There is really not too much to review here. This is a 42-minute documentary by director Ron Fricke which was written by the Constantine sisters(?). The topic is basically history vs. progress. We see many very old monuments, but we also see lots of current stuff, like modern streets or skyscrapers. I have to say, I personally preferred the old parts. The music is also pretty good in here. but, as harsh as this may sound, a documentary without any kinds of dialogue and just photography recordings can never make it to my favorite list, I am afraid. This one here is certainly as good as it gets for the genre, but I was never amazed really. Still, it's not a bad piece of filmmaking at all. And all the use of time lapse was fairly interesting. It's also the type of film which is probably much more effective on the big screen. I give Fricke a thumbs up here without praising it too much. Still it's probably among the better documentary movies from 30 years ago. And finally, I want to say that this looks pretty modern, actually I would have guessed this is from the 21st century if I hadn't known the truth before.

Ron Fricke was the cinematographer for Godfrey Reggio's "Koyaanisqatsi". A few years after the release of that documentary, Fricke released a similar one called "Chronos", based on the Greek word for time. Once again we get treated to a medley of images of scenes from thoughout the would, contrasting nature with urban life. The images cover the history of civilizations, from ancient Egypt to big cities in the 1980s, with much of it in time lapse. My favorite scene was when they sped up the footage of city life to the tune of the background music...and then slowed it up again to show the natural world.

This is truly the sort of thing that you rarely get to see, which is all the more reason why you should see it. Or if possible, go to the places shown.

"Chronos" won the Grand Prize at the Omnimax Film Festival that year.

In Greek mythology, Chronos is said to be the personification of time. Taking that into consideration, you might assume that this would be the longest of the films that Ron Fricke was involved with but actually the opposite is true. Chronos comes in at just under 45 minutes making it a short but sweet trip around some of the world's most beautiful man-made and geological structures.

For those looking for a longer trip as well as more to think about when the film is over, I highly recommend Powaqqatsi at 99 mins, Baraka at 96 mins, and Koyaanisqatsi at 87 mins - but you should probably skip Naqoyqatsi at 89 mins because its the weakest of the Qatsi trilogy. Whereas Naqoyqatsi's seizure inducing mechanical/digital messages drench the experience, Chronos is the exact opposite.

Chronos is sort of a Baraka "lite". This does not have the music of Philip Glass or the socio-political messages, but the beauty on display should make up for it. Additionally Fricke experiments with different exposures and filters (not seen in the other films) to create some striking effects. If you get the chance to see it, definitely take this one for a spin.

Fricke has a new film coming out soon (should be sometime this year) called Samsara which is a sequel to Baraka, and if that doesn't fill the gap you can check out Anima Mundi (by Reggio about animals),Microcosmos (about insects) and Atlantis (by Luc Besson) which is like a scuba dive.