Wow! Such a good movie.

Wonderful character development!

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Where do I start? I couldn't even check the spoiler alert box because I'm not even sure I could describe what takes place in this movie. It has no coherence whatsoever. This would be fine if the movie was entertaining or at least beautiful to look at or listen to. Sadly, it's none of these. It's a patchwork of edited film. What I mean by edited is that every image is blurred and discolored as if a teenager with Windows 95 got a hold of it and used the dated software to take the definition, color and quality out of the footage. This movie was painful in every way. The only reason I gave it a second try today (that's right, a second try) was because I just bought the Criterion Trilogy on Blu-ray. I didn't want to waste a nice Blu-ray disc and have it go unplayed. Well, I wish I would have left Naqoyqatsi in its box. I can't get this Saturday afternoon back. This is my regret.

Welcome to the digital age, a world of speed, cultural hybridity, multi media, and perceptual overload, all of which are expressed beautifully in Godfrey Reggio's third entry Naqoyquatsi. This one is vastly different from the previous two. Wheras Koyaanisqatsi and Powaquatsi were done in the real world, much of Naqoyqatsi is done on the computer. Using just about every computer graphic available at the time, Naqoyqatsi feels more like a piece of art than the other two. After deciding that Powaqatsi was a dud, I was pleased to see that Godfrey Reggio made a recovery. Naqoyqatsi is almost on par with it's fore father Koyanisquatsi, although depending on which on you see first, you may prefer this one. This one strikes me as less epic than Koyanis, in part because it's faster editing allows for much more advanced montages which are so overwhelming at times that they occasionally provoke headache.The message behind this film is the way humanity is a competitive species. I think Alfred Adler would adore this movie. One of Freud's students, he believed that the human condition is based on seeking superiority. Naqoyqatsi shows us two forms of competition. One is sporting events, and the other is physical war and fighting.Phillip Glass once again, works his musical magic, although it seems like some of the score was borrowed from Koyaanisqatsi. Together, Reggio and Glass have provided a trilogy of sights and sounds that defy all the conventions of cinema, to favour aesthetics.

Just a small comment to add to jaesboxer's lengthy review ("Beauty without depth" 9th March 2006) For a film made in 2002, the image I was most expecting to see as the film drew to a close was images of the WTC buildings collapsing. One would have thought that Reggio would not flinch from inflicting the horror upon us, but it must have been too sensitive for him or the director/producer.Nevertheless, the only way I can interpret the inverted skydiver sequence of the Vivid Unknown is to see it as a not-so-oblique reference to the WTC occupants who jumped and free-fell to their deaths rather than be cooked or crushed within the failing structures.On so may fronts today, there are bodies splatting all around us, but still we fail to abandon this seemingly resilient edifice called progress. It is time we made peace with planet Earth.

Having enjoyed Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqatsi I was looking forward to this third part of the Qatsi trilogy and seeing what direction it had taken. Rarely has a film so spectacularly failed to live up to its predecessors and lost its way. Although it tries to represent "civilised warfare" in the form of sport, science, trade and other forms of competition, it lacks the global scope and even the coherently developed themes of its predecessors. War is chaos, but even wars have an aim in mind and this film had little structure and unclear goals.Naqoyqatsi is flawed by being a chaotic melange of images that does little to develop its theme. On the plus side, it wisely avoided using some of the iconic images of last century's wars.Naqoyqatsi is also so insular that several times I had to remind myself that I was not watching an advertisement promoting the American way of life. Perhaps this insularity reflects the ongoing "War on Terror". When representing "sport as war" the prominent team logos ensured that the USA was depicted as the winner. Hence it missed the opportunity to depict some of the many sports around the world and showing that humanity is united in its use of sport as a form of civilised warfare.Apart from newsreel, the footage seemed to have been shot on a budget in the confines of New York and there was little recognition of "life as war" in the rest of the world. The gallery of faces (waxworks) gave only a nod to the existence of important personages outside of the USA. The makers missed the point that globalisation does not mean Americanisation.The Philip Glass soundtrack sounded much like every other Philip Glass score I've heard (with the possible exception of Koyaanisqatsi) and at best can be described as "inoffensive" neither adding to, nor detracting from, the chaotic imagery.