When a film stares back at the viewer, how long does it take to compartmentalize that what is staring back is a constantly shifting void? That along with other questions are posed during the course of Godfrey Reggio’s (“Koyaanisqatsi” trilogy) film “Visitors.”
This latest film from Reggio plays much like his other efforts, presented in a wordless haze of images. Although the difference here is that its shot in black and white, and centered around various functions of the human face and body rather than the grandeur and peculiarities of the world as we know it.
The resolution is in a stunning 4K Digital projection, or ultra high definition, which adds an uncanny depth to most of the faces on screen. Every crack and blemish is on display in remarkable definition. “Visitors” has the qualities of an art installation leaving narrative foils behind, but it does contain its own fascinating quirks and thematic qualities. Much of the narrative runs through the reappearance of Triska, a gorilla currently residing in the Bronx zoo, who makes her appearance well know throughout the film.
Sifting through other portions of “Visitors” yields depictions of a strange ballet-like movements involving an assortment of hands. It quickly becomes clear that they are mimicking various ways which we communicate with the outside world, namely moving fingers on a laptop cursor or the clutching a mouse.
Reggio’s film questions various capacities of human emotions, the way we might be thrilled at sporting events or how a group of people might walk with each other without acknowledging each others presence. It’s all very hypnotizing, but it also makes for a chilling experience as a cinema viewing exploit.
A film such as “Visitors” would be better suited to be placed in a museum gallery, although one cannot avoid the pleasures of Philip Glass’s (“Notes on a Scandal”) towering and dynamic score, that becomes the star of the film. Much like listening to a symphony in a concert hall, the film replicates that experience and rather than letting the imagination take the reigns, “Visitors” applies a rigorous attention to aiding the score in its visuals.
Its visual economy is confounding, “Visitors” has the strange compunction to be viewed on both a cinematic plane as well as an artistic one. Reggio’s film may not reach the heights, or memorability, of his “Koyaanisqatsi” trilogy, but the film has its own pleasures.
