Koyaanisqatsi (fragmento)

[mycatisromeo]

The scene at 5:10 is almost UNREAL - how the hell did he shoot that shot with such amazing quality? It looks like a model of a town - just the way he wanted it to look - because society is really just one BIG model!

[TheTashman666]

one word masterpiece

[mycatisromeo]

Religion tells you to have more kids, so they have more kids. Capitalism tells you to make more money to buy the shit you don't need, so they live in cities to have to opportunity to make more money - the free market allows humans to eat up resources and nature is the "common ground" free for all to exploit. The labor market requires more jobs for the growing population. The growing population exploits more of earth - our politics form laws to push sprawl and use of automobiles - a cycle!

[quicklyintothevoid]

this is a horrible quality youtube video of an amazing film.

[mysteriousnyc]

The film is great i just wish the resolution was higher

[barelylegalpigeons]

And then Coppola said unto film-making let there be cinematography :)

[Skibsie]

@barelylegalpigeons this isn't a Coppolla film, he simply promoted it.

[sullenday]

@barelylegalpigeons

Indeed! The shots in this film are a happy marriage of the stunning composition of a brilliant stills photographer behind a motion picture camera.

[albosl]

lo que me llama mucho la atencion de esta grabacion es que me he dado cuenta la grandes obras que ha hecho el hombre, tenemos una inteligencia mas desarrollada que cualquier animal, hemos hecho de todo

lo unico malo, que todo tiene su precio, la contaminacion y deterioro de la naturaleza

[boobiechaps18]

sometimes theres just so much beaty in the wold i cant take it

[rwillmsen]

yeah its clear from your username that you're a very sensitive person

[KieferSkunk]

@rwillmsen - epic win. :)

[tomaszk2]

I agree with You. Around ourselves are a lot of wonderful miracles. Some people are blind. They always in a hurry. We should slow down.

[ghonnyboi]

I remember watching this movie in gr. 10 for a writing assignment. Most of the people in the class thought the movie was stupid because, "There's no dialogue."

My generation totally sucks...

[sullenday]

@ghonnyboi

It seems as though in modern times, humanity is but a copy of a copy of a copy of the "original" source, degrading and corrupting further with each succession.

[Mheuo]

KOMMENTAR

Diese Wolkenkratzer wirken sehr bedrohlich und karg.

Wir Menschen sind wie kleine Ameisen, die ein unausgewogenes und hektisches Leben führen. Nicht zu vergessen, dass wir die Erde damit schädigen.

Da kann man wahrscheinlich ein einziger Mensch nichts ausrichten ... leider.

Mir gefällt auch die Musik sehr gut. Sie ist so ironisch.

[BandMan6100]

I'll play Devil's Advocate....Has not human life always been monotonous? Was the life of a stone-age tribe less monotonous than ours?

Keep in mind also, that cities are far less hard on the environment than if everyone had a mansion in the country. If everyone on the earth lived at the density of Manhattan, much of the planet could be a wild garden.

At any rate, try to eliminate monotony from your life....you'll go crazy.  You keep in balance by having human relatiionships.

[hebneh]

Oh darn! Just when we get to the Twinkie factory, this ends.

When I first saw this in the early 1980s I decided that the way masses of people move, and the way traffic moves on city streets, looks just like how particles move in bloodstreams.

[albosl]

6:05 beatiful eyes =D

[praktischer]

I can remember watching this film in the 80's on full screen. Mind blowing.

Any body know if it;s possible to get this film?

[JohnnyKoyaanisqatsi]

Outlandishly extraordinary masterpiece.

[ScooterNerd]

Glass ingenious. (Minimalist Review).

[kingofthedammed]

youtube is mentioned in there!

at 9.53 on Come

Out!

[kingofthedammed]

listening to come out and it is awesome!!!

[huizo]

MOON!!!

[holdenclaudfield]

acoustic instruments or sampled ones?

epic job anyway

[loodwig]

It's electroacoustic, but the synth is pure analogue.

