Samsara

All these beautiful places in the world, all these fascinating cultures. And I'm just sitting here masturbating.

The photography is astounding, and the colors pop off screen. Like Koyaaniqatsi, it has a message behind it, although a bit more heavy handed. But no matter what, this is life. This is the world we live in. And then some guy shoves clay on his face and goes crazy.

The world is a wonderful, bleak, terrifying, amazing, humbling, violent, wonderful, awe-inspiring, disgusting, beautiful place

As a fan of KOYAANISQATSI (director Ron Fricke was its cinematographer), I felt an occasional sense of deja vu, though SAMSARA has no strong central theme (by design), which at times reduces it to a series of admittedly beautiful images. But its ethnographic passages are compelling, and some scenes (a performance art piece involving facial mud; a montage of industrialized food production; a glimpse of a sex doll factory) are agreeably vivid. An intriguing if not especially memorable experience.

Incredible. Manages to strongly articulate many of my most important beliefs through nothing but stunning images and sound. This is a much watch for anyone who eats meat or has an iPod.

A few powerful images do not make a good movie. This needs to either demonstrate some sense of continuity between the scenes or something quite different,but as it is it just appears a wishy washy montage accompanied by a mildly irritating soundtrack.

The great imagery does a lot to keep one interested, and the content, even while lacking context, is strong enough to give a lot of food for thought.

I find movies like this succeed or fail based on how effectively they can absorb you. This film unfortunately doesn't 'groove' well and neither the images or music flow smoothly.

Koyaanisqatsi without the mind or soundtrack ends up being a series of pretty visuals that loses focus.

I'll just repeat what I said about Baraka: Aesthetically perfect, philosophically moronic. And it's not that I disagree with what Fricke's trying to say (yes, factory farming, plastic waste, exploitation of workers, all bad things), it's just the way that he says it. It's like being hit on the head for two hours with a sign that says "You suck! Monks are awesome!" But that photography, man...that photography...

I think overall it was more streamlined than Koyaanisqatsi, but also less impactful for me. The Thousand-Hand Guan Yin was exceptionally beautiful and moving, but one does not require to watch the entire film in order to be amazed by it. The quality of filming is impeccable, but that alone does not make a film good. As a whole I think a little more continuity was needed. Perhaps I've seen too many similar images.

Mesmerizing!

Samsara is a provocative account of the tragic beauty of our modern existence. How we live together as people. How time always reminds us of the inevitable. It is surely not free from bias, and there are moments when the wonderful observant immersion is broken by manipulative images. These moments are fleeting but keep it from being the essential watch it easily could have been.

Marvel at and/or meditate to the peculiarity and grandeur of time-lapse... ahem, I mean... of Man and the world that we inhabit and ornate. There's some weird shit in this movie. Some stunningly beautiful shots, too.

Not that different from Baraka or Koyaanisqatsi to be special, but once again, a mesmerizing, thought-provoking look at sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly human world. When you think of it, it is a very depressing film, but just too beautiful to make you feel bad.

harika nedir? harika budur; samsara barakadan daha basarili buldum ben, sonsuz hizda ilerleyen modern dunyaya ulan iki dakka sakinlesin ve oturun dedirtecek kadar guzel bir yapimdi bunu da bana izleten ali dostuma tekrar tesekkurler.

Samsara is neat looking but ultimately empty, like watching a million pictures taken by rich American tourists around the world.

Yes it is a little repetitive, but we need to be REMINDED from time to time. Actually, THIS is how the news program should look like - the entire TRUTH about the entire WORLD.

Wow, this was really beautiful. I liked Baraka (1992) a lot, but this was even better, particularly because of the high definition capabilities of filmmaking nowadays. If you're prepared to just relax and enjoy some exquisite footage, I totally recommend this.

The human experience. Intensely beautiful, infinitely trivial, and absolutely disgusting. It's not just a documentary about pretty places; it makes you think about your life by showing you others' while accompanied by a fantastic score.

No real story, just (mostly) superb cinematography set to excellent music. I do wish they'd have identified a few of the places the showed. It starts off a little slow but becomes more engaging as it goes along. It's worth sticking with it.

Somehow Fricke manages to improve from Baraka. Tantalising. Breathtaking. Beautiful.

