Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

How exactly would this thing be any different if it was just a collection of random stock footage edited to run on loop? This is meant to be a rhetoric question, but let me answer anyway: in no way whatsoever. Koyaanisqatsi is a pretentious film that has nothing to say. It's aimed for people who overanalyze everything and use their own imagination to find some hidden meanings that are not there. Was the cellar door truly red because the color red symbolizes "anger"? Or was it red because the person who happened to paint it 50 years ago had some extra paint left from another project that they just wanted to use to save some money? Perhaps this film manages to rise some thoughts in some people who "want" this film to be something special and deep, but those who are ready to take it for what it objectively is: I'd rather recommend going to youtube and let it generate a playlist based to the words "old army stuff" and "suffering nature" and you are very likely to get hits that have more to say than this specific piece of film.

The movie ends with the definitions of Koyaanisqatsi (from the Hopi language), n. 1. crazy life. 2. life in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating. 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living. Also the Translation of the Hopi Prophecies sung in the film. "If we dig precious things from the land, we will 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."This is an operatic meditation on the modern life. The Philip Glass music gets very hypnotic. I would prefer less of the urban landscape only because it's gets a little repetitive. However it was probably very compelling back in the day. Some of the more interesting scenes are the pilot standing in front of the fighter plane, the industrial press compressing a block of metal and the falling rocket debris. It is an unique movie experience that compels the viewers to think.

This movie is surely the best achievement of the time lapse technology. First movie of the Qatsi trilogy, Koyaanisqatsi is a beautiful and prophetic movie. Some segments are beautifuls (the trip in the Monument Valley), uglies (the factories beside the beach, the tractor destroying the fields, the destruction of Pruitt Igoe...) and propheticals (the time lapse shots of the city). This movie is one of my favorite picture of all time. Another important point of the movie : the music. The soundtrack composed by Philip Glass is one of the best OST never written (The Grid and Prophecies are awesome). Briefly, this film is a must watch. Some people will find it boring, some people will find it awesome. I'm the 2nd kind of people.

From the Hopi language, Koyaanisqatsi is a word that roughly translates as "crazy life," or "a life out of balance," or perhaps more appropriately, "a way of life that calls for another way of living." Incidentally, that's exactly what this film shows: no plot or story, just a document of the modern age of man, far out of balance from nature, which calls for human beings to adapt to their own constructs.This film doesn't offer any conventional story with any characters; it's purely an experience built from images and sound, to illicit thought and feeling in the viewers. Both the images and music are beautiful in their own ways: with Phillip Glass' epic, well-structured music score, the film takes on a palpable rhythm and mood that perfectly accentuates the gorgeous scenery. The film plays around a lot with time-lapse footage and slow-motion, which serve to show common cityscapes in an invoking new way. Altogether, the film is as hypnotic and mesmerizing as it is thought-provoking.This film was cobbled together from all kinds of footage filmed across the United States from 1975 to 1983, with a tight budget. Regardless, the filmmakers show superb prowess with their photography and editing skills. At least on a technical level, they've maximized their potential and tools to craft an audio/visual masterpiece, weaving the images and music to the themes implied with the term Koyaanisqatsi.As far as the content goes, like any piece of art, it's left to the viewer's interpretation. The most opaque of themes will revolve around civilization's progress, the depletion of nature, and the effects of technology and industrialization on the human race. There are times in the film where humanity seems triumphant, and other times where it feels like it's spinning out of control in a downward spiral of chaos and destruction (especially in one of the film's final shots, depicting an Atlas-Centaur rocket exploding; it's a sequence that's always hit me the hardest, given the combination of imagery, music, and the overall theme that human civilization rises so high, but will eventually crash and burn).Watching this film is not only a treat for the eyes and ears, but also a sobering, moving experience unlike any other. I believe it truly represents the best and worst of the human race in the modern age, and everybody should see it at least once in a lifetime.5/5 (Entertainment: Perfect | Content: Perfect | Film: Perfect)