[KieferSkunk]

@holdenclaudfield - Philip Glass used a combination of a special orchestra and synthetic instruments for this film. His modern works continue that trend, though he's turned to calling himself a "classicist" and relying more heavily on the orchestra. (Not to mention synthesizers are capable of sounding like real instruments now - they weren't so much back then.)

[qwertufc]

mhh i can never get bored of this

[reddragonshirt]

@ 6:31; reminds me of little roaches scurrying all over the place

[clevelandphil]

Ship's Coffee Shop at 4:34.

[xxxyyyzzzar]

it takes time to digest time lapse and philip glass.

nothing too complicated. It's just something we r not accustomed to see and hear.

[skonieczna]

Looks like a good idea, but - as for me - a bit overstated; I mean, few times of looking at the streets as 'the streams of light' is enough, why to repeat it endlessly? ... Without this particular music it wouldn't work at all, being a bit less obsessive it may be more evocative...they spent six years doing this...I would say, over-worked...

[rootoficculus]

create.

[pippismo]

Heresy! to me this movie is one of the most powerful artistic creations I have ever seen or experienced, maybe the most powerful.

[KatisonFire]

I think the more you look at the images the more compelling, the less they look like cars or lights, it's almost a human body. This scene, among other is totally metaphorical and I love it! This is what our society is, even more so these days, everyone moving at the speed of light trying to do anything and everything to feel productive. We're turning into the machines we're creating, or rather we're making the machines more like ourselves.

[racoonzdinner]

skon; i enjoyed the video because it made me feel good, however i agree with you that it was a bit too repetitive. it could have ended much sooner and still give the same effect without it beginning to bore the heck out of the audience. not that i was bored, but i could see how someone would say, "can you just get it over with it already!." Cuz i kind of thought that a few times d uring the fiml. no need to give u so many negative thums.

[moyga]

Considering the subject matter and conceptual goals of the movie, i would say it would be impossible to "over-work" it. I think you find this boring and 'endless' because you are looking at it the wrong way. Stimulation can come from subtleties too friend,

and did you ever stop to consider that the length of time something is shown for might in itself apart of a conceptual communication? E.g; perhaps its supposed to represent/communicate the 'endless', mindless monotony of urban/modern life.

[untitledghost19]

you know, i would have hoped that the sort of audience that watched Koyaanisqatsi video clips would be a little slower to hit that thumbs down. i realize this is youtube, but still. skon didn't state their opinion particularly, critically, and though we may disagree with it, shouldn't we be fine with differing opinions so long as they're harmless and not rudely shoved in your face?

[richtomes]

Ah, you're talking about mimilism - but that's what minimilism is all about. Take a simple idea and repeat it endlessly, all the time suggesting that the resulting monotony is somehow profound genius.

RIP minimilism. Let's get back to respect for real talent and development in modern music. This is simply laughable.

[anaklasis]

Arvo Pärt belongs also to minimalism... :-P

[lenore002]

It's what you said that is laughable. Not the score.

[ShahidMiller]

Some minimalist pieces are very affecting and thus accomplish the goal of music, which is not to your conception. Music is not meant for placing "awe" over inferior individuals who then get to feel good about themselves because they "respected" the talent on display.

Any musical piece that constructed with the goal of displaying "virtuosity" over the simple goal of communication will fall flat.

This is not to say that there are not many terrible examples of "minimalism" out there ...

[loodwig]

I recall hearing "Come out" by Steve Reich a few years back at college. The piece is just this guy saying "come out to show them" again and again. Literally this line was repeated for twenty minutes while the speakers were slowly placed out of phase so that the sound clip would be exactly one repetition slower in one speaker than the other over the duration. The effect was spectacular, but few could appreciate it because they got bored quickly.

[KieferSkunk]

@loodwig - That sounds interesting! But the problem with minimalist music is that people either "get it" or they don't. (Techno and trance are the same way to some extent.) I like stuff like that when the music evolves around a central core over time. But several people I know can only hear the core being repeated over and over again, and it drives them nuts. So it really is a selective-audience thing, unfortunately.

