Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out Of Balance (DVD)
Directed by: Godfrey Reggio
Cinematography by: Ron Fricke
Music composed by: Philip Glass

With all the crap in theatres nowadays, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that movies are an art form, and they can be examined on the same level of creative expression as things like painting, sculpting, or photography. That’s why I find it exciting to discover a movie like Koyaaniqatsi: a genuine work of art that manages to be so powerful, so elegant, and so utterly captivating using only images and music, that it makes you wonder how you can ever sit through another forgettable Hollywood popcorn flick ever again.

Now I’m not saying that Koyaaniqatsi is the ultimate film masterpiece of our time (although occasionally it feels like it could be), only that strives for something of a vastly larger magnitude than pretty much anything you could go out and watch at your local Cineplex Odeon on any given day. Koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi indian word that essentially means “Life Out Of Balance”, which is quite fitting because the film indirectly documents and summarizes the entire history of the planet, the evolution of mankind, and provides an external look at our slow descent into self-destruction. It’s like a scrapbook of human existence but with random snapshots rather than photos of specific historical events. There are no actors and no script, no story or dialogue of any sort. At times it feels like a documentary, but there’s no narration and it is completely open to interpretation, with only the Philip Glass’ epic score hinting towards emotions these pictures should be evoking from us.

The movie starts off rather slowly, fading in from a cave painting to calm, soothing shots of nature including rock formations and bodies of water. The tempo gradually picks up as human life enters the picture, and it begins to juxtapose rhythmic footage of industry, buildings, machinery, urban sprawls, and traffic as the music builds and the images speed up furiously into fast-forward motion. Clearly, the main point the movie is trying to hammer home is how technology is spreading like a virus, and how it is decaying and tainting the natural world around us.

The cinematography by Ron Fricke is awe-inspiring. I felt like virtually every frame of this movie could be frozen as a still photograph and framed and hung on my wall. (In fact I found it very hard to narrow down the number of screenshots I used for this DVD review.) The angles and the framing of the shots are clever, and the real-life subject matter often appears fake because it is just captured so brilliantly. It gives you an outside perspective on human life and makes you realize that we take for granted the wonders (and the horrors) of the everyday world around us simply because we see them all the time.

Considering that it is a pure art film, Koyaanisqatsi is not overly pretentious or heavy-handed. It is instilled with a certain spiritual atmosphere that was no doubt intended by director Godfrey Reggio, but it does not feel corny or preachy. Still, I have to admit that Koyaanisqatsi seems a little lengthy for what it is and although it only conforms to the standard 90 minute duration, it may not hold most people’s attention all the way through. I found my mind drifting at times; not because it was boring overall, but because some segments of the movie seem to drag on and repeat longer than necessary. While having your mind drift is an important part of the experience since you need to contemplate what you are seeing, the pacing of certain areas could have used some tweaking. In order to fill up the 90 minutes more impressively, it would have been nice if they added a few more transitions and a bit more variety in the footage.

The DVD contains a 25 minute featurette called “Essence of Life” that showcases interviews with Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass that really give you appreciation for their creative process. Also included on the DVD are trailers for Koyaanisqatsi and the two other movies in the “Qatsi” trilogy, Powaqqatsi (Life In Transformation) and the most recent one, Naqoyqatsi (Life At War), which I don’t believe is out on DVD yet.

As a side note to the nitpickers, I’ve read that the MGM DVD release of Koyaanisqatsi messes with the movie’s “original” aspect ratio a little bit. The footage was shot with a 1.33:1 ratio, but when the movie was released in theatres it was matted to 1.85:1. This DVD reproduces the theatrical version, so I guess technically the images are cropped slightly. It’s really a matter of preference (and finance) whether or not you want to own the MGM version or the other unmatted version, which is apparently harder to find and much more expensive.

Koyaanisqatsi is a movie that is not necessarily made for the casual moviegoer, but is a must-see for just about anyone with an interest in art. For a movie that was released in 1983, it’s still just as relevant as ever, and just as impressive too. Some people might claim that this is the kind of movie you will only watch once, but I beg to differ… I am finding it gets better with each viewing. It’s an exhilarating experience for the senses, not to mention the heart and the soul! — Sean

Robert Poss - Distortion Is Truth/Crossing Casco Bay
(Trace Elements)

The name Robert Poss didn’t ring any bells with me, and so upon receiving these two discs to review I didn’t really know what I was getting into. For all I knew, this was an independent folk singer/songwriter hawking his lo-fi home recordings, and quite frankly the thought was a little off-putting. I should have looked more closely at the album artwork, because the collection of gadgetry and electronic diagrams would have been my first clue that there is nothing folky about these records. When I finally got around to reluctantly listening to these albums, I was quite intrigued to hear something very refreshing and unique.

Robert Poss, as it turns out, was a member of the Band Of Susans, an avante-garde rock group from New York in the late 80’s/early 90’s. I didn’t know much about this band except that Helmet’s Page Hamilton had a short stint with them, and hearing these songs now explains a lot about Page Hamilton’s own experimental guitar leanings.

Distortion Is Truth and Crossing Casco Bay are collections of recordings made by Poss in the years since the break up of Band Of Susans. Some tracks are live, often improvised, while others were captured in a studio. Each track individually is more or less a work of “sonic art”, a mixture of guitar feedback, distortion, and electronic gadgetry that vary from 5 minute noise pieces and droning abstract layers of sound to more straightforward rock songs, some even with vocals. However, it is all very clearly the work of a talented man, one who has studied and mastered every aspect of the electric guitar and who is now expanding the boundaries of what the instrument can achieve.

