What is important here is whether you accept Visitors as it is , or are not able get it. American director Godfrey Reggio uses slow motion and time-lapse techniques here and in some of his previous films: Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi . In the time-lapse sequences, for instance, Reggio films a high-rise building or a landscape for what seems a very long time. Hours. He shows it at a much faster speed. We see clouds come and go, daytime becoming nighttime. But Visitors is really a study of the human face. Sometimes looking at us, other times they walk together, the camera focussing on one then another. At one point people are sitting watching a sport event , their reactions shown in slow motion. But most of the times we don’t know what they’re thinking. They are all ages, sex, race. There is no dialogue. It is beautifully filmed in stunning black-and-white (the film has three cinematographer). A pulsating score by minimalist composer Phillip Glass helps (as in the qatsi films) complete the picture. This a not to be missed. A fine work of art.
Rémi-Serge Gratton
Visitors
Directed by:
Godfrey Reggio
