Popcorn 'N Roses

A plea to director Godfrey Reggio - Please Bring "Koyaanisqatsi" to IMAX!

After attending this past weekend's IMAX movie for the PNR Summer Tour (see review from Monday), I started thinking about other films that would lend themselves to the IMAX format.

One movie in particular stands out to me as the perfect candidate for the IMAX treatment. It has long been one of my all-time favorite films, and its visual style was way ahead of its time.

And now, as the 25th anniversary of the film's release is looming in 2008, I think it's time to take the next logical step into IMAX. I've been saying so for YEARS and now is the perfect time for it.

The film is Godfrey Reggio's incredible 1983 visual masterpiece, Koyaanisqatsi (see Popcorn's Pix here). Backed with it's mesmering Philip Glass score, this movie is just SCREAMING to be brought to the IMAX or IMAX 3-D format.

For those of you unfamiliar with Reggio's work, Koyaanisqatsi (the title is Hopi indian for "life out of balance") is a visual and aural masterpiece about our world and how man's search for progress has affected it. In many ways, it was "An Inconvienient Truth" 24 years BEFORE that movie came out and without the presence of former Vice President Al Gore.

I have watched the movie dozens of times since it came out on DVD, and remain a strong proponent of it. I have talked it up on Subject:CINEMA several times, and there is little doubt it will be among my Top 20 Films of ALL TIME when that list is announced in June on the first anniversary edition of Subject:CINEMA.

The first part of the "Qatsi" trilogy of movies, it is the strongest and best of the three, and just the opening 15 minutes alone would make an IMAX experience unlike any other.  Think of what it would be like to see those images of the desert and sky on the humongous IMAX screen. Kim often describes this part of the movie as "What it must feel like to be flying on Superman's shoulders", and she's absolutely right.

Think of being immersed in IMAX 3-D during the time lapse flights through skyscrapers, or during the mind-blowing time-lapse traffic sequence - it would feel like the most incredible motion odyssey movie ride in history.

For those of you who have never seen the movie, it might be hard to understand, but in many ways, Koyaanisqatsi is almost a religious experience. And to me, the chance to see it larger than ever before postively makes me drool.

So I have decided to take matters into my own hands, so to speak.

I have launched the Bring "Koyaanisqatsi" to IMAX petititon over at petitiononline.com. I will be bringing this petition up to as many people as I possibly can, and hopefully the esteemed Mr Reggio will take us to heart and allow his masterpiece to be prepped for an IMAX run during it's 25th anniversary year.

It will only take you a moment or so to sign the petition and add your voice to the hopefully millions of voices that will join us in asking for one of the greatest movie experiences of all time to be brought to the most visually rich and incredible movie screens of all time in celebration of its' 25th anniversary.

You can visit the petition by clicking here - and please spread the word to your friends as well.

It is my hope that within the next 18 months or so, I can sit down in our local IMAX theater (possibly donning 3-D glasses) and enjoy the breathtaking splendor that is Koyaanisqatsi like i've never seen it before. So please - sign the petition!

YOu will NEVER regret doing so.

POPCORN'S PIX - A sensory overload you'll never forget...

THIS WEEK'S PIX: KOYAANISQATSI
DIRECTOR: GODFREY REGGIO

Each and every week in "Popcorn's Pix!", I turn the spotlight on a personal favorite movie from the past, be it recent or distant, and give it the ol' once-over.

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Koyaanisqatsi (pronounced Koy-ann-a-scott-see) is quite a hard movie to classify. A documentary, a social commentary, a visual masterpiece, all of the above and yet, in many ways, none of the above...and I know that doesn't make sense, but sometimes the movie doesn't make sense either. Or perhaps it makes TOO MUCH SENSE and we don't want to admit it...

I first discovered this movie when Siskel and Ebert brought it up on their old "At The Movies" TV show, and went out of my way to watch it when PBS premiered it sometime in the mid-80s. I hadn't seen it in early 20 years when it was released on DVD, and I promptly snatched it up, because I remembered how it had mesmerized me at the time, and I had to show it to PRL, who hadn't seen it before.

Needless to say, it is still as valid now as it was back then.

And it's ALL about the imagery. Set to an incredible score by Philip Glass, Koyaanisqatsi, which is Hopi indian for "life out of balance" , is 87 minutes of incredible visuals. There is no dialogue, although there are several Hopi chants interspersed throughout the film.

It starts out soaring over majestic deserts, with their rocky crags rising up through the sky. But about 15 minutes into the film, this beautiful sequence gives way to a look at how life, thanks to the forward motion of mechanical progress, has gone crazy. Using both original and stock footage, Reggio puts together a visual pastiche of progress, showing people sunbathing on a beach in the shadow of a large nuclear plant, airplanes coming and going, buildings going up and coming down, lights in those skyscrapers going on and off, the huge throngs of traffic in todays metropolitan life, the masses of people using public transportation, masses of people just walking through cites, neon and chrome at its best and at its worst, and much much more.

I have seen this film over a dozen times since it came out on DVD, and each time I watch it, I find something I hadn't noticed before. In a typical viewing, emotions range from wonderous to depressed, as Reggio begins to show what mankind has done to the earth as progress has moved us forward.

I have also shown the film to a number of friends, and for some reason, many don't see the beauty that I have in this film. Yes, there's been sacrifices for progress, but there IS hope for the future. Most of my friends just find it depressing, but not me. I find it wonderous. Some of the finest cinematography in history shows in the early sequences, and also off and on throughout the amalgam of stock footage.

