Naqoyqatsi
Year: 2002
Grade: B
Country: USA
Director: Reggio
Reviewthis is what one imdb.com visitor wrote: “This is one great film. I waited more than 3 years to see this film. The special effects were beyond explanation. They are very impressive and well done. I like the use of when a b/w negative image is shown and shifted into different colors. There was a great scene with a zoom of a mandlebrot fractal. A good example of an original special effect was the morphing of different paintings. A famous painting morphs into another famous painting, and that into another famous painting, etc. We also see wax dummies of famous people, George W Bush, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. Abraham Lincoln, Sitting Bull, and others. I hope to see more films like this be made.”
beyond the pretty colors and neat people on the big tv this film tries to show us life as war. as was the case with the first time i saw koyaanisqatsi i was initially disappointed by the film. my major gripe was that too much of the film was fabricated, rather than captured like the previous films did. it was less of a documentary and more of a manufactured statement. perhaps one could say that this manufacturing of images, rather than capturing them, fits in with the theme of the film, but to me it detracted from the film more than it added to it. initially i also felt that the images were sometimes frivolous, excessive, needless and just not in line with the idea of life as war or civilized violence. though this may hold merit, i don’t think that that matters so much. though ever image is chosen by its creators, not every image has to fit precisely into the theme…it’s often more about a feel, than it is about each image representing a number and the sum of those images creating a given end number. my advice is to not overthink things the first time you watch it and watch it at least twice.
the music wasn’t as inspired as koyaanisqatsi, but was better than powaqqatsi. the cresendos weren’t as powerful and there weren’t as many which made the ending all the more important – and thus, for me, less fulfilling. koyaanisqatsi had a much better sense of pacing.
in sum, the baby was cute and the waves were cool.
Watched in theater