[N3L0N3]

Great Footage + Music story telling ever of my life time.

[thoughtfulguy]

Speaking for myself, my life has been greatly enriched by petroleum, -styrofoam, Twinkies, wieners, overnight shipping, air quality advisories, 24 hour news-cycles, McDonald's, and the New Jersey Turnpike. The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

[ShahidMiller]

Anyone who could praise the virtues of the NJT has to be crazy, surely.

[pjCooper1]

low quality :(

[venomkiss08]

amazingly done..but terrifying. its just exactly what we are, ants; following the orders & chaos of the system. walk. stop. walk. run. hmm, and what about think for yourself? i really want to see it now. i only saw naqoyaqatsi..

[anaklasis]

Honestly, I didn't like naqoyqatsi, since I expected a shocking film as koyaanisqatsi. I find awesome its way of reduce everyting into concepts so that you can freely understand naqoyqatsi, but it's not the same effect in comparison with koyaanisqatsi. It's so obvious that you have to accept how dangerous we are.

[yushis1]

I agree. I like the main theme of Naqoyqatsi with Yo-Yo Ma better than any of the music that's in Koyaanisqatsi, but as a whole the film just doesn't stand up.

[hinaet]

wow

[0ldfinger]

I don't know from the biblical prophesies aspect of it all, or want to argue whether or not our lives are out of balance. What I do know is that this one of the most seductive, subtle and insiduous uses of music and visual you will ever, ever see. A beautiful masterpeice.

[AFrogWithAGun]

well my favourite bit, the music is awesome at the beginning.

I bought this the other week but like a dick I left it on the bus.

Wounded...

[Dvon5000]

Will make quite an interesting surprise gift for whoever finds it.

[Casarzino]

that's really funny, I bought this movie two days ago and almost left it in the metro, but then I realised it in time and ran back for like 200 meters and got in just in time, luckily the driver had picked it up and gave it to me lol

[celshader]

Maybe some random person will find it and it will utterly change their life.

[bassvibe89]

uh... nope. not happening.

[EIGreco]

Amazing! AWESOME! 5 stars!

[Nientjah]

Very beautiful, in my opinion the most beautiful scene of the movie

[gelladria]

i could watch stuff like this for hours...its like succumbing to a dream-like state, dictated by feeling rather than streams of conscious thought

[jannokas85]

Interesting that people are talking about overpopulation while there are hundreds of thousands of ghost towns left there by people who went in search of a better life.

[JerryX68]

Koyaanisqutsi's epic alright! Watch it alongside 'Manufactured Landscapes', 'Workingman's Death' n 'Our Daily Bread' and you'll have learned pretty well all you need to know about what's happening to our earth right now.

[EDOGHOST85]

capolavoro

[Yggdrasill4]

From what I have heard so far, koyaanisqatsi is epic!

[britoca]

Ron Fricke é um Deus...

[faridakoi]

It takes a great great sense of egotism to consider that man could possibly be anything but part of nature... although destroying our environment is wrong in the human conscience, it is ironically hugely egotistical to believe that somehow we hold nature in our responsibility. Man will disappear.

[BandMan6100]

Wow, one of the most original thoughts I have seen in quite a while.

[d3athpr00f]

They do a parody on BENCHWARMERS look it up.

[RockCentral1]

I think you're right about the Bush Admin. But not everybody in America has the same feelings as they do. In fact, many of us are environmentalists, but in this nation our voices are not heard. This video also brings me to the feeling that everyone is just part of a big equation, because the people walking, cars driving. Industrialization has affected humanity on a massive scale, but we will live to see the negative effects.

[cairobraga]

This is my favorite sequence of the film.

Btw, the film is amazing and I totally love Philip Glass.

I want to watch Powaqatsi and Koyaaqatsi.

[elvirasnotnose]

my favourite movie...

