Uhm... no plot here guys, more of a meditation on the Northern hemisphere, from the sheer beauty of its geography to the remarkable lights and structures of the cities and its people.

Using (for its time) innovative speeded up and slowed down filming techniques in New York and other cities (we are sure there is a technical description of this but nobody tells us nothing).

The movie draws a parallel from the large to the small (micro chips look the same as power stations - shock!). Some majestic sweeping views of stunning geographic structures too, all against evocative music which is virtually un-hummable.

"I love to meditate to this magnificent fruit filled muffin of a movie. A sheer inspiration in all of its effervescent egalitarian inconsequentialness. Bravo in alto and tenor both at the same time."

"A joy to experience this movie, either on or off drugs."

"To say that one watched this movie is insufficient - this movie grabs your soul and stuffs it into the liquidizer of all our realities, leaving one's soul completely mushed. A smoothie for the soul! Triumphalisimo!"

"I have seen this movie in many viewings, with both professors and teenage children, and, whilst the teenagers did get restless at times, I am sure exposure to this movie has made all of the difference to their upcoming arraignment."

Large Koyaanisqatsi lettering with definition of what it means (Life out of balance).

When this movie came out, my only objection to watching it in a cinema was the probability that I would have had the smallest mustache out of everyone watching it; the audience, too, would undoubtedly have enjoyed corduroy and would have put patches on their jacket elbows. For this movie attracts those of us of an intellectual bent, and I'm not being saucy here in the slightest, missus.

Thankfully, today we can appreciate this utter masterpiece without the fear of too much facial hair, on DVD. The movie is very stylish and has been much copied.

Perhaps, it is fair to offer, that this movie has been slightly surpassed, today, by the stunning natural history photography available and the preponderance of the superb Discovery Channel (and their ilk). But this movie was still one of the first of its type.

Tips of the hat and salutations all round.

Chinese takeaway - for that authentic early 1980's feeling.

In the position of movie reverence. In the position of about to chant: "Movie God: I sit here saluting you, babe!"

There is no nakedness in this movie, apart from a brief moment of cleavage in middle-aged-woman in Vegas. A disappointment.

We have to wait until Powaqqatsi until the producers deem we are grown up enough to observe a degree of nakedness and only then is it upper body nippleness.

This is your world, buddy. This is your life, both in slow-motion and super quick motion, but, sadly, no reverse motion which is always funny.

• Any Ph.D. student in geography
• Professor of linguistics, MIT
• Media Studies Honors student
• Beginners Video camera training
• A person who does not snore when they sleep

This is a must see movie for all human beings, as is Powaqqatsi.

2 1/3 minutes.

A book of Tibetan 'drunken' quotes.

If it is possible to rig up a chart where Abbot and Costello are at one end of movie history, then this movie will be the furthest possible point away from it.

A few f-words would have spiced up this movie no end, a poor effort all round.

This is one of those movies you might watch and nod off to sleep to, but one you really should try to watch all the way through at least once in your life.

Remarkable, thought provoking, has that wow factor - the same feeling you get in most of the Southern Californian National Parks. Has dated (or at least we have seen this sort of thing quite a bit since) , but remember this was original in its time...

March 15, 2003