Some people may find the majority of this material unlistenable or boring. I, in turn, might find those people to be unlistenable and boring. The more I hear and absorb these songs, the more I am able to find beauty in their construction, although they certainly require an open mind.

It’s true that minimalist tracks like “Crossing Casco Bay” and “Management Confidential” may sound like simple waves of feedback that never develop into anything that could even be called music, but there are also songs like “That Same Dream Again” which brings glitchy noise loops and percussion together to create a halfway accessible, if rather eerie, rock tune, or “Where Do Things Stand”, which almost seems to take the rhythm section from Filter’s “Hey Man Nice Shot” and attack it with bursts of guitar fuzz.

Distortion Is Truth contains 16 different compositions covering a number of different sounds and styles, which detracts from the album’s cohesiveness but ensures that the listener stays interested with short, varied doses. Crossing Casco Bay, on the other hand, contains only 5 songs, two of which are 20 minute minimalist excursions that are a little bit harder to appreciate. Crossing Casco Bay also contains one of my favourite tracks however: “Theme For An Imaginary Car Commercial” with whirring bleeps and chirps put to a danceable synthetic drumbeat.

It’s tough to compare Robert Poss’ work to anything else being done today, but I am pretty sure that fans of Sonic Youth will fall in love with this, as will (I’m guessing) followers of Band Of Susans and generally a lot of stuff on Touch & Go Records. If you’re looking for some challenging experimental and improvisational music that is the complete opposite of what you might hear on the radio at any given time, then look up Robert Poss. It’s might be just what the doctor ordered. — Sean

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance (Gamecube)
Developed by: Black Isle
Published by: Interplay

Grab some 20-sided dice, a player’s handbook, and some fellow geeks… it’s time to saddle up for fantasy and adventure with Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. Actually, you won’t need any of those things in order to play this game, although you do have the option of bringing one friend along for the ride — all you really need is a Nintendo Gamecube. Dark Alliance is an action/adventure RPG based on the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying system, and set in the popular Forgotten Realms campaign world (specifically in the port city of Baldur’s Gate). To my knowledge, this is something that’s been done more than a few times before, but very rarely with such enjoyable results.

As a traveller in the Forgotten Realms, you have come to Baldur’s Gate in the hopes of fame and fortune. Upon your arrival however, you are robbed by a group of thugs leaving you with no money and no possessions. You learn that this is becoming more and more frequent in the city, and begin to investigate rumours of a new Thieves’ Guild moving into the city. However, there is much more at work than just a Thieves’ Guild… your journey will take you to various locales and bring you into contact with such creatures as orcs, skeletons, ogres, gelatinous cubes, beholders, giants, and even dragons.

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is not nearly as detailed or extensive an RPG as a game like Neverwinter Nights — Dark Alliance uses a dumbed-down version of the D&D system, with only three different choices for player classes: Elven sorceress, Dwarven fighter, or Human archer. Each class has its own advantages and disadvantages, but there isn’t a huge difference between them. The game is very action-oriented, so there is no need for intricate skills or special player attributes… combat is all that matters. You do however get to customize and upgrade some different “feats” whenever you reach a new level, and these differ between the 3 player classes (ie. the archer can build up enchanted arrow attacks, the sorcerer has a wider variety of spells to choose from, and the dwarf can learn enhanced blocking and attack techniques).

You also get to collect large amounts of items during your dungeon crawling and build up an arsenal of kickass weapons over time. This small added dimension of customization should be enough to keep RPG freaks happy without scaring off casual action/adventure gamers. The most important thing (and the thing that made me most happy) is that you can actually control your attacks in real-time, thus avoiding a tedious round-based battle system. There are some elements of the D&D combat system hidden beneath the surface, such as armor classes and critical hits, but they are mostly transparent to the user.

It’s important to mention that this is an exact port of a Playstation 2 game, so it’s technically a couple years old now and there are no additional features or noticeable differences in gameplay. It’s still enjoyable and doesn’t really feel dated, but the translation didn’t come across perfectly. In particular, the game sometimes has trouble maintaining a smooth frame rate, often stuttering slightly during cinematics and when rotating the 3d camera view during gameplay. Considering that the Gamecube is technically a more powerful system than the Playstation 2, this is just sloppy development. However, the graphics and sound are still very impressive overall. The water ripple effects on puddles are sweet, the particle effects for explosions and magic spells are dazzling, and the facial animations for the cinematics are smooth and natural. Many of the little animations for the enemy creatures are overwhelmingly detailed too… who doesn’t love dismembering a zombie only to have the individual body parts continue crawling towards you? The game is further enhanced by the use of quality voice actors (including John Rhys-Davies, and also Michael Bell, Jim Cummings, Frank Welker, and other veterans of classic cartoons over the years ), and an epic musical score composed by Jeremy Soule.

The multiplayer option is definitely an added bonus, and at times Dark Alliance bares some resemblance to the classic game Gauntlet in this regard. Not enough adventure/RPG games have co-operative gameplay, which is silly because the whole idea of a role-playing game is usually to work with a group to combine your efforts. It’s always nice to have a second sword when you take on hordes of monsters… the only problem is you’ll find yourselves constantly fighting over the fat loot.

The game could have been taken to another level if there were more puzzles and more in-depth story elements, but as it is, it’s still an enjoyable hack and slash affair. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance seems to have been overlooked or written off by a lot of people, but it’s a definitely a must play for any RPG fans and could also appeal to many others. D&D players will probably appreciate it the most just for the detail and accuracy of the weapons, magic and monsters, but it’s also really quick to pick up and easy to play. What’s more, you should be able to buy it for either the Gamecube or PS2 at a reasonable price, so give it a try. I haven’t been hooked like this on a game for quite a while. — Sean