Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Galina Last week, I watched for the firs time Qatsi trilogy, which includes the films Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi. All of the film titles are taken from the Hopi language; Koyaanisquatsi meaning "life out of balance," Powaqqatsi - "life in transformation," and Naqoyqatsi - "life as war".The films were made by Godfrey Reggio and the music score which plays as important role as the images do, was written by Philipp Glass.The films have no spoken dialog or plot and have to be experienced viscerally first, and then analyzed because everyone sees different in them. For some viewers - they are glorified long music videos, for the others - the revelation that may change the way we perceive ourselves as human kind and our place on Earth.As for me, personally, I realized that the collaboration between Reggio and Glass may be one of the best creative unions between a visionary director and a brilliant composer ever.Of three Qatsi movies, my favorite is certainly, Powaqqatsi, and I know I'll come back to it many times more until my last day because it is not just a gorgeous movie with amazing images; it is one of very precious experiences that happen rarely in life. What made this experience possible is above all and without doubt the MUSIC. It was not the first music by Philip Glass I heard. I like his minimalistic and somehow disturbing scores that go right to your senses for "The Hours", "Notes of the Scandal", and "The Illusionist" (2006). Powaqqatsi was the second movie in Reggio's "Qatsi" trilogy for me. Just before it, I saw "Koyaanisqatsi" (1982) or Life out of Balance", the first of three Reggio-Glass movies. I like "Koyaanisqatsi" very much but I think it is the images that make it so memorable. "Powaqqatsi" for me, is about Glass's magnificent, un-earthy, divine and literally uplifting and transcending score. It is the music that could've been played after God had finished his work of creation and looked down at Earth and saw that it was good. I am a music lover, and I love music of different genres, epochs, and cultures. I enjoy listening to Mozart and Beatles, Nino Rota and Metallica, Zamphir and Scott Joplin, Bob Dylan and Lucianno Pavarotti, Bach and Edith Piaf. I love them all but I don't recall ever being so moved and taken out of this reality, feeling happy and overwhelmed, proud to be able to witness and enjoy the incredible achievement of human creativity and genius as when I was watching and listening to three "Anthems" and "Mosque and Temple" scenes of "Powwaqatsi: Life in Transformation". I don't buy the DVDs very often, I am not a collector but when the movie leaves unforgettable impression, when it brings something amazing into my life, I have to have it. I already ordered and received both, "Koyaanisqatsi" and "Powwaqatsi" on DVDs and I keep rewatching my favorite scenes and the music has the same impact at me making tears of joy coming to my eyes every time I hear the majestic hypnotic triumphant sounds of music written by Phillip Glass.I would like to add the words of one of my favorite writers. They match perfectly the feelings and emotions the film has evoked in me: "Mother Earth. She lived, this world of trees and rivers and rocks with deep stone thoughts. She breathed, had feelings, dreamed dreams, gave birth, laughed, and grew contemplative for millennia. This great creature swimming in the sea of space. What a wonder thought the man, for he had never understood that the Earth was his mother, before this. He had never understood, before this that the Earth had a life of its own, at once part of mankind and quite separated from mankind, another with a life of her own." Harlan Ellison "The Deathbird"

Polaris_DiB I'd say this is probably the best of the Qatsi trilogy thematically. Koyaanisqatsi is the best with flowing, beautiful imagery, but this one has a much more gripping and interesting experience.One of the things that Reggio is amazing at is capturing faces. This movie has the best faces of the Qatsi trilogy, something that makes it personal and maybe a bit more damning. That little child with the horses is probably one of the most haunting images in the entire trilogy.Also, this one uses montage editing techniques to a much greater degree of meaning. Koyaanisqatsi had some fairly amazing graphic matches connecting city maps with computer chips, but this one really causes the imagery to react with each other to provide the feeling of people getting run down and advertising trying to wash away the flames of destruction caused in developing countries. There's just so much more symbolic meaning, I think, in this one.And of course it's head and shoulders above Naqoyqatsi. Both of them are.--PolarisDiB

CaptSlog This film sweeps along in what sometimes looks almost like a travel documentary. The viewer is taken to Brazilian mines, across plains, native fishing fleets, Egypt (?) and New York. The film seems to be drawing a contrast between the Third World and "Civilization" ways of lifeThe images presented are breath-taking and beautifully shot, if at times a little disquieting (the close-up, "in the face" shots of people make you feel that you are invading their privacy!). But what makes the film for me is the music, I honestly thought at one time that it was the reason for the film.The Score is by Phillip Glass, and just soars along linking everything together. It's very well done and you find yourself disappointed when a theme ends, only to be replaced by another, just as good as the last. Some of the music also cropped up in "The Truman Show" (Jim Carey as Truman, 1998), causing me to dig out my aging VCR recording of Powaqqatsi and wear it out a little more. Looking forward to the DVD.

quickbeamnorth Powaqqatsi may not be the fast passed time lapse world of Koyaanisqatsi and there is nothing wrong with that. This movie is a counter point to Koyaanisqatsi. Reggios's plan was for a three part series I believe the new movie is almost done. This is not North America. Just think of the time envoled in this shoot, the locations, the stunning cinematograghy. This is the real world. A world where many people still live with out electricity, still hold onto the past, work on the land or sea, work hard for very little. This is movie of world culture. Anyway one who puts this movie down is truly living in a bubble. This is not a movie that gets backing money easily this is a movie of sweat and toil. I commend the filmmaker for taking a risk and creating a visual feast of the developing world that we are destroying.