Koyaanisqatsi / Powaqqatsi (2 Pack)

Starring:Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, Philip Glass
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Koyaanisqatsi
First-time filmmaker Godfrey Reggio's experimental documentary from 1983--shot mostly in the desert Southwest and New York City on a tiny budget with no script, then attracting the support of Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas and enlisting the indispensable musical contribution of Philip Glass--delighted college students on the midnight circuit and fans of minimalism for many years. Meanwhile, its techniques, merging cinematographer Ron Fricke's time-lapse shots (alternately peripatetic and hyperspeed) with Glass's reiterative music (from the meditative to the orgiastic)--as well as its ecology-minded imagery--crept into the consciousness of popular culture. The influence of Koyaanisqatsi, or "life out of balance," has by now become unmistakable in television advertisements, music videos, and, of course, similar movies such as Fricke's own Chronos and Craig McCourry's Apogee. Reggio shot a sequel, Powaqqatsi (1988), and completed the trilogy with Naqoyqatsi (2002). Koyaanisqatsi provides the uninitiated the chance to see where it all started--along with an intense audiovisual rush.

Powaqqatsi
Powaqqatsi (1988), or "life in transformation," is the second part of a trilogy of experimental documentaries whose titles derive from Hopi compound nouns. The now legendary Koyaanisqatsi (1983), or "life out of balance," was the first. Naqoyqatsi (2002), or "life in war," was the third. Powaqqatsi finds director Godfrey Reggio somewhat more directly polemical than before, and his major collaborator, the composer Philip Glass, stretching to embrace world music. Reggio reuses techniques familiar from the previous film (slow motion, time-lapse, superposition) to dramatize the effects of the so-called First World on the Third: displacement, pollution, alienation. But he spends as much time beautifully depicting what various cultures have lost--cooperative living, a sense of joy in labor, and religious values--as he does confronting viewers with trains, airliners, coal cars, and loneliness. What had been a more or less peaceful, slow-moving, spiritually fulfilling rural existence for these "silent" people (all we hear is music and sound effects) becomes a crowded, suffocating, accelerating industrial urban hell, from Peru to Pakistan. Reggio frames Powaqqatsi with a telling image: the Serra Pelada gold mines, where thousands of men, their clothes and skin imbued with the earth they're moving, carry wet bags up steep slopes in a Sisyphean effort to provide wealth for their employers. While Glass juxtaposes his strangely joyful music, which includes the voices of South American children, a number of these men carry one of their exhausted comrades out of the pit, his head back and arms outstretched--one more sacrifice to Caesar. Nevertheless, Reggio, a former member of the Christian Brothers, seems to maintain hope for renewal. --Robert Burns Neveldine

Koyaanisqatsi / Powaqqatsi (2 Pack)
Average customer rating:

Great Deal!

Coherency

not as good as Baraka

Interesting but aggravating

A beautiful statement about life

Koyaanisqatsi / Powaqqatsi (2 Pack)
Starring: Koyaanisqatsi , Powaqqatsi , and Philip Glass
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Naqoyqatsi

Baraka

Chronos [Blu-ray]

Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (Sub)

Microcosmos

ASIN: B00003CXAY
Release Date: 2002-09-17

Amazon.com

Koyaanisqatsi
First-time filmmaker Godfrey Reggio's experimental documentary from 1983--shot mostly in the desert Southwest and New York City on a tiny budget with no script, then attracting the support of Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas and enlisting the indispensable musical contribution of Philip Glass--delighted college students on the midnight circuit and fans of minimalism for many years. Meanwhile, its techniques, merging cinematographer Ron Fricke's time-lapse shots (alternately peripatetic and hyperspeed) with Glass's reiterative music (from the meditative to the orgiastic)--as well as its ecology-minded imagery--crept into the consciousness of popular culture. The influence of Koyaanisqatsi, or "life out of balance," has by now become unmistakable in television advertisements, music videos, and, of course, similar movies such as Fricke's own Chronos and Craig McCourry's Apogee. Reggio shot a sequel, Powaqqatsi (1988), and completed the trilogy with Naqoyqatsi (2002). Koyaanisqatsi provides the uninitiated the chance to see where it all started--along with an intense audiovisual rush.

Powaqqatsi
Powaqqatsi (1988), or "life in transformation," is the second part of a trilogy of experimental documentaries whose titles derive from Hopi compound nouns. The now legendary Koyaanisqatsi (1983), or "life out of balance," was the first. Naqoyqatsi (2002), or "life in war," was the third. Powaqqatsi finds director Godfrey Reggio somewhat more directly polemical than before, and his major collaborator, the composer Philip Glass, stretching to embrace world music. Reggio reuses techniques familiar from the previous film (slow motion, time-lapse, superposition) to dramatize the effects of the so-called First World on the Third: displacement, pollution, alienation. But he spends as much time beautifully depicting what various cultures have lost--cooperative living, a sense of joy in labor, and religious values--as he does confronting viewers with trains, airliners, coal cars, and loneliness. What had been a more or less peaceful, slow-moving, spiritually fulfilling rural existence for these "silent" people (all we hear is music and sound effects) becomes a crowded, suffocating, accelerating industrial urban hell, from Peru to Pakistan. Reggio frames Powaqqatsi with a telling image: the Serra Pelada gold mines, where thousands of men, their clothes and skin imbued with the earth they're moving, carry wet bags up steep slopes in a Sisyphean effort to provide wealth for their employers. While Glass juxtaposes his strangely joyful music, which includes the voices of South American children, a number of these men carry one of their exhausted comrades out of the pit, his head back and arms outstretched--one more sacrifice to Caesar. Nevertheless, Reggio, a former member of the Christian Brothers, seems to maintain hope for renewal. --Robert Burns Neveldine

