Naqoyqatsi (2002)
Country: US
Technical: col/bw 89m
Director: Godfrey Reggio
Cast: doc.
Synopsis:
The third part in Godfrey Reggio's uneven trilogy explores the relationship between man and warfare ('War as a way of life', the title means).
Review:
For better or worse, and as is customarily the case, one only finds out this last fact at the end, for there is precious little about this montage that would lead one to such a conclusion, barring the last quarter hour. Rather, the theme appears to be the random nature of the universe, with much time given up to wave motion, smoke, stars, and digital patterns of various descriptions; indeed there is an unprecedented use of computer-generated imagery, including one particularly arresting series of morphs of old masters. Still more offputting than the endless slow-mo shots of athletes and abstract patterns, and a chilling but unexplained travel around a tall derelict building that provides the film's opening, is the near-constant use of negative imaging which gives it a black and white feel for most of its length: there is little of the 'beauty we have jettisoned' here. On the plus side, Glass's score is on razor sharp form, with a lacerating solo cello line and some impressive timpani rhythms in the violent passages.
Country: US
Technical: col/bw 89m
Director: Godfrey Reggio
Cast: doc.
Synopsis:
The third part in Godfrey Reggio's uneven trilogy explores the relationship between man and warfare ('War as a way of life', the title means).
Review:
For better or worse, and as is customarily the case, one only finds out this last fact at the end, for there is precious little about this montage that would lead one to such a conclusion, barring the last quarter hour. Rather, the theme appears to be the random nature of the universe, with much time given up to wave motion, smoke, stars, and digital patterns of various descriptions; indeed there is an unprecedented use of computer-generated imagery, including one particularly arresting series of morphs of old masters. Still more offputting than the endless slow-mo shots of athletes and abstract patterns, and a chilling but unexplained travel around a tall derelict building that provides the film's opening, is the near-constant use of negative imaging which gives it a black and white feel for most of its length: there is little of the 'beauty we have jettisoned' here. On the plus side, Glass's score is on razor sharp form, with a lacerating solo cello line and some impressive timpani rhythms in the violent passages.
Country: US
Technical: col/bw 89m
Director: Godfrey Reggio
Cast: doc.
Synopsis:
The third part in Godfrey Reggio's uneven trilogy explores the relationship between man and warfare ('War as a way of life', the title means).
Review:
For better or worse, and as is customarily the case, one only finds out this last fact at the end, for there is precious little about this montage that would lead one to such a conclusion, barring the last quarter hour. Rather, the theme appears to be the random nature of the universe, with much time given up to wave motion, smoke, stars, and digital patterns of various descriptions; indeed there is an unprecedented use of computer-generated imagery, including one particularly arresting series of morphs of old masters. Still more offputting than the endless slow-mo shots of athletes and abstract patterns, and a chilling but unexplained travel around a tall derelict building that provides the film's opening, is the near-constant use of negative imaging which gives it a black and white feel for most of its length: there is little of the 'beauty we have jettisoned' here. On the plus side, Glass's score is on razor sharp form, with a lacerating solo cello line and some impressive timpani rhythms in the violent passages.