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this review clear shows that it will be a hit movie but unfortunately i have not watch it



Lights



"Before Brakhage became the word, there was Menken"

In American cinema, the patriarch dominated and moved mainstream cinema... but in it's underground, a matriarch held the power. The American avant-garde would not have existed without the likes of Maya Deren; and before Brakhage could create the chasm, as Brian Frye would put it, between the realms of mainstream and avant-garde, he would not be able to budge had it not been for the experimental efforts of Marie Menken. Marie Menken looked at film in different terms, she saw film as a "individual"-collection of cells, (frames), rather than a "collective"-collection of cells, (frames), that would make the whole more abstract, more challenging, and much more artistically beautiful. When she made a film, such as this one, Lights, she would create the film, expose it, then look at the film stock itself, what she had exposed, as if that itself was the true art. Her student, her prodigy, Brakhage, came to think in these terms as well. Soon giving up his work in films like Interim to expand upon her work, more than she, or anyone, could have thought possible. But this review is not about him, the review is about Menken, about Lights. If we look at Lights in the context of the "individual"-collection, it becomes easy to see why such a film becomes more visually-abstract, but retains it's beauty. The film soon becomes a document of "lights" in a celebratory space and time. Here the characters are removed, (the people), but what remains is their subject, (the lights), and what becomes a cinematic dance surrounding their nature. It is truly one of Menken's finest films, though she has several. Menken will remain one of the great visionaries of the American avant-garde, and her techniques would give birth to greater film experiments, however aware or not, is still impressive.
__________________
Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of 'Green'?

-Stan Brakhage



Crime Wave



"A foreign perspective on the American underbelly."

It is no secret that when Fascism was taking its hold in Europe, many film makers committed self-exile and came to America to continue their carriers in the motion picture business. With them, they brought old UFA Studios aesthetics and styles and helped formulate Film Noir. But this is not the only flavor they brought to America, no, they came to America looking at its characteristics from an outsiders perceptive. Frank Capra came to America and saw the beauty that lied within it. To him, America was a flawed masterpiece, it came with baggage that it was always somehow able to overcome. But in the cinematic works of Fritz Lang and de Toth, it was something different. To Lang, America was a place just like every other, and his subject matter usually revolved around people who where doomed to bitter realities. In Clash By Night, Lang has a dim man fall in love with the wrong woman, much could be the said of Scarlet Steet. But de Toth's perspective was that everyone was a sinner, and in America, there was no room for redemption. No second chances, reform didn't matter in America, according to our code, once a sinner, always a sinner. That's exactly the premise in Crime Wave. To me, Crime Wave is one of the most brutal and hard to watch Noirs from the classical era. Here they've come to a point at which they technologically have light weight and portable camera equipment, thus giving the film a very gritty motif, but what drives this painted canvas to hell is its subject matter. The idea that no matter how hard you attempt to reform in this gritty-hyper-real world, you will never escape your past. I provided a picture of a phone above, is it the call to your freedom? Or demise? Should you answer knowing it's either one or the other? Are you willing to put a 50/50 chance on fate? This is what America boils down to to de Toth. And it is that 50/50 we ascertain from our foreign innovators, Capra saw our freedom, de Toth and others, saw our demise.



The Tree of Life



(It Contains Spoilers)

To begin a review of a film such as this, I think it’s imperative to stress and reiterate the premise of the film which occurs within the first five minutes of The Tree of Life...

(Premise)

“The film opens with the sounds of waves gently cresting and an opening of Job 38:4,7:
‘Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?... When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?’

Waves continue cresting and a man (Jack) speaks:
‘Brother. Mother. It was they who led me to your door.’ (Who this ‘they’ was seems to refer to angels seen at the end of the film).

Seagulls squawk, and choir music begins.

A girl looks out a window, (the Mother as a young girl) and her narration saying:
‘The nuns taught us there are two ways through life, the way of nature and the way of grace.’ There are shots of her holding animals, shots of clouds in the sky, shots of sunflowers, (which will become relevant later on to illustrate Grace).