Customer Reviews:

Great Deal!.......2007-05-12

What a deal this was! I bought both DVDs at a low price from Amazon, and realized after watching them that is was well worth the money. The movies are really in depth, and though my TV is not an IMAX it does give that illusion. Really trippy imagry, and factual acts of life give these two movies a high rating in my book.

Coherency.......2007-05-07

The theme suggested by Koyaanisqatsi is remarkably visible in the stream of imagery, making the documentary commenatary very informative and suggestive. Koyaanisqatsi held my attention, and presented itself not only as a work of art, but also as an informing work of art. Powaqqatsi did not appear so readily accessible in a thematic way. I found the imagery, though provoking and immediate, to be an unfocused narrative. What is the message? The title suggests a theme, but the train of images fails to synthesize a statement initiated in the title. Of course life is in transition. How does that interest me? As a single viewer, I wasn't as interested in the Powaqqatsi video as I was in the Koyaanisqatsi imagery. Creatures of the world, including humans, are parasitic? Perhaps the videographers should have included some vegetarian "fare" (offering a solution to our animal natures). Finally, Phillip Glass's stimulating soundscapes, poignant and haunting, make both documentaries worth the bother.

not as good as Baraka.......2007-01-30

Koyaanisqatsi WAS a great, unique piece of cinema, but does look visually and socially a little dated these days. The Phillip Glass soundtrack works beautifully with the time lapse scenes but after a while begins to grate...
Powaqatsi is based much more on the ryhthms of life and work in the developing world, but as opposed to Koyaanisqatsi's hectic time-lapse, it's so slow-mo and meditative that some viewers may find it the perfect thing to fall asleep too. Godfrey Reggio's original vision seems to have been a fluke - Cinematographer Ron Fricke made Koyaanisqatsi as good as it was, but upon seeing how depressing it was, he then made Baraka to improve on it. The third instalment in the series, Naqyqatsi, is best avoided or borrowed from the video library and watched on fast forward.

Interesting but aggravating .......2007-01-09

These two movies are a montage of slow-motion, fast-motion, and time-lapse filming set to music. One shows the how man works and the other how man uses the planet. I wanted to like these but I found the constant image changing and music aggravating. They are very interesting and have good messages but I can't stand the constant sensory bombardment.

A beautiful statement about life.......2006-11-13

Godfrey Reggio, Philippe Glass and Ron Fricke made a superb trilogy about human life on earth. It took them 20 years to complete their project! Only using images and (specially composed) music they are able to give an account on life on the northern hemisphere (Koyaanisqatsi), the southern hemisphere (powaqqatsi) and the synthesis of both (naqoyqatsi). I have never seen a better film without words in conveying a universal message without making a judgement!

Koyaanisqatsi - Life Out of Balance / Powaqqatsi - Life in Transformation / Naqoyqatsi - Life As War (3 Pack)

Average customer rating:

Koyaanisqatsi - Life Out of Balance / Powaqqatsi - Life in Transformation / Naqoyqatsi - Life As War (3 Pack)
Director: Godfreey Reggio
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Special Interests | Genres | DVD | Video

The Assault on Reason

Product Features:

Widescreen
Language: English
Trailer (s)
3 Disc Set

ASIN: B000QWA9LC

Product Description

Koyaanisqatsi - Life Out of Balance: Prepare to experience a truly remarkable film--a cinematic masterpiece so extraordinary that it regales the senses, stimulates the mind and actually "redefines the potential of filmmaking". Celebrated director Godfrey Reggio, innovative cinematographer Ron Fricke and Golden Globe winning composer Philip Glass have created a "spellbinding film so rich in beauty and detail that with each viewing it becomes a new and different film". ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Powaqqatsi - Life in Transformation: Hailed by audiences and critics around the world as "mesmerizing", this second installment of writer/director Godfrey Reggio's apocalyptic "qatsi" trilogy is "quite simply one of the most magnificent visual and aural spectacles ever made"! Combining stunning cinematography with the exquisite music of award-winning composer Philip Glass, Powaqqatsi is a "breathtaking experience working on many levels... emotional, spiritual, intellectual and aesthetic"! Bold, haunting and epic in scale, this extraordinary film calls into question everything we think we know about contemporary society. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Naqoyqatsi - Life As War: Miramax Home Entertainment and Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh present Naqoyqatsi - Life As War, from filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, in collaboration with composer Phillip Glass, whose original score features renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In this cinematic concert -- the concluding film of the Qatsi Trilogy preceded by the critically acclaimed Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi -- mesmerizing images reanimated from everyday reality, then visually altered with state-of-the-art digital techniques, chronicle the shift from a world organized by the principles of nature to one dominated by technology, the synthetic, and the virtual.

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