Naqoyqatsi (2002)

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

Director:

Godfrey Reggio

Writer:

Godfrey Reggio

Stars:

Belladonna, Marlon Brando, Elton John

Cast

Credited cast:
Belladonna	...	Herself
Marlon Brando	...	Himself (archive footage)
Elton John	...	Himself (archive footage)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus	...	Herself (archive footage)
Madonna	...	Herself (archive footage)
Bhagwan Mirchandani	...	Business Man
Jack Shamblin	...	Atomic Adam
Steven Soderbergh	...	Man Reflected in Digital Screens (3rd segment)

Storyline

In this cinematic concert, mesmerizing images are plucked from everyday reality, then visually altered with state-of-the-art digital techniques. The result is a chronicle of the shift from a world organized by the principles of nature to one dominated by technology, the synthetic and the virtual. Extremes of intimacy and spectacle, tragedy and hope fuse in a tidal wave of visuals and music, giving rise to a unique, artistic experience that reflects the vision of a brave new globalized world.

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Plot Keywords:

third part | technology | violence | trippy | slow motion | 

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Taglines:

Test-drive the future

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Genres:

Documentary | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site Website for the Qatsi Trilogy

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 January 2003 (Czech Republic)

Also Known As:

Naqoyqatsi: Life as War

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$17,154, 20 October 2002, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$133,058

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$155,640

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax, Qatsi Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Crazy Credits

Studio Feng Shui ... Marti Lovell

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Connections

Edited from Anima Mundi (1992)

User Reviews

Hugely disappointing

I read the other review here before seeing the movie and desperately hoped it was wrong - it wasn't. Koyaanisqatsi was, and still is, a great movie -- full of sweeping images and magnificent scope, the movie certainly had an eloquent statement to make. I was hoping for something similar in the third installment.

This was an exercise in tedium. It seemed as though the filmmakers raided the Time-Life library of iconic 20th century images and fed them through a special effects filter. It's as if they felt that what worked in Koyaanisqatsi, would work here -- extreme closeup, slow-motion etc. But the images here had nothing to say.

There was no emotion. Just wall-to-wall shots of everything from dollar signs, 0's and 1's, faces, bodies, computer chips, JFK, Martin Luther King, Bin Laden, buildings ripped by tornados... you get the picture. To make matters worse, everything was put through amateurish f/x-- mosaic, grain, vortex, inverted.

While it may have been a technical marvel, the end result felt empty and labored. Footage near the end consisted of juxtaposing images of real global street violence with video game violence -- but so what? Nothing new was said here. A real shame to end this way...