‘You’ll have to choose which one you’ll follow,’ she adds. ‘Grace doesn’t try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries.’

Cut to her now as a Mother of three young boys.

Cut to the Father of her children.
‘Nature only wants to please itself,’ she goes on to say. ‘Gets others to please it too. Likes to Lord it over them. To have its own way.’
Cut now to the eldest son Jack.
‘It finds reasons to be unhappy. When all the world is shining around it and love is smiling through all things.’

She goes on:
‘They taught us that no one who loves the way of grace ever comes to a bad end.’
‘I will be true to you...’ (God) ‘... whatever comes.’”

(End Premise)

Once you have a good understanding of the premise of the film, the film becomes much more “readable” and thereby easier to enjoy.

The Tree of Life is, indeed, a difficult read: As much of Terrence Malick’s works are about “reading between visual and auditory lines.”

Some expressions in the visual are undercut, left to semi-ambiguity. As are the key voice-overs, (which are his films primary form of narration). An example of auditory understatement is in the premise when Jack states: “It was they who led me to your door.” Referring to the angels and God who lead him to the way of Grace at the end of the film. Other visual understatements would be the blue candle Jack lights at the beginning of the film. This is significant because the candle represents a prayer and the film is about an answer to this prayer.

Still others are not so obvious— Job 38:4,7: which brings home an entire 20-to-30-minute sequence about the birth of the universe, the earth, evolution dating back to pre-and-around the Jurassic era, and finally a honing into a family living in Texas.

With all this stated, how does one decode this film? Always fall back on the premise.

The premise is about Job 38:4,7. About man’s inability to comprehend the nature of God. Stated in the opening quote: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?... When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
The premise is also about a microcosm of the nature of Grace, and the nature of Nature. Stated in: “Grace doesn’t try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries.” and “Nature only wants to please itself. Gets others to please it too. Likes to Lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy. When all the world is shining around it and love is smiling through all things.”

Much of The Tree of Life is about a dualism.

A dualism between key premises. (About man's inability to comprehend the 'nature' of God but being able to 'see' Him through a glass darkly through 'Grace').
A dualism between the Mother, (representing Grace), trying to stay true to God, (and Grace), when she loses her second son, (R.L.). And Jack (representing Nature), trying to find his way back to Grace when his life has led him astray.
And a dualism between Mother, (again, representing Grace), and Father, (representing Nature).

-----

Now with this illustrated: I am hesitant as a reviewer to say anymore when it comes to "decoding" this film, but hopefully I've provided some sort of "Rosetta Stone."

Keep in mind, sometimes audio- visual “answers” will come before their “questions.” In which case bookmark them within your mind and trust those questions will come—because they do.

If you need a repeat viewing, it’s encouraged—and most certainly worth your while.

The Tree of Life is, though, a work of “high-art” cinema. It won the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 and is seen by many, (including myself), to be Terrence Malick’s highest achievement.

Malick “auteur”-style is voice-over, often “slightly indirect” voice-over, and disruptions between time and space. (An example within this film is the birth of the universe and evolution, to a family in Waco, Texas. To the mother as a young girl, to her as an adult with children, to her own son as an adult. Or jump-cutting between time and space—meaning there is a very apparent disruption within visual/audio-spatial “frame time”).

I do hope you go and see this film. It is quite an achievement and one of my personal favorite films. May it bless you as it has blessed me.

My Rating
5/5



The Passion of Joan of Arc



The Blending of European Art Movements


The Passion can be seen as a combination of many European movements and styles, mainly:

1. German Expressionism – A movement which focused on abstractions in the mise-en-scene, (what you see within the frame). In The Passion, this is seen represented by close ups of faces, (often times in extreme close ups), which is intended to show the “personal” and often “confrontational” nature of Joan’s trial. Sets were also built for this film, nothing was shot on location. As par for the course with German Expressionist set designers, sets are often created with fair amount of distortion often to illustrate an external reality of a character’s internal psychology. And, as for the torture room sequence for example, what seems to be more important in this sequence is the abstractions and silhouettes of hooks and chains than the actual use of them themselves. Again, what is important to the German Expressionists is abstraction. Abstraction takes precedent of most everything else, including the very movement of camera and framing of action—edited frame to frame.

