Documentary Movie Review: Koyaanisqatsi (1983) #atozchallenge

Welcome to Panorama of the Mountains! My name is Liam and I enjoy watching documentary movies.  This month I will be reviewing 26 documentaries from A-to-Z!

Documentaries starting with the letter Documentaries starting with the letter K that I have previously reviewed include: 

• Kedi
• Keith Richards: Under the Influence
• Knock Down the House
• Knuckleball!
• Koch
• Kon-Tiki

Title: Koyaanisqatsi
Release Date: April 27, 1983
Director: Godfrey Reggio
Production Company: Institute for Regional Education | American Zoetrope
Summary/Review:

Koyaanisqatsi is less a documentary than a collection of shots of various landscapes expertly edited together with a score by Philip Glass.  The film works in roughly three parts with the first being shots of natural landscapes, followed by footage of industrial structures and machines, and finishing with crowds of humanity.  Almost every shot is either played in slow motion or in timelapse.

I knew going into this movie that there was no narrative or narration (and in fact there’s no sound to the movie other than Glass’ score), but I did expect it to say something.  Instead Reggio claims to have deliberately made it to be open to interpretations, which is fine, I guess.  It’s definitely beautiful to look at and would be worth seeing on a big screen should the opportunity arrive.  I think it’s comparable with films like Man With a Movie Camera and Sans Soleil, but I didn’t like it as much as either of those films.

Rating: ***1/2