Philip Glass To Perform At Screenings

Silent movies with live musical accompaniment are nothing new. But the movies are usually in black-and-white, they were made 70 or 80 years ago and the music is limited to piano or pipe-organ scores that may not have been composed for the film.

Not so the Paramount's upcoming screenings of Godfrey Reggio's "Koyaanisqatsi" and "Powaqqatsi," two spectacular color films that were produced in the 1980s, with music composed by Philip Glass. Next weekend, Glass and his 18-member ensemble will be here to re-create the scores live.

"This is an old art form, not a new one, but the films provide something for the times we're living right now," said Glass by phone from New York just before going on tour.

Both movies deal abstractly with the impact of the 20th century on the environment, contrasting striking wide-screen images of the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, struggling laborers and a disintegrating rocket. "Koyaanisqatsi" is a Hopi term that means "life out of balance."

The ensemble will also take "Powaqqatsi" to San Diego, Dallas and Los Angeles this month, but only Seattle and Berkeley will get both films. "Koyaanisqatsi" (1982) plays at 8 p.m. April 2, "Powaqqatsi" (1988) at 8 p.m. April 3. Reggio and Glass are working on another film to complete the trilogy, but they haven't found financing.

"Funding has been very tricky for the third part," said Glass. "These movies earn back their money but it takes three or four years, and to an accountant that doesn't make sense. They earn too slowly. The third one will be about 40 percent old footage, 60 percent new. It's about life in a state of war."

However, Glass and Reggio haven't discontinued their collaboration since "Powaqqatsi" was finished five years ago. They made a similar half-hour movie, "Anima Mundi," that won the prize for best short film at last year's Seattle International Film Festival.

Glass first connected with Reggio in New York in 1980, when the filmmaker had already shot about half of "Koyaanisqatsi." Francis Ford Coppola had just had a stunning success at Radio City Music Hall with a live orchestral presentation of Abel Gance's 1926 silent epic, "Napoleon," and he helped Glass and Reggio set up a similar showing of "Koyaanisqatsi" there.

"At the Radio City premiere, about 6,000 people came pouring out of the theater," said Glass. "It was like a football game.

"I was so impressed with the footage Godfrey showed me. The movie may not have seemed novel at first sight, but it was very well-presented and articulate, and it seemed a bit ahead of its time."

"Powaqqatsi" did not enjoy the same box-office success, but Glass feels closer to it. Unlike the first film, it was a true collaboration. No footage had been shot before Glass started working on the score.

"I think I prefer it because I was there from the first day, and I think it's musically more interesting, too," said Glass. "I traveled to a number of places where he was shooting, and while I wasn't interested in re-creating African music, I wanted to use the instruments."

Glass feels that the live version of "Powaqqatsi" has "an organic quality" that makes it quite different from watching the movie in other circumstances. Only one pre-recorded piece is used near the end: "We tried it live once and it just seemed better to return to the original."

"Koyaanisqatsi" was the movie that turned Glass into a film composer. Errol Morris later enlisted him to score "The Thin Blue Line" and "A Brief History of Time," and he has branched out to do the music for a few Hollywood films, including "Hamburger Hill" and last year's popular horror movie "Candyman." He also contributed the music to Paul Schrader's "Mishima" biography and the 1991 philosophical talk session "Mindwalk."

" `Candyman' is the closest I've come to making an industry film," said Glass. "There's just never enough time with those movies. It's not like working for Godfrey or Errol or Paul Schrader.

"There are some talented guys in Hollywood, but they're not treated well. They're always asked to write fast music for a chase. Why not slow? I like a distance between image and music, something not too literal, not right on the image but loose."

Among his favorite film composers are Ennio Morricone and Nino Rota. Glass' latest symphony is based on "Low," a David Bowie/Brian Eno album that Bowie originally had intended to use in "The Man Who Fell to Earth."

"I began by calling David and letting him know what I had in mind - a full symphonic treatment from his and Brian's original `Low' record," he said. "He was delighted with the idea and encouraged me to follow my own musical inclinations." It was released last month on CD.

"These tours have really become a staple of the ensemble," said Glass, who first performed "Koyaanisqatsi Live!" in 1984 and "Powaqqatsi Live!" in 1990. He said Seattle and Berkeley will get both films because he's already done "Koyanniqatsi Live!" in most other cities on the tour.