MovieChat Forums > Naqoyqatsi (2003) Discussion > The Biggest Disappointment of my Life

The Biggest Disappointment of my Life


Sorry, but it was. Koyaanisquatsi is my favorite film of all time, I would say how many times I have seen it but then you would make fun of me. When I heard this was coming out I was freaking to say the least! When the day finally arrived, on opening night, I got together with two friends who share my passion for Qatsi and we went to the theater in Seattle that was playing it.

Oh man, what the hell! The use of computer filters was SO STUPID!! It ruined what otherwise would have been a good film. Absolutly ruined it!

I will have to say, the score is incredible, possibly the best out of the trilogy, but Reggio should have his head examined thinking that he should filter ALL the images with that stupid technique! I hope someday he recuts this film and leaves the images intact.

Sorry for ranting, I am really quite a normal person, I just love film and Koyaanisquatsi is my favorite out of the thousands of movies I must have seen in my life.

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I agree. Naqoyqatsi is VERY over-rated on IMDB, but that's because so few people have seen it. Just 878 votes so far. One of the biggest annoyances, beyond the lame CGI that any 12-year-old could do, was how the whole film was stretched by 1/3rd. Circles become ovals. Everyone gains 50 pounds. The movie was obviously composed of 4x3 video footage originally, but they stretched it to 16x9 and said that was their intention. Uh-huh. Very creative. Kinda like shooting everything with a blue filter or a fisheye lens would be creative. Not.

I loved Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi. Didn't like Baraka - too much emphasis on primitive people and religious rituals. I didn't like Naqoyqatsi - too many poor CGI effects, not enough substance or relevance to the theme. I went in with no expectations. My mind was open. I didn't expect Koyaanisqatsi 3. I don't expect films to be "like" other films, even when they're made by the same people, or a planned series. I judge each film on its own merits. Didn't like this at all. I think it's creatively and intellectually bankrupt.

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The first 20 minutes was bearable, but the cgi was waaaaay overused. I was hoping this movie would have more photography and less crap. If this movie had come out in, say, 1992, then it would be kind of interesting, but by 2002's standards the cgi looks dated at best. The movie's strength is its score, but even that falls waaaay short of the first movie in the trilogy.


Do The Mussolini! Headkick!

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I just watched this while working in the lab, so I'll admit that I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention, but a lot of it did look pretty cheesy from a designer's standpoint. Waaaay too many filters and effects, plus the lame CGI that's been mentioned before. I just feel like I've seen this kind of subject matter a million times before. On NIN's last tour, they had something just like this playing in the background. I feel like we're used to this kind of juxtaposition of imagery. Blah!

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When I was 12, I used CGI. Not.

Baraka's going to be the next president of the United States. Well, the next next one.

If you "went in" [to watching 'Naqoyqatsi'?] with "no expectations", then telling us that you "didn't expect Koyaanisqatsi [sic] 3" is redundant. Know what I mean? And if you loved the first two films, what is your basis for labelling 'Naqoyqatsi' "intellectually bankrupt"?

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I didn't really find any of the music in Naqoyqatsi memorable. I think it was a mistake to use Yo-Yo Ma. It changed the whole tone of Glass's score. I liked the Powaqqatsi score most, esp New Cities in Ancient Lands. My second favorite would be Koyaanisqatsi. Naqoyqatsi doesn't rate at all. None of the songs grabbed me. The music wasn't well-integrated with the visuals. It was all a mess.

You should also watch straight documentaries about the destructiveness of modern civilization - The End of Suburbia, The Corporation, Surplus, and Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent, just to name a few. The Qatsi films really don't have any message. People interpret them various ways based on their awareness.

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I'm not looking to pick a fight.

I think that Reggio's Qatsi films do indeed have a message, or rather, they have a number of messages delivered in a very diffuse manner. They are indeed open to interpretation, but this does not mean that they did not exist in the filmmaker's mind. I don't think that a director like this and his group would do this just to string together footage--that in some cases take quite a while to shoot--if they did not intend it to have meaning.

Nothing against the documentaries you mentioned, but sometimes one-sided, cloying liberalism that beats you over the head with how evil it opponents are can be a little much.

In the mining scenes of "Life out of Balance" it is difficult not to realise that the workers are living a hard life, and that to some extent we in the modern mechanised world have a hand in their oppression. Much of "Life out of Balance" poses the question "Whither Progress?"

I am not saying the Qatsi films are only for the pretentious and smarmily intelligent, or that Chomsky documentaries lack substance. Simply remember, "in all things, moderation."

Yeah, Naqoyqatsi was all over the place until the last 27 minutes.

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Are you outta your mind? There are only a few flaws. It is definitely NOT the worst film ever made. Maybe it's not the best but why are there so many negative reviews? There are a couple of messages, so it is educational in a way. One message was that there was war then and certainly war today, 14 years later. Look I am not trying to pick a fight, either. And I personally thought this was and 2001 movie and 2002 soundtrack. Could I be wrong???

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Are you outta your mind? There are only a few flaws. It is definitely NOT the worst film ever made. Maybe it's not the best but why are there so many negative reviews? There are a couple of messages, so it is educational in a way. One message was that there was war then and certainly war today, 14 years later. Look I am not trying to pick a fight, either. And I personally thought this was and 2001 movie and 2002 soundtrack. Could I be wrong???

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EXACTLY.

I loved the first two movies, but I really disliked this one. The score was A+, but it was missing the one thing that made the first two movies great, that thing is reality. Koyaanisqatsi & Powaqqatsi had images of life that were just RAW, and you just watch a glimpse of reality accompanied by a beautiful score. Naqoyqatsi was trying too hard to be edgy. The filmmakers tried to experiment more with this one and the result became too forced and manufatcured.

I was totally disappointed.

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[deleted]

I just watched the first half, and i got to agree with most of the folks on here, its terrible, i loved the first 2 and theres nothing wrong with the music on this one, but the visuals are just atrocious, i can't believe Soderbergh put his name to this.I think i'll just fast forward the 2nd half, what a terrible way to complete the trilogy.


This job's going to be harder than... trying to rape a rhinoceros

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Agree, the CGI is lame and disgusting

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