Chronos, Baraka, and all the little Qatsi's

Hey, did anybody notice that Samsara is free on Amazon Prime right now?

Dang, one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen (until they get to that ikky stuff towards the middle). It will stun you. It will also not make it on your list for Great Date Night Flicks.

Def worth viewing if you have never seen it. It will make you wish you had 4K Dolby Vision for your blu-ray player and your big screen.

Oh, and on a separate note....how is, "Sam Sara and The Qatsi's, not the best name ever, for your Philip Glass cover band...?

"Hey-hey, we're The Qatsi's...and people say we qatsi around; and around; and around; and around (round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round); and around; and around; and around; and around..."

 

I guess what I'm saying is, this is a thread about all those visual-focused, non-plot-oriented films where minimalist music and disparate images parade in front of you until you get the main point of the film without the filmmaker telling you what it is.

At this point in history, I can only refer to the 6, mostly attributed to either Ron Fricke or Geoffrey Reggio for the most part.

Thoughts?

 

The only one of these films I’ve seen is Koyaanisqatsi, which I remember absolutely adoring when it came out, but have not seen it in many, many years. I did not even realize other films like this had been made.

I will check out Samsara!

 

"Baraka" was the first title I bought when I switched to Blu-ray years ago. Fantastic cinematic journey through life. Couldn't recommend it more highly.

 

Koyaanisqatsi is an experience (I refuse to simply describe this as a more traditional movie or film!) that I was first exposed to in the mid-1980s from a late night broadcast on the UK's Channel 4 that I had the wisdom to tape. Over the next few years, I wore out my VHS and finally upgraded to the 2002 DVD a few months after its original release. I would say that I've since upgraded to the standalone Blu-ray, but I don't actually consider that version definitive, even though it looks incredible. For me, the best edition remains the earlier "open matte" DVD that was only available by donating more than $180 to IRE. While my copy was obtained for considerably less second-hand through someone who probably didn't appreciate the value of this to collectors, it's still my go-to presentation, despite my learning that it was never actually intended to be seen this way.

As for the sequels, I genuinely didn't know Powaqqatsi existed until I bought the 2DVD set from MGM, and I remember it not really living up to the original. Maybe it's because those images - especially the whole Pruitt-Igoe sequence - had long since burned into my subconsciousness? Saying that, I felt that even the music didn't live up to what had been established with the first installment of this series, which I'd recently discovered would have a third volume. Incredibly, for someone who absolutely loves that opening statement, I've only seen the last two parts a handful of times, and while I can see what producer/director Godfrey Reggio wanted to convey by introducing digital editing techniques to his creative palette, the more technological Naqoyqatsi did little for me.

More than anything else, Koyaanisqatsi ended up being a major influence on the work I'd go on to produce as an audio artist. I certainly don't think of the soundtrack as any less important than the visual side of things, with the complete score as released by Philip Glass on his own Orange Mountain Music label in 2009 something that I've often listened to when in need of inspiration. Actually, I might just pull it up now while I tie up some loose ends on a late summer weekend afternoon... Hopefully I won't be too distracted by my mind wandering, as it would be all too easy for me to procrastinate by simply recalling the most iconic pictures firmly etched into my memory, such as the plane taxiing in a strong heat haze or the overhead shot of a city that's equated to a printed circuit board.

I'd probably file Chronos, Baraka and Samsara with the Qatsi sequels in that they really should be something I lap up as more of the same. However, everything else appears to fall a little flat. Perhaps a lot of this is because I was introduced to Koyaanisqatsi at such a young age, with the overall package becoming so important to me long before I saw any of its literal or spiritual successors. Whatever the case, I do still wish that we didn't have such a limited range of titles in this style, because even the weaker examples often have some great moments. One day, I'm hoping that I'll be able to watch at least Koyaanisqatsi on the largest screen imaginable so my senses can be properly bombarded, as I've often considered the overwhelming nature of information a key theme of the work Reggio and writer/cinematographer/editor Ron Fricke put together all the way back in 1982.

 

I became a huge fan of Baraka way back when it was released. I saw it originally on an 70mm screen in a old theater (which has since beeen closed down). That may have been the first introduction I had to Michael Stearns, who was involved in the bulk of the soundtrack. The blu-ray looks fantastic (I'm not into 4K regardless).

I don't think Samsara eclipsed Baraka -- it was good, but Baraka was groundbreaking (IMO). BTW, check out Stearns The Lost World CD -- listen to it at a single sitting in the dark.

 

The granddaddy of this film style is Dziga Vertov’s Man With a Movie Camera (1929). If you haven’t seen it, I recommend you seek it out.

 

I am afraid now, but I will seek out other types of these films even though I sense my also having seen Koyaanisqatsi as an impressionable teen may color my ability to process other films of this style. I have basically loved all forms of its distribution since seeing it in the theater I worked at again and again when it came out. It probably counts as one of the 'experiences' I've most purchased redundantly (more or less) as film and soundtrack since it came out. Blade Runner and 2001 also rank high in this way for me.

So, it represents a great challenge to my ability to step out of my expectations while my fear is that I'll fall in love with something new to covet and collect.

Super cool thread!

 

I have seen it - I was a film student in college, and minored in it.

 

Seeing this thread pop back up, makes me wonder if Ron Fricke is somewhere working on the next Samsara...or, if he's taking this time to do one walking around his house, filming paint drying...in IMAX...

 

As the old saying goes:
It's never as good as the first time.

 

I am in the post-ShelterInPlace queue for my local library system which had both Samsara and Baraka - the latter on Blu Ray! - in the network. I'll watch whichever comes in first unless there's a strong opinion out there.

A brilliant filmmaker would crowd source footage right now for a film on the pandemic and all the empty environs and other "becoming iconic" audio-visuals as they happen and edit into one of these 'visual narrative" experiences.

I'm way too lazy so I won't say you got the idea from me if you want to make it happen.

 

I really enjoy this genre. As much as I like Koyaanisqatsi, I think Powaqqatsi is my favourite, visually and musically.

Although I own it, I still haven't watched Naqoyqatsi, yet. I'll get to it, one of these days.

Samsara and Baraka are certainly beautiful, too! Anima Mundi is another, though not feature length. I don't believe I've seen Chronos.

I remember when I was going to university, the city had a theatre that was screening Powaqqatsi. A few friends and I went to see it, along with a few girls that lived in the neighbourhood where we were renting a house. I'll never forget the "WTF was that?" look on the girls faces when we got out of the theatre. We had told them, ahead of time, that it wouldn't be a movie like anything they've seen.

We also went to Ann Arbor to see "Powaqqatsi Live!" which was a screening of the film with the Philip Glass Ensemble playing the music, live. We really enjoyed that!

 

I've seen Koyaanisqatsi and Chronos.

The latter really needs the scale of an old IMAX screen (not the digital setup) to really be appreciated.