Time of the Earth

According to the back jacket, this "unique desert dreamtime journey" (i.e., wordless nature music video) can be seen "either as an engaging audio-visual odyssey or for the environmental enhancement of one's living space." While certainly a notable step up from the video aquarium, this collaboration between filmmaker Steve Lazur and New Age artist Steve Roach combines repetitive shots (occasionally spiffed up with time-lapse or slow-motion cinematography) of clouds, rocks, stars, and--the desert's signature plant--cacti, with a choice of two soundtracks (we listened to the first--a "tribal ambient score" primarily comprised of long, drawn out notes that forever seem to be on the verge of breaking into melody, but never actually do). To be fair, the images are often gorgeous, but with no narrative arc (or any overriding organizational principle that I could discern), Time of the Earth simply cannot sustain interest for 77 minutes, especially for viewers of superior narration-less (but not narrative-less) efforts such as the Philip Glass/Godfrey Reggio collaborations Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Anima Mundi (VL-11/93) or Ron Fricke's Baraka (VL-11/95) and Chronos (VL-9/92). Not a necessary purchase. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)