2. French Impressionism – French Impressionism was concerned with character psychology, often, internal realities made manifest. In a time in the world where the works of Freud were the rage, directors such as Abel Gance and others tried to capitalize on visual subjectivity. In The Passion, Joan is often seen expressing such divine subjectivity. An example of this is seen when there seems to be a cross silhouetted from her cell window to the ground, (only to disappear under the step of one of the priests).

3. Soviet Montage/Soviet Constructivism – The Soviets were the ones to realize that it is not the images themselves that form meaning in our minds. Rather, it is the collision of these images that do. Take for example Sergei Eisenstein’s October, a series of a still shot of a machine gun juxtaposed to a white screen will make the viewer think the machine gun is being fired, when in reality all that is being seen is a machine gun and a white screen. As with The Passion, the torture room sequence uses montage brilliantly to play with our emotions until Joan has passes out and the sequence resolved.

The Director & Auteur Carl Theodor Dreyer

Dreyer was opposed to realism. He didn’t think it was art. Instead, he opted for abstraction and minimalism in his work. An attempted to achieve what he called “psychological realism” which meant going beyond the surfaces of reality and realism, (the conscious mind), and more into the realms of ego, superego, and id. His films often concern character studies rather than importance on narrative advancement and are often spiritual in nature. They concern an immense humanism and the human condition of suffering and grace: mainly for women. In such ways, The Passion is his magnum opus of this.

The Passion of Joan of Arc

The Passion came out around the time The Catholic Church canonized Joan of Arc in 1920. This is important, mainly because Joan was seen as a martyr for France and French suffering and, (after the World War I), she was a Nationalist most could identify with. These sentiments were compounded with these specific art movements as, (with the exception of the Soviet Montage), all of the cinematic art movements coming out of Europe at that time were a direct result of the disillusionment of a World War and having to compete with a polished American product unaffected by the War’s devastation. Therefore, Joan of Arc as the post-World War I film subject—and to be showcased in the way in which it was—was, indeed, very apropos.

Final Thoughts


The Passion proves to be a powerhouse film and is often cited as one of the first real examples of cinematic art. Though it wasn’t a financial success at the time of its released, it’s been critically praised since the silent era. I do so enjoy this film, and I hope, so do you.

My Rating
5/5



Puce Moment



Kenneth Anger describes his films as a form of "Magick," an "Incantation," as he himself is a believer in the Dark Arts, Aleister Crowley, and the occult.

So it should be no surprise then that his films reflect his own personal beliefs. They are usually about ritual and transcendence thereof. The preparation and consequences. As some of his films reflect, not all transcendence leads to one's personal gain—it can too come at the cost of death, and one's soul.

Here in Puce Moment we have a brief film, (it was a part of an uncompleted project), illustrating his narrative aesthetics rather well. (Albeit the fact that some of his more cinematic aesthetics such as his own theory of montage is missing. In which case, usually the "ritual" montage of his films is slow, smooth, and rhythmic; whereas the "transcendence" is seen more frenetic, chaotic, and usually ending the "transcendence montage" in stillness and a long take when death or attainment has arrived.)

Puce Moment's narrative is a grand example of these aesthetics.

The film starts with the song "Leaving my Old Life Behind." (A musical piece which commentates on the action on screen.) Here we see colorful dresses, (the ritual gowns), come forth to the camera in some undefined space, (dimension?). When finally the puce gown, (often popular in the silent film era), is chosen.

The woman, (wishing to be a silent film star herself), takes the ritual dress, puts on the shoes, and walks to the final ritualistic element to achieve her goal—perfume. The song then abruptly switches to "I am a Hermit," (By the same musical artist, Jonathan Halper), which the primary chorus is "Yes I am a hermit, and, ecstasy's my game." (This chorus again commentates on the action about to take place and is entirely intentional.) After putting this on she become faint. The ritual is taking her.