[STEREOMIKE77]

AMAZING

[mosef1]

impressing

[georgH]

It's a pity this video being ruined by YouTube's extra-lossy compression.

Thank you very much for posting!

[anaklasis]

I know, but by itself the video has no quality, since I downloaded it many time ago. It is said that it's a DVDRIP but I don't think so.

By the way, as the importance of this film and the scenes it shows, I think they can do a remastered version...

[mphman64]

There is a big difference between stupidity and ignorance, and no..... I can't stand McDonalds, Walmart, Exxon, etc. Greed is the evil that will eventually kill mankind. Oh..... and motion pictures are the great art form of the last 100 years.

[piranhaP]

wanna get high?

[aisbit]

y knot

[mphman64]

No one has asked me that in a looong time. Lol!

[piranhaP]

Have you heard about deflation on a global scale and its effects?

[mphman64]

When watched under the influence, this film is almost overwhelming emotionally, when it comes to the realization of the severity of what we as are doing to our planet. The Bush admin. is accelerating that process tremendously with their practically evil environmental policies.

[silvietta41]

Me gustaría saber la manera de ver la película de la historia porque "son un punto de conexión a internet .... ¿Sabe usted?

[anaklasis]

Si se refiere a ver la película entera, puede encontrarla en el Emule sin problema alguno. De todas formas, me parece que otros han colgado casi todas las escenas aquí, en Youtube.

Saludos desde Italia también, ya que estoy aquí por nueve meses. ;)

[anaklasis]

Si se refiere a ver la película entera, puede encontrarla en el Emule sin problema alguno. De todas formas, me parece que otros han colgado casi todas las escenas aquí, en Youtube.

Saludos desde Italia también, ya que estoy aquí por nueve meses. ;)

[SantiRalf]

Mimo, że film jest z 1983 roku to wcale nie traci na aktualności a nawet pokusiłbym się o stwierdzenie, że wyprzedza fakty.

[anaklasis]

Oczywiście, ale nikto chcią go widzieć...nikto chcią zdawać sobie, że my potrzebujemy mieć staranie o świate.

Przepraszam za mój polski. Jeszcze nie dobrze mówię to język.

[thelonedissenter]

ants, we are all ants, i say. oink

[apianeale]

tek kelime ile iğrenç bir film adıda saçma zaten

[mphman64]

I think everyone in the Bush administration should have to take a hit of LSD and watch this movie. Freaking unbelievably moving..... This world would be a much different place.

[k0dy]

this is amazing

[cemtex1]

this is the best film...i really love this go get it on dvd

[JohnsySHR]

This film could actually make me convert to HD. Thats if they brought a HD version out. Either way i'm going to have to buy it soon, i'm getting fed up of hearing the nasty overcompressed audio. No offence to Anaklasis though,I'm really grateful you have posted this.

[luno44]

I dig how Glass keeps switching between 3 and 4 beats per measure.

[waderm810]

just like all of our lives on here, irelevant. But important to the main stay of everything, . my life feels like this every morning on the m1 (uk) to work, selling things no one needs. to people who dont want them. i actualy play the track in the car it makes me feel slightly sane to everyone else.

[lewcifer3rd]

macro to the micro, ya'll

[biped19]

Folks, its elemental. Everything is natural. There is no "good" or "bad" in this sense. We are made from the stuff stars are made from.

[andrizzlen]

i have to disagree with you

you so that everything we do is natural when most of the things we use in like are man made as in chemical reactions that cant happen natural we make abominations to nature sometimes like plastic

but either way i say nature is more beautiful and man made things are a disgrace to this earth

[ajwiebe]

Grammar, spelling, and punctuation are quite important, especially if you're going to attempt to make as grandiose of a statement as that.

[Andrewsmate]

If we don't express ourselves life is pointless; whether that's through music, art or design.

Believing in nature alone is an unrealistic ideal, and people create so much beauty as well as pain..

