melody to counteract the technological nature of the movie (note that Koyaanisqatsi was the other way around - more 'mechnical' electronic music set to scenes of the natural world).
One problem some new to Glass can encounter is Glass's melodies frequently occur in lower registers on instruments that don't generally play melodies, particularly in his operas, leaving the traditionally melodic instruments to instead provide the rhythm. Appomattox provides modern examples of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J14flyMOQo
One of my favorite films when I was younger. I discovered the music composers Phillip Glass and subsequently Steve Reich through the films. Many documentaries and media productions play on the audio visual styles Reggio popularized in the film. It's interesting how often I detect sqatsi-ism in modern film (1). Just a couple days ago while watching "Home" I felt it's presence (2).
Koyaanisqatsi was the first of a trilogy of films:
Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyaanisqatsi Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PirH8PADDgQ
Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powaqqatsi Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNVTmWRcUbY
Naqoyqatsi: Life as War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naqoyqatsi Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PxT3MtTedw
The films creator, Godfrey Reggio has recently created a new work:
Visitors: 2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visitors_(2013_film) Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1ZwYJI55Rs
The original cinematographer for Koyaanisqatsi, Ron Fricke, went on to produce similar styles of films:
Samsara: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsara_(2011_film) Baraka: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baraka_(film) Chronos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronos_(film)
Phillip Glass: Music Composer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Glass Sample of Phillip Glass's music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkof3nPK--Y
Steve Reich: Music Composer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Reich Sample of Steve Reich's music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU23LqQ6LY4
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(1) Sqatsi-ism: Made up word to describe the type of audio visual style created and popularized in the original film, which can now be seen throughout media.
(2) Home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU. Interesting fact, the narrator of the film sounds almost identical to the woman in Phillip Glass's song "Einstein on the Beach Play 5", which was created back when he did the score for Koyaanisqatsi. Play 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmX_GgozpQs.
Note: If you enjoy documentaries TrueFilms a great resources to discover new titles you may not have seen before: http://truefilms.com. In fact, many of the titles listed above are on this list.
I never understood Naqoyqatsi. We're at war with ourselves? The imagery didn't match up with the premise. I was expecting more actual war, but the movie seems to suggest technology causes us to be at war with ourselves, literally me fighting myself.
Great trilogy.
From movie critic Leonard Malton: (4-stars, highest rating) "Spellbinding, senses-staggering nonnarrative film soars across the United States in search of vistas both natural and man-made. Much of the photography is slow-motion or time-lapse (the title is Hopi Indian for "life out of balance"), all of it set to a mesmerizing score by Philip Glass. So rich in beauty and detail that with each viewing it becomes a new and different film. Should be seen in a theatre for maximum impact. Followed by POWAQQATSI and NAQOYQATSI"