She lies down on a couch, loses her senses, and the couch is pulled away. She finds herself in a black dimension that seems to move her, (as seen through the lighting), to some other place and time.

She finds herself being sailed onto the rooftop of a Hollywood mansion. Where we are at which point cut to her holding four Borzoi, (a very popular dog breed around the time of silent Hollywood stars), and she proudly walks them off, down the steps of her mansion, into the realms of Hollywood. Her incantation was a success.

Another thing to note here, is this is Anger's first film utilizing the use of color. Things are often in high contrast. Black-blacks, White-whites, and extraordinary vibrance of color. These practices would become a staple for many, (if not all), of his later films featuring the use of color.

It also is said that while his films are indeed "silent films" they are "far" from silent. Many of his films are filled with catchy music that often commentates on the work itself. This aesthetic was the first time to be done by any cinematic artist and can be found influence in many films like American Graffiti, any Martin Scorsese film, (Martin Scorsese admitting huge influence from Anger), or even Quentin Tarantino, (most especially how when the song, "Stuck in the Middle with You" reflects the torture of Mr. Blonde against the police officer.) It can also be said that Kenneth Anger single-handedly created the "music video."

I've provided the YouTube video to this film as I think you may get a better idea of his aesthetic and work. He has been one of my influences for a long time and I hope you enjoy him too.



Meditation on Violence



Maya Deren's oeuvre is marked by two distinct aesthetics which would later become two distinct periods of her work. The first, (as established in films like Meshes of the Afternoon and At Land), could be considered feministic. Films about a woman's identity in herself and in the world around her—which is perhaps a hostile world. The second is the aesthetics of motion and movement, and the bending of its potential limitations within (then) current cinematic understanding.

Both of these periods prove to be very rich and very exciting.

Meshes often being cited as a seminal work for the American avant-garde, and perhaps seen by many to be her own masterpiece. But that is not to say that her later films don't live up to the potential of her first "upstart" film. Indeed her films bring a wealth of influential "ideas" and "aesthetics" that would be used by many, many, filmmakers, (both avant-garde and mainstream), for many years to come.

In regards to the second aesthetic, (which is the aesthetics of motion and movement), one might add a stipulation to this aesthetic that it is often combined with the manipulation of space and time.

Meditation on Violence, then, is perhaps the crowning example of this second period.

On first glance one may not be impressed by Meditation on Violence, (in all honesty, on first glance, I didn't enjoy it as much as her other works.) But as I've come to sit with it, and come to it time and again, (and also growing to know its artist more), I have found it has quickly risen in favor with me. Favor enough with me that I now feel it may be her best work of her second period.

Meditation on Violence is deceptive. It is a relatively "easy" read, but within this undemanding nature of itself there is indeed a underlying complexity.

Meditation on Violence is about beauty then violence. Training then war. Life then death. (This can also be referenced within the colors of the film which represent the Eternal Tao. Initially white, then in transition to black and white, then finally black before the "violence/war/death" section.) The film starts with a slow and smooth martial "war dance" seen, (initially), in normal motion. As typical of Deren though, there is no "real" defined space and the edits seem to reflect, (as they most especially do as the film rolls on), that this space seems to "move" from different spaces and different times. How this is actually achieved though is through the very claustrophobia of the images she is indeed shooting. Since one is not "entirely" sure where they are within the spatial-frame, she has more control to manipulate her spatial-temporal surroundings.

The "war dance" then begins to pick up fervor. Drums are added to the soundtrack, and the background no longer indicates "white" but there are now the beginnings of "black." The violence, war, and death phase. At which point in this darkness the martial artist jumps off camera and then we are cut to a completely different spatial and temporal time and place entirely. We are outside, the artist's feet land, (now a solider with sword and full garb), and the "war dance" becomes "the act of war." Eventually he is tossed in the air, a freeze frame, (a death perhaps?) and then the cycle now and the very film itself run backward, (again in reference to the Tao that there perhaps exists rebirth.) With the actions now running backwards, it seems hard to tell—unless you are paying very close attention—if the film is indeed running backwards or forwards. The "act" and "dances" of violence are so smooth and seamless, it becomes rather astonishing, and that's precisely the point. Within this dichotomous world we live in, death brings life. Out of war comes new ways to train, and out of violence comes beauty.