If you want depressing, check out the second film in Reggio's trilogy, Powiiqatsi (1988), which means "Life in Transformation". I saw this one for the first time when Koyaanisqatsi came out on DVD, and was so disturbed and dismayed by the abjectly horrid conditions of humankind shown within that I haven't watched it since. And I have yet to see Naqoyqatsi, or "life in war", the final installment of the trilogy which was finally released in 2002, but i've heard it's the worst of the three, and also the ugliest, which isn't to say I shouldn't see it someday, and I plan to, too.

But Koyaanisqatsi, quite simply, is a MASTERPIECE, a brilliant commentary on life in today's society, and is one of the few "artsy" movies that I truly embrace as one of my favorite movies. I would love to see this movie on the big screen - I was a bit cash-strapped and missed the big screen re-release which occurred at the time of the DVD issue. And, although it would be risky for someone with my sometimes queasy, heights-fearing stomach, I'd REALLY love to see an IMAX version issued. Now THAT would truly be something to behold. But for now, the best way to watch it is to put it on the biggest screen you have in your home, fire up the DVD player, turn out the lights, and don't look away, because you will without a doubt miss something if you do...

Koyaanisqatsi is worth seeing at least once in a lifetime. And even if you never see it again, at least you'll die someday knowing you saw something that was so huge, so hard to comprehend and interpret, and yet so undeniably incredible that you'll never forget it as long as you live.

POPCORN'S PIX - A Cult Classic

THIS WEEK'S PIX: DANGER:DIABOLIK
STARS: JOHN PHILIP LAW, MARISA MELL, MICHAEL PICCOLI, ADOLPHO CELI, TERRY-THOMAS
DIRECTOR: MARIO BAVA

Each and every week in "Popcorn's Pix!", I turn the spotlight on a personal favorite movie from the past, be it recent or distant, and give it the ol' once-over.

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As everyone knows by now (or maybe not..), I have extremely weird tastes in movies. Not necessarily weird movies, mind you, but weird tastes in movies. I love movies other people think are dumb or stupid.  However, this weeks' Pix is most definately a weird movie.

Danger:Diabolik is one of those types of movies you either love or hate. I happen to love it. It's a piece of the cinematic 60s that is not destined to be forgotten anytime soon. It is a TRUE cult classic in every sense of the word.

The movie follows the exploits of anti-hero Diabolik and his girlfriend Eva, who do everything they can to make the italian government miserable. As the movie's ad states, he's 'out for all he can take, seduce, or get away with..."  This superthief can't get enough of the expensive things in life and does his best to get them while making the authorities chasing him look like oafs and idiots. In doing so, he also makes the local crime boss look like an idiot, so the boss ends up teaming with the authorities to try and stop Diabolik's reign of terror.  Only it doesnt quite work out that way, and Diabolik triumphs again...

The movie is full of action from start to finish, as Diabolik uses a variety of devices to make his way through his crimes. His base, a secret underground lair, is one of the most fantastic sets in film history, a maze of tunnels, driveways, and a huge psychiedelic house all included there.

There ARE problems with Diabolik, the most obvious being the fact that he has no qualms about commtting murder to achieve his ends. He offs several police officers and a number of other ordinary citizens throughout the course of the movie.

The police are portrayed as slightly incompetent but still persistant, and even when they think they've beaten Diabolik, one last shocker comes along to let you know that they probably haven't.

Fresh from his turn in another cult classic, Barberella, John Philip Law is excellent as the ruthless, cunning thief, and Marisa Mell is excellent as his stunningly beautiful companion, Eva.

I first saw the movie (as i'm sure most americans did) as the final episode of Mystery Science Theatre 3000, and the first thing that I immediately fell in love with was its intensely wonderful & kitchsy "Space Age Bachelor Pad" score by Ennio Morricone, later known for his scores to the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns.  The films' look is very late 60s, with super psychedelic clothes, sets, and imagery, in many ways similar to the Dean Martin Matt Helm movies of the same general period, which, not surprisingly, I also love.

In watching the DVD of Diabolik this past week for the first time since I purchased it about a year ago, another mystery has emerged from the movie. Both the MST version and the DVD version were obviously redubbed, although it's easy to see that the dialogue was originally said in english. The DVD makes no attempt to disguise that fact. However a whole legion of fans for the movie spring from the fact that the MST version has one of the most inane lines of dialogue uttered. In one scene of the movie, which was also selected to be the MST episodes "stinger" at the very end of the show - - the VERY LAST MST STINGER EVER - , Adolpho Celi as the crime boss stands on his yacht, and looks out at another boat approaching, delivering the immortal line, "Is that Stud coming?"

That line, from the MST version and classic stinger, is NOWHERE to be found on the DVD version. The line, as actually recited by Celi on the DVD is "Who's that Coming? It Must be Stud."

Now a new question arises: Did Mystery Science Theatre 3000 deliberately recut the line to get the desired effect?  Or had someone else already done the creative reediting beforehand and it just happened to be on the version aquired by MST? I sure hope it's the latter, because if it's the former, i'd be very disappointed...I thought Mike, Kevin, Bill, Mary Jo and the others around that final season were funny enough without thinking that they felt it necessary to have to resort to editing tricks to get a line that never actually existed in the movie.  I mean, come on, the whole point of MST was to celebrate the wonderful weirdness of lesser known, and usually badly acted and written, movies as they already were out there. If you have to change part of it to get the effect, then you lose the whole point of the show, I think.

Oh well...

The DVD of the movie also includes a number of extras, including commentary from Diabolik himself, John Philip Law, along with Tim Lucas, the biographer of director Mario Bava. It also includes the original trailers for the film, a "making of" feature looking at how the comic was adapted to film, and the Beastie Boys video "Body Movin'", a loving tribute to the movie, and optional commentary on the video with Beastie Boy Adam Yausch.  All in all, a nice bonus package.

DANGER:DIABOLIK has to be seen to be believed.  And I believe it to be good enough to be this week's Pix!