KOYAANISQATSI (1983), ARCHANGEL (1990, CANADA)

Koyannsqatsi: the natural world

Today's double feature starts with Godfrey Reggio's Koyannsqatsi. It is a film of images without narration, but with a constant score by Phillip Glass enhancing the images. It's about nothing and yet about everything. We see a lot of natural images...mountains, rivers and such. Then we see man made architecture, skyscrappers, demolition and such. We see a lot of human activity then...much of it speeded up. Director Reggio says the movie has different meanings to each viewer (even if you think it's crap-his words). It was a nice experience...I may want to check it out again...maybe after some fasting....or meditation...or peyote.

Koyannsqatsi:: man made demolition

 Archangel in the air

Just when I was lulled into a zen state with the non-narrative Koyannsqatsi, I was bombarded by more images from Guy Maddin's Archangel, a film about...what was it about again? This one I was supposed to draw something from the narrative...I know it showed some Canadian involvement in the Bolshevik revolution...World War I...bravery....flying...repeated images and a look that is very reminiscent of a silent movie..some pretty graphic gross out scenes. I admit I'm writing about this a few weeks after viewing and I'm having trouble remembering many plot details. I checked Wikipedia for the plot summary and there were apparently a lot of things that happened in Archangel that didn't stick with me. Meditation or fasting probably won't help with this one...maybe straight to the peyote.

Archangel on the ground