This is the crux of Meditation on Violence.

I was first encouraged to give Meditation another look based off an interview I saw by one of my film idols, Stan Brakhage. Since then, I have not regretted that decision, as I haven't really looked back since I took to watching it again. It's rather a mesmerizing work, and I hope it finds influence and/or at least some enjoyment with all of you as well.



At Land



In the United States, Maya Deren was the Founding Mother of the American avant-garde in cinema. The mainstream cinema was subject to a "male dominated" force and no stranger to the infamous "casting couch." In the cinema's underground, however, "vision" held no gender, and if it did at all it may be considered a "feminine vision" with the likes of Maya Deren and Marie Menken.

Deren going on to influence much of what could be seen narratively in cinematic experimentation as well as through motion and temporal-spatial displacement. Menken on the other end viewing films in a "meta" sense. Her idea that the "art of film" lay in the very "strip" of film itself. This later influenced Brakhage himself who would later go on to create a complete chasm in cinematic understanding by disregarding narrative entirely; taking a roll of film out of the camera; exposing the roll of film; then painting on the very fabric of celluloid itself. To say that women have not played an important role in cinema would be a very gross understatement. While there may not be as many female cinematic role-models per se, the one's that do take up the torch most certainly provide a crucial light.

With introduction said, let's analyze At Land

In the briefest terms, At Land is about birth, searching for one's purpose and identity, and finally actualization.

We start the film by a woman, (played by Deren herself), being washed up on shore. This section, albeit a moment in the film's frame time, represents two things as it will be later represented in the end of the film. Birth, firstly, and secondly, who we are in this birth. Our most natural selves without worldly impression.

This woman then climbs a tree, (she is growing up), and she finds herself at a dinner party, crawling on a table, (seemingly fighting a jungle), and still unable to be noticed or respected. Finally, she reaches the end of the table and there is a chess game going on. One of these pieces, (symbolically speaking), represents her "true" self, as it is knocked off the board and begins to fall down a waterfall and down a river. Hopelessly, for a moment, she is unable to retrieve this piece.

She then finds herself on the road of life where she is met by four men, (influences?), in her own life including various artists and finally her husband, Alexander Hammid. While these four men influence her, she is still not herself in the "purist" sense of the word.

We then find her following her husband into a cabin where everything is abandoned and she stares at a man laid out for death. She let's go of a cat, (perhaps at this point making reference that in seeing demise she must go back into serious consideration of taking the journey of discovering herself), and she begins the search again for the chess piece, (again, symbolic of herself.)

She makes her way though rough terrain and dunes, finally landing on another sea shore, (any surprise?), that has two women playing chess together. Eventually, after distracting the two women from playing their game, she grabs the object of her desire, (again, symbolic of herself), and runs away. She runs past all of the old and familiar places we were previously exposed to. Past the women who influence her; past herself who plays a game of collecting rocks/expectations, (personal or external), she will never live up to; past the houses of death and male influences; past society which ignores her existence; and finally, arriving back on shore, where she is free to be the person she was born to be.

End Film.

As usual, Deren plays with motion, (such as the reversing of waves on the beach), and the juxtaposition and displacement of that which is temporal and spatial. In displacement, it is virtually impossible for the viewer to decipher where they are in time, but as a film who's crux is based in symbol and interpretation of those symbols, it is entirely pertinent. In juxtaposition and montage, also symbolic, (as from birth to entering society). Or in other senses, from the very seamlessness of the edits to these spaces from beach to table.

Cinematically speaking, these concepts were as revolutionary then as they are today. Perhaps since many of these aesthetical tropes have been diluted over time and to see them in their original format in their most "base" and "raw" form can be quite jarring albeit exciting.

