Koyaanisqatsi

It’s been almost 20 years since the original release of one of the strangest films to become a cult classic. Koyaanisquatsi is really just a collage of moving images, but there is real structure and direction to the non-narrative movie. Moving from pure natural environments to completely fabricated, manmade settings, it is a visual dictionary of how technology has changed the planet. It also falls in the realm of those films that blur traditional categories between pictures, words, and meaning—so far away from traditional Hollywood contexts, one can see the terrible beauty of a landfill, for example, or the nauseating churn of normal rain clouds. Ostensibly it’s a film about “life out of balance” (it takes its title from a Hopi word with that meaning), and there is an overwhelming sense of apocalyptic moralizing to the thing. Still, the film continues to reward viewers with its lush imagery, and its Philip Glass soundtrack, and it should inspire you to chase down other films in this tiny genre, like Chris Marker’s criminally underappreciated Sans Soleil. Incidentally, Koyaanisqatsi is the first in a trilogy. Powaqqatsi is also out on DVD this month, and the long-awaited final film, Naqoyqatsi, will be released to theaters in the next few weeks.