Naqoyqatsi (2002)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Godfrey Reggio

Writer:

Godfrey Reggio (written by)

Release Date:

21 January 2003 (Czech Republic)

Genre:

Documentary | Sport

Tagline:

Test-drive the future

Plot:

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by gobalized technology and violence.

Plot Keywords:

Technology | Violence | One Word Title | Mandelbrot Fractal | Part Animated

Cast

Marlon Brando	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bella Donna	...	(archive footage)
Elton John	...	Himself (archive footage)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus	...	Herself (archive footage)
Bhagwan Mirchandani	...	Business Man
Jack Shamblin	...	Atomic Adam
Steven Soderbergh	...	Man reflected in digital screens (3rd segment)

Also Known As:

Naqoyqatsi: Life as War (USA) (poster title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for violent and disturbing images, and for brief nudity.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | Hungary:14 | Australia:G | Germany:6 | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:G | USA:PG (certificate #39003)

Filming Locations:

Michigan Central Depot - W. Vernor and W. Michigan Avenues, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

According to the end credits, the title is pronounced nah-koy-kahtsee.

Movie Connections:

Edited from Perfect Dark (2000) (VG)

A nice surprise

After reading different comments about this movie, I've decided to see it, and I'm really surprised because what I have found has little to do with what I thought it was.

Naqoyqatsi is about the loss of our natural perception of reality and its substitute: the image itself as a product of technology, the image as a weapon in a globalized war. And here comes the apparent incoherence, because the film is a parade of these images, a product of the same technological violence it is reflecting and criticizing. That's not hypocrisy; the contradiction is part of the film itself.

Although I do not completely support Reggio's point of view, I admire the way he expresses it through his films without impositions of any kind, so that the viewer can find his own perspective. While watching Naqoyqatsi, I was asking for the "original" pictures that were below those distortions and filters, but soon I realized the real world wasn't there. It was like "OK, so that's all... Well, let's see it".

A few words about the inevitable comparison with it's predecessors: if you are looking for something like Koyaanisqatsi, go see Koyaanisqatsi again. Naqoyqatsi is a different film. It does well as the third part of the Qatsi Trilogy, but like the other two, has its own "personality". And I think it's a great film. Maybe not a masterpiece like Koyaanisqatsi, but a great film.