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40 Years of Koyaanisqatsi

thecurb.com.au

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Re: 40 Years of Koyaanisqatsi

#61

Post by bscphil »

The film was shot and framed in 4:3 but was cropped down (for reasons unknown to me) into widescreen for the theatrical and later the Blu-ray releases.

There is a rare uncropped DVD release of it by a distributor called "IRE" out there. My understanding is that every copy of this release is autographed by the director, if you need some proof of artistic intent. AFAIK there's no definitive proof that this isn't just "open matte", but IMO the superiority of this release is pretty clear. You can find it on public torrent sites.

Some more info here: https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Koyaanisqatsi-IRE-Fullscre...

Re: 40 Years of Koyaanisqatsi

#62

Post by abruzzi »

Its interesting that he mentioned that mentioned that the music was used in Stranger Things, season 4. Season 3 used music from Glass's opera Satyagraha, Season 4 (at least in the scene I remember) starts the Koyaaniqatsi music but subtly transitions to music from Glass's opera Akhnaten. They're both exposition scenes where the bad guy explains what he's doing or his world view.

I thought the music was particularly effective in those scenes. Clearly there is a Philip Glass fan on that show.

Re: 40 Years of Koyaanisqatsi

#63

Post by curioussavage »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #30
eigenvalue wrote: post #5

If you like this then I can’t recommend Baraka highly enough, by the cinematographer of Koyaanisqatsi: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baraka_(film) No narration at all, just amazing visuals and music/sounds. Review by Ebert: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-baraka-1992

When thinking of Baraka and Koyaanisqatai, I think of Bodysong— similar and very excellent. But music by Radiohead.

Thanks for mentioning this. Big fan of Philip Glass and Radiohead. I’m listening to the soundtrack right now. It’s good!

Re: 40 Years of Koyaanisqatsi

#64

Post by detourdog »

Alex3917 wrote: post #9
eigenvalue wrote: post #5

If you like this then I can’t recommend Baraka highly enough, by the cinematographer of Koyaanisqatsi: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baraka_(film) No narration at all, just amazing visuals and music/sounds. Review by Ebert: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-baraka-1992

This. Koyaanisqatsi might be more important in cinematic history, but Baraka is actually enjoyable to watch. IMHO the best use for Koyaanisqatsi is as an answer when playing charades.

I think the aesthetic of Koyaanisqatsi had a large effect of on film aesthetics. Breaking Bad's best scenes IMO were the Timelapses which I found very reminiscent Koyaanisqatsi.

Re: 40 Years of Koyaanisqatsi

#65

Post by bazmattaz »

While this movie is great and everything the author says rings true, I must be honest and say for me the movie that floored me more was Baraka. It’s just…astonishing, mesmorising, dumbfounding? I can’t put into words now this movie makes me feel

Re: 40 Years of Koyaanisqatsi

#66

Post by detourdog »

canjobear wrote: post #19

Does anyone have any information on the Hopi prophecies quoted in the article and in the film? Are they documented elsewhere? It seems a little suspicious to me that the Hopi text so closely matches 1970s American environmentalism/anxiety about nuclear weapons. I suspect there has been some creative translation. I actually wrote to the linguist listed in the Koyaanisqatsi credits for the original text in Hopi and he…

In my twenties I did some Hopi Study and just recently while studying celestial navigation I was struck Hopi Blue Star image.

https://kagi.com/images?q=hopi+spiral+image

This struck me because if one traces star across the night sky it's like a spiral but if you trace a body in are solar system it's an arc.

I think I'm an amateur at everything.

Re: 40 Years of Koyaanisqatsi

#68

Post by pgreenwood »

I can recommend watching the entire film run backwards. The music sounds approximately the same, and it turns it into a feel-good story showing assembly lines pulling cars apart, pollution being sucked into factories and mining vehicles burying ores.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6-K-arVl-U

Re: 40 Years of Koyaanisqatsi

#69

Post by EdwardDiego »

>...an advertising campaign for the American Civil Liberties Union involving invasions of privacy and the use of technology to control behaviour... ...The campaign was popular enough to remove Ritalin from being used in New Mexico schools

Um, what? And I'm sure that was great for the kids who needed their ADHD treated.

Re: 40 Years of Koyaanisqatsi

#70

Post by Gatsky »

pgreenwood wrote: post #68

I can recommend watching the entire film run backwards. The music sounds approximately the same, and it turns it into a feel-good story showing assembly lines pulling cars apart, pollution being sucked into factories and mining vehicles burying ores. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6-K-arVl-U

Just came to say that this is a wonderful comment, and that people voluntarily playing with/remixing your creation is one sign of great art.
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