With this said, I hope I've provided some insight into this work, and I do hope you enjoy it as well. Deren has been quite an influence in my own cinematic life, and, (like most female directors), she needs more exposure. I hope you enjoy her as much as I do.





What is New German Cinema?

New German Cinema came out of a signing of a cinematic manifesto in 1962 called “The ‘Oberhausen’ Manifesto” whereby young-aspiring filmmakers proclaimed that, “The old cinema is dead. We believe in a new one.”

This group was heavily influenced by the French New Wave and their directors—who also made similar proclamations and had similar influence in the cinematic arts. The German New Wave’s aim—much like the French—was to create films with a higher artistic and aesthetic purpose. These German films were often politically conscious—often leftist—but also focused on the realities of a past they could never go back to. Germany itself became “a broken home” in more ways than that of East and West divisions—but also, reconciliation of Hitler’s shadow. Hence why many of these films, especially the works of Wim Wenders and Werner Herzog focus on madness’ and crisis’ of identity—of often German men—within the Americas. These films also focus heavily on marginalized groups, alienated youth, and the limitations of democracy and journalistic integrity—all a bi-product of post-World War II fascism.

Werner Herzog, director of Little Dieter Needs to Fly.

Werner Herzog, a name in the German New Wave, often paints an image of people who are troubled and are going through—or have gone through, such as the case of Dieter—very chaotic situations. His films are often about existential crisis’ or madness’, and, these films are often about German influence in the Americas—either in the North or the South Americas. One should often note that these “characters” who “perform” in his films are slightly “unhinged” from inception—prior to coming to the Americas. Such a theme thereby resonates that “home”/Germany is a place of “uncertainty” and “anti-home” a breeding ground for such “madness’.”

Little Dieter Needs to Fly.

Little Dieter Needs to Fly is a post-New German Cinema film, but it’s influence is still there with Herzog as director. In it, we discover a German immigrant who is sent to Vietnam and who becomes a POW only to be rescued months later. The themes within the film are classic Herzog and of the old New German Movement: about people on the mental fringe— (Herzog’s aesthetic)—and German influence in the America’s— (a much larger aesthetic within his own German Movement.)

I hope you find some resonance within this work and body of works; as the works of Fassbinder, Wenders, Herzog, Kluge and others provide quite a fantastical look into a time and place in a nation's history. Going in with such intent alone, I guarantee you won't be disappointed; but for reasons of pure aesthetics and beauty, such things lie therein as well.

You have my cinematic blessings as you transverse.





Marie Menken and the Act of Seeing for the First Time

I find the best way to truly understand the works of Marie Menken, one must look to her pupil Stan Brakhage. Brakhage wrote a manifesto that would soon describe the works of his "matured" period, but in doing so, he also seems to make reference of what Menken was doing all along:

"Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of 'Green'?"

Stan Brakhage

It could be very easily stated and seen Brakhage's influence through his teacher Marie Menken. Menken concerns herself with movement and the forms which take place and shape within the movement itself. Her films are often disorienting. There are rarely any wide-shots, and if there are wide shots they come reserved. Most of her footage is shot in close-up or extreme-close up. If one wonder's the purpose of all this, it is to take the spectator to a time and place in their consciousness where "logic" wasn't the governing foundation of their "experience," but the "experience" itself formulated their "logic."

This concept was one of the foundations of Modern and Post-Modern Art.

Like it or leave it, Menken attempted to make manifest this proposition. Coming into her films with a "child's eye" one can see the beauty of the world for the first time. Through movement disorientation, through the use of abstract forms therein, and through the use of close-composition; we come to "see again." We come to experience this world with a new sense of wonder.

When we have encountered something enough times, logically we develop a "schema" for those things in our minds. We tend to know where, what, how, and why it is. But if something doesn't fit neatly into a "schema," it become "experiential" and we have to develop new codes and ways and thoughts on how to handle what we are empirically observing. This is precisely the point of both Menken and her prodigy, Stan Brakhage.

