20130911: Documentary Review--Koyaanisqatsi

Koyaanisqatsi

1. Fundamentals
1. American live action feature length film, 1982, rated UR, 86 minutes, documentary, music.
2. IMDB: 8.3/10.0 from 24,271 users.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 89% on the meter; 91% liked it from 14,778 audience ratings.
4. Directed by Godfrey Reggio.
5. Starring: no one.
6. Music by Phillip Glass.
7. Viewed from streaming video from Hulu+


2. Setup and Plot
1. Videos strung together, coordinated with Phillip Glass' music.
2. Nature (clouds, waves, mountains, shores) is described as beautiful, enduring, good.
3. Humanity is ambushed as ugly, stupid, wasteful, enslaved, impoverished, ant-like, and injurious to the landscape.


3. Conclusions
1. One sentence summary: The video was as subtle as a sledgehammer opening an English walnut; the music as finely discriminating as a bulldozer in a rose garden.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 I saw this in the late 1980s, and remember being quite impressed by the visuals.  On the Hulu version I saw in 2013, I was not impressed at all.  The focus was soft, the colors washed out, the contrast low.


2. Incidental music: 5/10 Beyond irritating.  When associated with humans in video, the music had the sort of manic activity one might associate with the Keystone Cops, but with oppressive overtones.


3. Screenplay: 2/10 The point of view is 'nature is great, humanity is the opposite.'