[phonejack7788]

This would definitely be something to see at the IMAX

[chriswales19]

I won't write much, but I would like to comment, that this film is absolutely beautiful and wonderful, it speaks a great deal for the world we live in, and the beautiful minimalistic music couldn't be more perfect with the footage. Thank you for sharing.

[LivelyLorikeet]

Those highway shots were some of my favorite parts of this film--the small screen does them no justice. This is definitely worth seeing on a big screen.

[ClareHolzer]

Manmade is natural because humans are animals and everything we have created comes from nature; metals, glass, plastic are all made from natural objects. I do not hate technology or anything that humans create. It is all natural.

[RockCentral1]

Clare, I see what you mean when you say everything is natural. The thing is, what people mean by saying manmade isn't natural is that certain things could never occur if man didn't create it, such as scyscrapers, technology, highways, etc. But I think some of what man has done is beautiful, as far as ingenuity and creativity goes. But what we've done to the planet is terribly incosiderate to nature. Humanity has taken so much of the Earth's beauty.

[ghonnyboi]

I believe that in order for humankind to imporve and get better we needbuild some of these manmade creations, but at the same time keep natural places preserved. Unfortunately, with the unstoppable immigrant waves coming into America (especially Canada where I'm from), we have a few short decades to respect nature for what it is. IF other countries had developed system like we did maybe they would remain in their countries and nature would be left alone.

[gavindaysaccount]

That's almost definitely an exaggeration.

Anyone would be an ignorant shit to think that having a wider conscience of our actions is a bad thing, but there will probably be many people embarrassed in "a few decades time" by the nicely nicely approach taken by many people today.

People throw these biblical claims around like fashion statements and buzzwords.

Catastrophe is the new black.

[ghonnyboi]

I for one don't follow biblical "prophecies"; those are justs tories in my opinion.

But it is true that overpopulation is a cause in all this. Not much we can possibly do in a democratic country.

[Fabbydabbydoozy]

That music is sublime.

Such a pity the compression algorithms can't cope with the rapid imagery. Sort it out youtube!

But of course I jest, youtube is my friend...

[rtcj97]

I loved the moonrise behind the skyscraper. I liked how the roads and streets look like electricity through circuit boards at night.

[Depotmaster]

Wow, thats not what humans were 10.000 years ago. Technology changed us, and now technology has its own agenda, and its different than ours.

It seems like humanity now has a child! We just have to learn to educate it properly...

[nichlsonstu]

got it on dvd.

[harrynicholas]

Impressive comment, not too flowery, unpretentious. What are you watching it here for?

Is and always will be a great film and great music - but the Underworld Cowgirl version has taken over - check it out.

[GrooveMasterItaly]

R O T F  L

[harrynicholas]

re@l th!ng says, in halo we just say rofl.

[henrix999]

gorgeouse, magical, breathtaking

[oritxupolite]

Exist a 720 p HDTV version of film, very nice ;) .

[ruche95]

good film!!!

[springynoodle]

youtube does NOT do this justice. rent it now.

but this is definately the best section.

[Depotmaster]

Now I feel just like a small unimportant cell in the huge organism of humanity.

[harrynicholas]

Well that's probably because you ARE a small unimportant cell in the huge organism of humanity. I like to try and picture the universe in this kind of time-lapse way and imagine what we'll be doing in a thousand years - hopefully by that time we will have the internet inside our head instead of having to wait for it to download, see my comments on the Underworld - cowgirl-rez version of this.

[goldenx360]

rulez

[ePhilosopher]

watch?v=swxMeuVQ0xk

[nubbie1944]

thats just so goddamn amazing!

[LSDDREAMS]

Actually, there's no problem at all. You think you're doing something that is disorderly when in fact, you're just another piece of the puzzle. We all strive to be so different but the truth is, we're all the same, no matter how hard we fight it.

[p47plane]

Ah, but then again, we've all done something noone else has done.

