Good ol Cereal Killer here has written up a good piece on a great filmmaker that... Some may not have heard of, and... Well, I'm gonna fix that. If you haven't seen EL TOPO or SANTA SANGRE.... Do so. As for me, I have not seen HOLY MOUNTAIN and will instantly look to do so. Jodorosky is an amazingly talented filmmaker that is not one to put out.... 'Normal' films, and that's why I celebrate him. Well enough of me, I'm turning this over to Cereal Killer who has some excellent films for you to hunt for!
Harry,
No doubt you're a huge film fan and historian. However, I have not seen you mention The filmmaker Alejandro Jodorosky. His film's are some of the greatest I've ever seen and I've seen a lot. He's a Spanish filmmaker however, most of his films are English language. They are all surreal on cerebral levels that would rock David Lynch's cranium. I don't believe any of them have been released in America. Only two, "Santa Sangre" and "The Rainbow Thief" were released. The former was cut and the later was his worst effort.
However, the three greatest films he ever made never were released here uncut and they have since been embraced by film lover's worldwide. His second film, "El Topo" is arguably his best. It's a western with a metaphysical, new age, biblical twist. It's violent, funny, philisophical, and a great story of human spirit. His third film "Holy Mountain" is his attempt at science fiction. This film is a one of a kind experience. If made today it would probably cost 300 million to make. It concerns space travel, gods from other planets, total mind/body awareness, on top of being an analogy of society and civilization. "Santa Sangre" is his fifth film and third classic. It's a horror film, that has tones of "Pyscho," "Freaks," "Awakenings," Fellini, and even Dario Argento(it was co-written by Claudio Argento, Dario's bro.).
The director's first film "Fando y Lis" is a low budget attempt and was just too ambitious to be totally sucessful. However, it is getting a deluxe DVD release. It will be uncut and will contain a documantary on Jodorosky. Hopefully, his other films will follow. Jodorosky made a couple of flops as well. A film called "Tusk" and the Omar Sharif, Christopher Lee, and Peter O'Toole film "The Rainbow Thief" were all considered flops. The former was a film about a young girl and an elephant and that was it. Rainbow Thief was just bad.
Despite these films, Jodorosky maintained his unmatched style. He even acts in his films and played the title role of "El Topo." He even was prepared to film his vision of "Dune." It would have been in tuned with his own philosophies. He even done some considerable pre-production. Pink Floyd would have scored, H.R. Giger would have designed, and Dan O'Bannon would have done the EFX. To read the whole story of what would have been follow this link: CLICK HERE TO READ OF THE DUNE THAT COULD HAVE BEEN (and could still be!)
I hope this has been of some enlightenment to you, in light of the summer onslaught of films and blockbusters. This is a filmmaker who needs no hype, and whose films are so far off mainstream it could only tap into the cult crowd. You can find bootlegs of his films at conventions and on-line retaliers who sell bootlegs of foreign laserdiscs. For a good fix on Jodorosky and and rundown of his works check out this link: CLICK HERE FOR A JODOROSKY FIX!!!
The site also has news from the man himself about a semi sequel to his film "El Topo" called "The Sons of El Toro." The name change was due to a rights issue with the original film. Check it out it's fascinating. Hope you enjoyed.
Cereal Killer out....
