Koyaanisqatsi (1982)

So I just watched this. I have to go over what I think of how this film uses the medium of images and sound, because obviously it doesn't use narrative in the way we usually see and hear it. No string of words spoon feeds you or tells you what to literally think about it. The movie as a whole pulls you through images of the world and humanity, evoking significant feelings.

When people on Youtube do video essays on what something like twin peaks was about, I roll my eyes to the back of my head, because I usually think that the watching is at least most of the meaning. Same with 2001: A Space Odyssey, to an extent, yes there are themes that are definitely there, like A.I., the universe, etc., but I would argue that a good percentage of the film is about the experience of watching and absorbing it. Tarkovsky does this too. A good filmmaker knows that it's his job to make you feel something, no matter what ideas you may gather from their work.

The way Koyaanisqatsi evokes feelings is a way of 'showing' us what it's 'about' versus 'telling' us what it's about.

Koyaanisqatsi can be translated as "crazy life","life in turmoil","life out of balance","life disintegrating","a state of life that calls for another way of living." I do agree that the film depicts great sadness alongside great beauty, but I do not see it as a 'technology bad' message. It doesn't suggest anything beyond the turmoil, to me at least. The movie is not a prescription for life's imbalances, it is a meditation on it.

I will definitely watch the rest of this trilogy, the latest was released in 2002, but I would be very interested to see a film done in this style that deals with recent developments in A.I., smartphones, isolation, loneliness, etc. There is a lot of potential in this form of 'narrative' I think that can touch on many different areas.