[tall32guy]

The part at the beginning of the pan across a time-lapse L.A. at night is my only favorite part of the movie, suprisingly. It's a very well done shot that impressed me. (Sorry to all the Koyan fans! :))

[allegrettus]

ok, start to love your own childrens,

it's hard, yes, my son has been cut from his father from his mother and I turn into stone inside,

please, don't nuke,

only nuke the hate inside your soul;

Mr Glass Ibelieve love the hate to demonstrate it to find a new way to practize balance, not to destroy outerside, ouh, please;

[humbertabe]

agreed

[icumblood88]

we are all f###in aliens, and we deserve to die

[harrynicholas]

Granted we're all aliens, but if you deserve to die go ahead, but you're on your own there I think.

[BlackTV2007]

We are all bacteria.

[harrynicholas]

That's true, I've commented elsewhere that I like to try to visualise the whole planet growing over time in a kind wavelike motion (nutty?) but I'm not sure that being bacteria is a bad thing, I like to think that we're a virus, but it's our job to infest the whole universe, even at the expense of the panda...

[ichbineintoober]

I don't care if allah or jehovah does it, just nuke it please god. Burn it and start over.

[harrynicholas]

I tell you what, you burn yourself and the rest of us who have a more positive outlook can get on with enjoying the wonder of man's stupidity - and creativity. While some people watch too many blockbuster movies, others seem to read too many bibles.

[harrynicholas]

I tell you what, you go nuke yourself and burn, and the rest of us with a more positive outlook can get on with enjoying the stupidity and creativity of being man.

[S1081980]

its pretty pretentious, but that doesn't make it any less brilliant

[ichbineintoober]

Cities are tumors. Remove to win.

[ichbineintoober]

NUKE IT! Please god cause it to be nuked.

Babylon.

The lights are pretty but cities are filth. I pray for civil war II.

Let's start over. They got these "neutron" bombs that don't leave much radiation. Maybe use one of those. Let's start over.

[humbertabe]

there will never be change in human kind as we know it throughout history, so to hope or pray for a new begining is futile i think. So live be good and gaze in astoundment while we have the chance.

[MeSuckBalls]

This is the worst movie ever anyone who thinks it is good should kill themselves.

[dirkm97]

Good bye cruel world! ;-)

[harrynicholas]

Granted there is no car chase sequence, and the script is a little thin and lacks humour, but you can't fault the acting.

[Beatlemaniak]

best movie.

[aihoschema]

Hope the original full screen IRE version will become available soon. Anyhow: my favorite movie. Copied over and over again. This is no pretentious artsy fartsy stuff - just great cinema. Thanks Reggio, Fricke, Glass - and thanks for posting!

[oritxupolite]

Es una de las mas increibles peliculas que se han hecho, luego imitada por el mismo autor y por otros ya con una propuesta mas dulcificada. Pero la suma musica de Philips Glass + imagenes de esta pelicula es ya patrimonio de la humanidad

[dlatreset]

I guess it's very possible to be in this film and not even know it.

[Pechugarocks]

I-N-D-I-E

[domestication]

no words? this sucks

[911stephanemichon]

Of corse, Some one hase to explain to you!

[rricardo1987]

One of my favorite sequences in the film; great music to this scene by the way.

[DivisionbyZer0]

long live the superstructure!

[daddydit]

My favorite film. Shown regularly at the old Valhalla Cinema in Glebe, Sydney, in the 80's to audiences full of uni students 'inhaling'. Philip Glass has performed the soundtrack live at the Sydney Opera House with the film trilogy a few times in recent years - magic.

[RooK003]

Have you seen Powwaqatsi, or Naqoyqatsi.

[fearclownz]

It should be mandatory to watch this whole film (without interruption), if one wants to be considered a part of the Human Race.

[stalepie]

why?

[katebaxteruk]

look at the world. listen to the music. think.

[jasonsmith73]

Fhag

[erminrtude]

Go and see it played live.

The best bang since then big one.

[GenericZombie]

That sounds like it would be amazing.

[EdwardTheGreat]

is love

[masterjrn]

one of the most powerful things you could experience in your life

[dh2k]

This movie is awesome.