Endless Poetry (15.)
Directed by Alejandro Jodorosky.
Starring Adan Jodorosky, Leandro Taub, Brontis Jodorowsky, Pamela Flores, Jeremian Herskovits, Bastian Bodenhofer and Alejandro Jodorowsky. In Spanish with subtitles. 128 mins
Or, A Portrait Of The Visionary Filmmaker as a Young Poet. The films of Jodorosky, the man who made 70s counter culture smash El Topo and the man who didn't make Dune, aren't always great but they all reveal an instinctive talent for cinema. Here the Chilean filmmaker continues the autobiography he began in The Dance of Reality. It starts where that film ended, with the La Familia Jodorosky leaving the small seaside desert village of Tocopilla, for the capital Santiago. In Santiago the kid Jodorosky (Herskovits) is swiftly transformed into the young man Jodorosky (Adan), once he defies his brutish father (Brontis) to commit himself to the life of an artist.
In the opening minutes there is a sequence which displays Jodorosky's great gifts. In the present day the director stands and talks into the camera, “I landed in Matacuna Street, now in decline, but not so long ago the main street in a working-class district.” And then a group of ninja stage hands, dressed entirely in black, start to transform the present day location into its period setting. Black and white painted backdrops are raised into place, and card board cut outs of people and a train are planted around the street. And it is magical, because it's just pure imagination. Seeing a problem and creating a solution that enhances the vision.
Jodorosky is a unique film maker, but as an artist he's chained to a hardline bohemian orthodoxy of what an artist should be. Convention and authority are rebelled against, and the unconventional is rigidly celebrated. There are a lot of eccentric figures in Endless Poetry, and all just like every other eccentric you're ever seen. He's made the Ken Russell film of his own life. Which is usually a better option than having the Ken Russell version, but it means that despite its originality and its magical moments, most of the films is a bit of chore to get through.
Directed by Alejandro Jodorosky.
Starring Adan Jodorosky, Leandro Taub, Brontis Jodorowsky, Pamela Flores, Jeremian Herskovits, Bastian Bodenhofer and Alejandro Jodorowsky. In Spanish with subtitles. 128 mins
Or, A Portrait Of The Visionary Filmmaker as a Young Poet. The films of Jodorosky, the man who made 70s counter culture smash El Topo and the man who didn't make Dune, aren't always great but they all reveal an instinctive talent for cinema. Here the Chilean filmmaker continues the autobiography he began in The Dance of Reality. It starts where that film ended, with the La Familia Jodorosky leaving the small seaside desert village of Tocopilla, for the capital Santiago. In Santiago the kid Jodorosky (Herskovits) is swiftly transformed into the young man Jodorosky (Adan), once he defies his brutish father (Brontis) to commit himself to the life of an artist.
In the opening minutes there is a sequence which displays Jodorosky's great gifts. In the present day the director stands and talks into the camera, “I landed in Matacuna Street, now in decline, but not so long ago the main street in a working-class district.” And then a group of ninja stage hands, dressed entirely in black, start to transform the present day location into its period setting. Black and white painted backdrops are raised into place, and card board cut outs of people and a train are planted around the street. And it is magical, because it's just pure imagination. Seeing a problem and creating a solution that enhances the vision.
Jodorosky is a unique film maker, but as an artist he's chained to a hardline bohemian orthodoxy of what an artist should be. Convention and authority are rebelled against, and the unconventional is rigidly celebrated. There are a lot of eccentric figures in Endless Poetry, and all just like every other eccentric you're ever seen. He's made the Ken Russell film of his own life. Which is usually a better option than having the Ken Russell version, but it means that despite its originality and its magical moments, most of the films is a bit of chore to get through.
