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Koyaanisqatsi poster

Movies that feel likeKoyaanisqatsi (1983)

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

If you loved Koyaanisqatsi, the closest films we have are The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988), Stop Making Sense (1984) and The Last Waltz (1978). All three share Koyaanisqatsi's contemplative and stylish feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988).

🍅 91% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Godfrey Reggiocontemplativestylish
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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See it on the Mood Map

If Koyaanisqatsi hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Powaqqatsi (1988) · Naqoyqatsi (2002)

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years poster
🍅 76%★ 7.2documentary · music

Common ground: social commentary

The difference: Leans harder into music than Koyaanisqatsi does

An exploration of the heavy metal scene in Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on glam metal. It features concert footage and interviews of legendary heavy metal and hard rock bands and artists such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Megadeth, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and W.A.S.P..

Stop Making Sense poster
Stop Making Sense
1984 · dir. Jonathan Demme
🍅 100%★ 8.7documentary · musicRent or buy

Both land stillness and style at once

A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album "Speaking in Tongues." The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals.

The Last Waltz poster
The Last Waltz
1978 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 98%★ 8.1documentary · musicPrime Video

Contemplative documentary, and it commits to that

Martin Scorsese's documentary intertwines footage from The Band's incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, and other rock legends.

Gimme Shelter poster
Gimme Shelter
1970 · dir. Albert Maysles
🍅 93%★ 7.8documentary · musicMax

Documentary with a pulse of style, in both cases

A detailed chronicle of the famous 1969 tour of the United States by the British rock band The Rolling Stones, which culminated with the disastrous and tragic concert held on December 6 at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, an event of historical significance, as it marked the end of an era: the generation of peace and love suddenly became the generation of disillusionment.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston poster
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
2006 · dir. Jeff Feuerzeig
🍅 88%★ 7.9documentary · music

Both lean on stillness more than on documentary

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

This 2005 documentary film chronicles the life of Daniel Johnston, a manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist, from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his mental illness and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obsession.

Distant Voices, Still Lives poster
Distant Voices, Still Lives
1988 · dir. Terence Davies
🍅 80%★ 7.4drama · music

A streak of style through both

Siblings Maisie and Tony, along with their mother, gather for their sister Eileen's wedding. It is a joyous occasion, but through flashbacks, it becomes clear that the family was not always happy. Their father was physically abusive to his wife and left the children emotionally traumatized. As a result, the children have grown into unhappy adults, looking for love they didn't receive when they were young.

Searching for Sugar Man poster
Searching for Sugar Man
2012 · dir. Malik Bendjelloul
🍅 95%★ 8.2music · documentaryHulu

Both are documentary through and through

Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock 'n' roller, Rodriguez.

20 Feet from Stardom poster
20 Feet from Stardom
2013 · dir. Morgan Neville
🍅 99%★ 7.4documentary · music

Documentary of the same temperament

Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead, until now.

Woodstock poster
Woodstock
1970 · dir. Michael Wadleigh
🍅 100%★ 8.1documentary · music

The documentary is handled with the same confidence

An intimate look at the Woodstock Music & Art Festival held in Bethel, NY in 1969, from preparation through cleanup, with historic access to insiders, blistering concert footage, and portraits of the concertgoers; negative and positive aspects are shown, from drug use by performers to naked fans sliding in the mud, from the collapse of the fences by the unexpected hordes to the surreal arrival of National Guard helicopters with food and medical assistance for the impromptu city of 500,000.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan poster
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
2015 · dir. Kabir Khan
🍅 91%★ 8.1music · dramaNetflix

A 2010s cousin in spirit

A young mute girl from Pakistan loses herself in India with no way to head back. A devoted man with a magnanimous spirit undertakes the task to get her back to her motherland and unite her with her family.

We Are the Best! poster
We Are the Best!
2013 · dir. Lukas Moodysson
🍅 97%★ 7.1drama · musicPrime Video

Reaching back to the 2010s for it

Three girls in 1980s Stockholm decide to form a punk band—despite not having any instruments, and being told by everyone that punk is dead.

The Legend of 1900 poster
The Legend of 1900
1998 · dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
🍅 58%★ 8drama · music

A 1990s answer to the same itch

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Musician Max Tooney goes to sell his prized Conn trumpet to a music shop, where he plays the instrument one last time. The shopkeeper recognises the song as one on a record matrix he found and asks who the piece is by. Tooney tells the story of an infant found abandoned in the first class dining room of the four-stacker ocean-liner SS Virginian on 1 January 1900. Danny Boodman, a coal-man from the boiler room, names the boy Danny Boodman T. D. Lemon 1900, after himself, the fruit crate the boy was found in, and the year, and raises him as his own.

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The best-reviewed films that share Koyaanisqatsi’s defining feeling.