Line #22 Film/Koyaanisqatsi


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/koyaanisqats_7774.jpg]]
2
3	->''"You've never really seen the world you live in."''
4
5	''Koyaanisqatsi'' is a 1983 [[GenreMashup documentary/art/experimental]] film directed Godfrey Reggio. There is no obvious plot or story, no actors, and no dialogue. The whole film is just time-lapse footage of nature, people, and machines with music composed by Music/PhilipGlass.
6
7	While the premise may sound dull the film is anything but, as it is an utterly mesmerizing and captivating look at the juxtaposition of natural and man-made worlds. It starts with beautiful footage of the desert and natural rock formations. From there, human work is more and more evident. The middle section of the film is about the hustle and bustle of modern life. Towards the end, the film focuses on people of different walks of life. The last sequence is a failed rocket launch in slow motion.
8
9	It is the first part of a "qatsi" trilogy, it is followed by ''Powaqqatsi'' and ''Naqoyqatsi''.
10
11	If the name sounds familiar, the title song is used whenever [[Series/{{Scrubs}} the Janitor]] delivers a DeathGlare. The pieces "Pruitt-Igoe" and "Prophecies" that were written for this film are probably better known to the current flock of 20-to-30-somethings as the accompaniment to Jon Osterman's [[TransformationSequence transformation]] into [[EldritchAbomination Dr. Manhattan]] in the ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' [[Film/{{Watchmen}} film adaptation]], or from the first ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' trailer. "The Grid", however, is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvZ3DBI1tO8 the best]]-known piece, both visually and aurally. Fans of ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' will instantly recognize [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZXa5id8FXk The Anthem]] from ''Powaqqatsi''.
12
13	Reggio's cinematographer Ron Fricke went on to make ''Chronos'' (in IMAX), ''Film/{{Baraka}}'', and ''Samsara'', all of which have obvious similarities to the "qatsi" films.
14	----
15	!! "Tropes out of balance":
16
17	%%* TheSeventies: It was largely filmed during this decade.
18	* {{Blipvert}}:
19	** There is a section where a television screen shows various adverts and programmes but shown in time-lapse. Blink and you'll miss a couple of frames of Thomas Dolby in his famous "She Blinded Me With Science" video.
20	** The end credits sequence is made up of audio-blipverts that sounds like [=TVs=], radios and telephones all playing at the same time.
21	* {{Bookends}}: At the very beginning of the movie we see a rocket take off, and at the end of the movie, [[spoiler:it explodes]].[[note]]More subtly, the rocket first seen taking off cuts to a Saturn V successfully launching an Apollo mission; the rocket leaving the launch pad at the end is also a Saturn V, but this is then replaced by the original, doomed rocket.[[/note]]
22	* BrokenRecord: Glass's scores show the influence of {{minimalism}} with musical figures that loop and repeat constantly, evolving slowly over time. Perhaps most notably, the title track features a solo bass voice chanting the word "Koyaanisqatsi...." in an endless loop.
23	* BusbyBerkeleyNumber: The multiple shots of women fanning grain to dry it out becomes one in ''Powaqqatsi''.
24	* TheCameo: Ted Koppel on the TV sequence to the point of being credited.
25	* CreatorCameo: Producer Creator/FrancisFordCoppola makes an appearance in "Prophecies" as an extra entering an elevator, although this is downplayed by his [[WolverinePublicity nominal contribution to the movie]].
26	* DeathGlare:
27	** One scene has people pass the camera in slow motion. Some people give the camera a nasty look.
28	** The TranquilFury stare from the close-up of the pilot at the end of 'Pruitt-Igoe' also qualifies.
29	* {{Documentary}}: The film is ''not'' a documentary, in that it sets out to tell a crafted story, albeit purely with visuals and music and no dialog.
30	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Watch the opening "Serra Pelada" sequence of ''Powaqqatsi'' and try ''not'' to see the people at the gold mine as ants.