All this to be said, she is one of the Founding Mothers of the Cinematic Avant-Garde. Spending much time here, I have come to enjoy, respect, and appreciate her work. And through the use of her compositions, I've come to "see" again.



Koyaanisqatsi



(Contains Spoilers)

The entire “Qatsi” Trilogy is a feast for the visual senses. It is a body of work devoid of any dialogue — and instead, relies solely upon visual-musical interpretation of the film’s montage.

Though it is in my opinion that the latter films, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi, miss the mark of the initial and inspired first work of the Trilogy, (mostly due to re-statement) — it is truly Koyaanisqatsi which shines an absolute brilliance from beginning to end.

Koyaanisqatsi, (and the “Qatsi” Trilogy in itself), takes its inspiration from a variety of avant-garde and art house cinematic movements that came out of the 1920’s. Primarily Soviet Montage, (and their theories therein), the “City Symphony,” and the experimental narrative.

The 1920’s in particular saw a rise in a variety of art movements. The post-war environment — and a sense of a “new war” on the horizon — gave birth to Surrealism, Dada, Expressionism, Constructivism, and a slew of other expressions felt not only in writing, painting, music — but the cinema as well. These movements from the past have had their influence on films to the present day and some of them — such as the movements and discoveries and theories found in the Soviet Union — have even been essential to understanding the basic grammar, form, and even psychology, of cinema itself.

Where Koyaanisqatsi finds home in these movements are from experimental narrative films like The Life and Death of 9413 a Hollywood Extra:



In these particular films, narrative ideas are communicated by abstraction and “symbol,” they also rely heavily on acute visual interpretation — or, (in the case of The Life and Death of 9413 a Hollywood Extra), entirely through the visuals and pantomime.

Koyaanisqatsi also finds influence from a very brief post-war movement called “The City Symphony.” These films were documents of cityscapes often times seen from the vantage points of the city itself. Either on a high-rise, or carried on a large boat to illustrate motion within the frame, the city itself “constructs” all motion and framing and there is an attempt to remove as much “human” influence as possible. Films like Manhatta are illustrations of this movement:



Both of these movements are Koyaanisqatsi’s “narrative” influence, but in order to truly understand Koyaanisqatsi, it does take some knowledge of the principals of Soviet Montage.

After the Russian Revolution, Lenin thought that propaganda — and in particular, the cinema in this regard — was the most important piece to keeping the proletariat in positions of power. Under him, he assigned a variety of film makers, film theorists, and critics to understand how film “ticked.” Through incessant viewings of D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance they discovered that much of — if not all — of cinematic “interpretation” comes from the “collision” of shots/ideas and not the shots/ideas themselves.

To illustrate, Lev Kuleshov did an experiment whereby there was a single static shot. A man looking toward, but slightly off camera. Then there were three other “shots.” One of a bowl of soup, another of a girl playing with a doll, and another with a woman crying over a coffin. When the shot of the man was juxtaposed to the shot of the bowl of soup, one audience group said he was “hungry.” When juxtaposed to the girl playing with her doll, another audience group said he “longed for his daughter.” And still in the final juxtaposition where the woman was crying over a coffin, another audience said “he is sad over the loss of a loved one.” In each case, the initial static image never changed. Thus, were the beginnings of “montage.”

Most montage, perhaps the most essential of them anyway, is dialectical. Meaning that you have a “Thesis shot/idea” (such as the man staring slightly off screen). Followed by an “Anti-Thesis shot/idea” (such as a bowl of soup). Followed by a “Synthesis/New Thesis shot/idea” of these shots, (such as the man is “hungry” for a bowl of soup.) Where film’s “Art” lies, therein and therefore, is not only “predicting” synthesis interpretation — but an art where the sum of the “whole” is larger than the sum of the “parts.”

With this said, onto my review of Koyaanisqatsi, bearing in mind there will be spoilers.

Koyaanisqatsi opens up with its title and in musical chant of films namesake. This is followed by a shot of Hopi petroglyphs illustrating “people and humanity,” followed by another shot of the Challenger taking off, flames from the rocket taking off, and soon “white out.” This would be the film’s “bookends” to what would be called later in the film “A life out of balance.”

