There was this theater in Paris near Gobelins where they'd show Koyaanisqatsi every saturday night at like 10PM - a bit like Rocky Horror but for nerds. We saw it many times, in various altered states of consciousness. It was deep. The score is of course and integral part. https://twitter.com/philipglass/status/1303457247100633093

We'd grab a sandwich or something, imbibe the substances, and then head to the theater. I think I even fell asleep in there once.

I saw it completely sober several times too. It was as trippy.

Koyaanisqatsi is what movies could have been, in a world that is decommodified and where there is no longer a need to sell cheap thrills and melodrama.

Or maybe Koyaanisqatsi is exactly what movies can be, completely free of commercial purpose and bullshit "storytelling" and "characters" and "payoffs."

Imagine this, a movie without a single word uttered.

(if you look at the end credits, Reggio thanks Guy Debord, think about this for a minute)

Anyways that was a periodic reminder that so-called "popular culture" is neither "popular" (ongoing corporate extraction of intellectual property rents) nor really "culture" (fake choice between equally impoverished and insipid mass-produced trinkets for sale).

(i'll finish by saying that my only ambition in life is to write something someday that will approach Koyaanisqatsi's take-no-prisoners aesthetic and absolute freedom from commercial obligations)