31	** ''Koyaanisqatsi'' has a few similar shots during "The Grid" sequence.
32	* DroneOfDread: The TitleTrack, which opens the film, is built around droning organ tones with a male choir chanting the film's title over it. Other compositions that use similar techniques include "Pruitt Igoe Coda" and "Microchip".
33	* EpicRocking: Glass composed some very long pieces for the film, the longest of which is "The Grid", which clocks in at an imposing 18:05 (21:29 if the introduction is included). Other examples include "Resource" (6:36), "Vessels" (8:13), "Pruitt Igoe" (7:51, or 9:08 with coda included), and "Prophecies" (10:34). Really though, the whole film can be viewed as a single 86 minute musical suite.
34	* LeFilmArtistique: One of the best examples and one of the few to influence mainstream cinema.
35	* ForeignLanguageTitle: "Koyaanisqatsi" is a Hopi word meaning ''life out of balance''. ''Powaqqatsi'' means ''life in transformation'' and ''Naqoyqatsi'' means ''life of killing each other'' (sometimes translated as ''life as war'').
36	* GreenAesop: Though the film itself doesn't make it explicit as it is open for interpretations, the translation of the title gives it away.
37	* {{Homage}}: The Serra Pelada sequence in ''Powaqqatsi'' were an homage to the famous photos taken by Sebastião Salgado two years earlier of the same gold mine.
38	* LeaveTheCameraRunning: While most of the film has interesting shots, though many find that the scene with the taxiing jets stretches on too long (two and a half minutes, all one shot--the longest shot in the whole picture).
39	%%* LostAesop: The film ''doesn't'' make it explicit, but that's part of the point.
40	%%* {{Montages}}: An old-school example
41	* NoPlotNoProblem: No narrative. No characters. Just 1 hour and 26 minutes of time-lapse footage of nature and everyday life on the planet Earth.
42	%%* OminousLatinChanting: Well, Ominous Hopi Chanting.
43	%%* OminousPipeOrgan: During the title track.
44	%%* {{Overcrank}}: People walking by, the demolitions of housing projects.
45	%%* SceneryGorn: Pruitt-Igoe, in particular.
46	* SceneryPorn: Many, many images from the trilogy; the natives in ''Powaaqatsi'' drying grain is a RealLife BusbyBerkeleyNumber.
47	%%* SilenceIsGolden: A very rare modern instance.
48	%%* SoundtrackDissonance: Particularly at the end.
49	* SpiritualSuccessor: Cinematographer Ron Fricke's ''Film/{{Baraka}}'' series is his take on the ''Koyannisqatsi'' series.
50	* StockFootage: Used for the demolition scenes; also nuclear tests, UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, and and the rocket launch(es). The film also had a influence on the look of stock footage as seen in TV documentaries and commercials. [[https://vimeo.com/162039610 This video]] recreated the film's trailer using nothing ''but'' watermarked stock footage!
51	%%* StuffBlowingUp: The stock footage above.
52	* SurrealMusicVideo: The case has been made that the trilogy is best understood as feature-length examples of the form.
53	%%* TimeLapse: Most of the footage.
54	* {{Undercrank}}: The factory assembly lines and masses of people are sped up, as are clouds in most of the nature shots.
55	* VowOfCelibacy: Reggio was a monk for fourteen years, meaning not only did he take a vow of celibacy, but a vow of silence and fasted as well over that time. He states that he did ''Koyaanisqatsi'' as part of his FishOutOfWater experience returning from monkdom.
56	* WhamShot: After the jaw-dropping twenty-minute high-speed sequence that is "The Grid," the music cuts out, and we see a helicopter shot of Los Angeles. That dissolves into a satellite photograph... which then dissolves into [[spoiler:a close-up of a microchip]]. Even after seeing this film several times, this is bone-chilling, and for first-time viewers, it's a kick to the gut.

Context Film / Koyaanisqatsi