Next we see desert landscapes. This goes on for some time until we see rocks emanating steam, the synthesis here is that we are speaking of evolution and these are “lakes of creation.” Koyaanisqatsi theme is chanted again and now we see a different desert landscape — that of deserts that seem to illustrate human-like fingerprints.

The land now becomes lush and green, and the sun and shadows begins to move on land quickly — a time lapse, perhaps millions of years in the making. Finally, for this beginning segment we see bats — evolution is taking place.

In the films next musical segment storm clouds begin to form, water on the Earth below, there are simply further examples of human and earth evolution. Earth forming humans before humans “form” Earth.

In the next musical segment, it begins with an aerial shot hovering in, closing in on Earth. At last we see human influence, marked by an explosion. Mother Nature no longer transforms the Earth, humans are transforming the landscape with explosions, massive machines and industry. This segment ends with a cutting to weapons of warfare like the nuclear bomb. A final explosion, just as this segment began, only this time weapons of mass destruction transform the landscape.

The next musical segment begins where the former left off. A nuclear power plant by beachside with people sunbathing. Man marvels at his own creation and seems comfortable with it — for the moment. High-rise buildings, airplanes, automobiles and highways, “convenience” and “luxury.” Finally, there is an overhead shot of automotives in a parking lot seguing to a similar scene of a lot of tanks. We become hostile not only to our land, but our fellow man. To protect a “way of life” that gives us these “conveniences” and “luxuries.”

The next musical movement —The city and its urban decay, particularly in its demolition of urban decay. We destroy a foreign way of life outside our borders to protect our “way of life” but when our “way of life” doesn’t work, we destroy it instead of reforming it. The film cuts back to the city — now in fog — as is the nature of humans.

In the next musical movement, we see large buildings dominating the landscape, consuming human life. Humans are in a frenzy to work their lives away — Humans lose identity. Lost in an impossible sea of humanity and business — humans become their vocation — they lose themselves.

In the next musical section. The city landscape is a “grid” where people work their lives night and day. Humans become ants in the face of the corporate — Further losing identity. Humans no longer are humans, humans work more along-side machines and become a “mechanism” in themselves. Humans play games, eat out, watch films and television, go to malls, shop, and other means to drown out a meaningless existence. The music at this point in the film is reminiscent to the music that had humans fascinated in their own creation — “convenience” and “luxury”*— now they are living and eating it, literally. Music picks up and crescendos, as does the pace of the montage —*It becomes humanity out of control.

In the final musical piece musical. We see a high aerial shot of the city. It becomes more like a computer grid with human beings simply being electrical currents. We then cut to actual computer grid.

Taking a closer look below at human life. Humans dissatisfied and disillusioned. Something is wrong. The initial Koyaanisqatsi theme is returning. The landscape that humans have transformed — not nature — is leading to a life of chaos and imbalance. The final shot before the audience see’s the Challenger take off: The Stock Market floor filmed in super-imposition to make humans look like “ghosts” to the frame. This is entirely intentional. As the synthesis to this shot is that the money and greed that humans have so sought after have made them a “ghost” in their own landscape.

Finally, we see the “bookends” again. The Challenger take off. In man’s attempt to explore and conquer a broader landscape — destruction. An end to a hope.

Koyaanisqatsi theme plays again. Back to the petroglyphs of society and description of “Koyaanisqatsi” meaning:

A life in chaos, a life out of balance, a crazy life, a life in turmoil, a life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living.

Plus a Hopi prophecy which seems to allude to the Challenger disaster:

If we dig precious things from the land, we invite disaster.

Near the Day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky.

A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans.

Koyaanisqatsi is a highly astonishing work of art. Again there is no dialogue to speak of, and it’s a work that communicated its ideas through abstraction and symbol and montage. It may be a “hard” read for some, but if I were to choose an introductory art house or avant-garde film to show someone — This would be an easy pick for me.

Hope you enjoyed this review and film dissection. It's an honor to write it for you.