Review for Visitors

Visitors is not so much a film as an experience and one that demands you to give it your full attention. It would be difficult to explain what is going on, to be honest with no dialogue, no written texts to explain what is going on, it would be difficult to explain what is going on. And I will probably be wrong if I tried, but I will.

Through use of music, technology, puppetry and the human body, creator Godfrey Reggio creates a film of montages to show our relationship and interaction with technology. It would be difficult to assess what the point of the film is as only Reggio would be able to say that, but as with all great art, this is open for interpretation.

In black and white we get to see close ups of Gorillas, human faces, buildings, hands and many other landscapes. The mix shouldn't work, but with the mesmerising score provided by Philip Glass it is almost like watching a musical concert with a visual show throughout.

As I say, this is not a film in the true sense, or a documentary (which it keeps being put into), this is more akin to an art installation and it this this aspect that does make the film suffer. I cannot argue that this whole piece is beautiful, from the very first shot to the last it looks wonderful and the music throughout is simply breathtaking. But, it is so doubtful that you will ever watch this more than once and even then it may just be to have that wonderful music in the background while you do something else. It really does belong in an art gallery or in some art house theatre. It is almost like a film you would watch in a planetarium while someone explains a scientific principle.

This is maybe where the film also falls down. Because it is not overt about what it is supposed to be achieving. You come away saying 'Wow that was amazing, don't know what it meant, but it was amazing.' If this film had been about our dependence on technology (as it does seem to hint at) and was more overt about this message, then it would have been more powerful. Instead it is simply a beautifully made montage of images alongside a perfect musical score.

The extras could really be described as 'explanations'. There is a short documentary which really just explains how the film was made, which is interesting to see how advanced the film was in its making using the new 4K technology. There are also interviews with Director Godfrey Reggio, Producer Jon Kane, Composer Philip Glass and Steven Soderbergh who really helped promote this film. All of these interviews are fascinating with so many different 'Perspectives on Visitors', which is probably why they were all included under that heading.

I found these all fascinating and though I wish some or all had come together for a commentary, these thoughts about the making of the film and what it is supposed to be is vastly superior to most interviews I have seen. There is a real love of the film from everyone speaking and you can tell that even if most do not agree on what the film is supposed to be, you cannot argue with their own interpretation.

Visitors is a film that everyone needs to experience. Though I feel that you will never watch this more than once and probably (as I am) be more interested in owning the soundtrack than the movie, I feel that together they are so powerful that it is difficult to ignore. I do wish that the overall concept had been more overt, but by leaving it open it means that anyone visiting this film will have a different experience to the one before.