Awesome, in the fullest sense of the word.

A film for a passive viewer rather than an active one. If you try to figure out the scenes of industrial food production, dehumanizing labor, and the performance art piece (which seemed out of place) you might go a little crazy.

Humbling.

Exquisitely beautiful and reflective although it kinda has its way with you.

Just look at the images and relax on a sunday afternoon. Sometimes the obvious connections bothered me, e.g. sequences of natural beauty immediately followed by extreme pollution etc... but it works nonetheless. Also; asian martial arts schools are crazy.

9.1.17(+)

Camera porn. If the Voyager left today, this would be one of the things on it. Whoever comes across the cache however, will think the white man is a self-obsessed, multi-personality deviant. Maybe he is.

Expected to dislike this, based on my view of Baraka (1992), but, even though it is not immune from those problems, some of the choices are a little more interesting and direct. Nevertheless, too often it seems as though the goal is to elicit a “wow” from the audience, so that the whole thing still comes off as a high-grade music video, and therefore impotent. Ultimately, only Koyaanisqatsi (1982) worked for this viewer. Also, I prefer Glass’s hypnotic beats to these faux-“ethnic” compositions.

a great sensory experience with amazing visuals and care in the editing.

Works best when it's an art doc, exploring the various aesthetics of our world. Doesn't work so well when it tries to be a social doc (mainly through the use of suggestive editing). A sequence juxtaposing sex dolls and strippers isn't very insightful, nor is one that includes bullet production and a man being buried in a gun-shaped coffin. I can't be sure if Fricke wants to show us something universal or something unusual. It feels like he's aiming for the former, but giving us the latter.

Best film I've seen in years.

seeing this great film can be like a journey. the music is so WOW for the frame captured by Ron Fricke.

The imagery is amazing, captivating and thought provoking, though I do think it might be a more entertaining experience to watch someone else watch Samsara who is on copious amount of hallucinogens. Samsara is deep and moving but I'd be surprised if it didn't become a stoner favorite.

I'm not really sure what the point was. It looks pretty, though.

First of, this is a movie I find very difficult to review. It has the potential to sweep you off your feet with its stunning visuals and haunting music and it's a true work of art. But it's a little heavy-handed and demands your patience to get completely lost in.

The images here are a little more challenging than Baraka. Once again I felt like there isn't enough meaning in just showing these pictures. If I want to just experience the world as it is, I will go out into the world. Film should not serve as a substitute for experience, and I feel like Fricke's films are attempting to do this.

There are a few heavy-handed connections here that you can ignore and instead soak up the absolutely stunning shots

Another beautiful film made by Fricke. Every shot is gorgeous and I love the contrasts he makes. I didn't always like the music, but that's my personal taste. Just turn it on and dream away.

Takes itself, and its trite message, way too seriously. The beauty of the film is a product of the Earth itself, despite the filmmakers' best efforts to cram it into a small and patronizing box.

Continuation of Baraka, visual meditation on life. Slightly worse than 1992 first part.

Obviously beautiful.

@Büyülü Fener/KIZILAY

Like the others, just allows one to escape the mundane-ness or their lives and see all sorts of things throughout the world.

Beautifully shot scenes that wander through a variety of regions......though there are a few odd ones that involve sex dolls. Really takes your breath away though.

This was incredible

If I was nit-picking, I'd suggest that perhaps messages are being rammed home a bit forcibly from time-to-time, but that is just a nit-pick. This is a beautiful film, filled with some astonishing images, and thoughtfully composed. Clearly, a lot of care, time and effort went into this. A stunning piece of cinema, and highly recommended.

Seen: 2x

Very pictursque

Beautiful. Breathtaking. Stunning. Just a few of the words to describe Samsara. Relying on the strength of its cinematography (very few films outshine Samsara in this department) and the juxtaposition of images to relay a message to the viewer, Samsara is at the head of the pack for non-narrative, visual guided films. An almost spiritual journey that leads you all over the world, and a film in which asks a lot of questions but answers few.

Gorgeous film and well worth watching, although it's mildly sad that it hasn't held up as well since 2011 - youtube and more highlight reels have turned some of the incredible scenes of Samsara into simply blase retreads. Not really the film's fault and more about culture. It's a good film to just put on and get people talking.