Last week I set some things in motion that culminated in a wonderful evening last night. Last week I watched Baraka for the for the first time in a few years. I was blown away by the beautiful images. When it was over, it made me think about the movie that began that sort of filmmaking, Koyaanisqatsi. It has also been a few years since I last watched Koyaanisqatsi, however after watching the perfection that is Baraka on Blu-ray I realized that the DVD version of Koyaanisqatsi was not going to be good enough. I knew that there was a Criterion Collection set of the Qatsi trilogy so I bought it on Blu-ray. The package with the movies arrived late yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday had been a strange day for me. I felt a little out of it, like I had taken some cold medicine that was making me loopy. After I had fed my dogs I started yawning for some reason. Since I was planning to watch the movie, I didn’t want to be falling asleep so I drank a 5 Hour Energy. As I got ready to move from the office to the living room I turned off my computer and then I noticed something. Quiet.
At around 8:00 in the evening the only thing I could hear was the whine of my tinnitus. There were no fans, pumps or compressors running. My dogs, who can snort a lot were quiet. I could not hear kids or dogs or traffic from outside. No wind or anything. It was functionally silent. I went into the living room and just sat for a few minutes enjoying the solitude. I sat on the couch and got the dogs to join me. I closed my eyes and meditated in the quiet company of my fuzzy buddies.
A few minutes of that had me ready for the film. In my relaxed state just before I started the disc I smoked some cannabis. Several minutes into the watching experience and I am amazed at how good this version of Koyaanisqatsi looks. At some point I lost all sense of my body and felt as if I was floating in the air in front of the screen. I was relaxed yet totally focused on the movie.
At some point I needed to take a break and give Duncan his meds. The spell was broken but I was still able to fully enjoy the rest of the movie. And it turns out I would consider last night to be the best viewing of Koyaanisqatsi that I have ever had. And this is movie that I love.
And that was my unexpectedly perfect evening.