SSFF & ASIA Blog Chilean-French director Alejandro Jodorowsky is probably best known for his ‘acid western’ “El Topo” (1970). Initially the film was put forward as the Mexican entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 44th Academy Awards in 1972, but was not accepted as a nominee. Later, the underground film is said to have been bought to the world circuit by John Lennon, who reportedly convinced a close friend to buy the rights and take charge of global distribution. The film came to be considered as the first-ever midnight cult film. It was followed by “The Holy Mountain” (1975), which joined “El Topo” in gaining status as a cult classic, and then an abandoned attempt at a film adaptation of Frank Herberts novel “Dune.” It is this latter film making experience that has become the subject of Frank Pavich’s 2013 documentary “Jodorowsky’s Dune.” As the film sets out, Jodorowsky approached numerous artists in his bid to bring “Dune,” ‘the bible of science fiction” to life. Had he succeeded, the film could have seen artists such as H. R. Giger and Jean Giraud working on set and character design, whilst prog rock groups including Pink Floyd and Magma produced part of the soundtrack. Even better, Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson and David Carradine were to be amongst the cast of the 14-hour epic. With Jodorowsky’s wildly psychedelic imagination, this would surely have been a visionary masterpiece. This great master of film, who many claim as their all-time favourite director, began his movie career by directing a short film in 1957 – “The Severed Heads” (La Cravate). I had the pleasure of watching this for the film time recently, and found myself genuinely impressed. Making the very best use of his training as an artist, mime and all round theatrical performer, this is a brilliantly creative short! If you have 20 minutes to spare, please be sure to check out the wonderfully colourful non-dialogue black comedy. -- J.J.H.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 00:57:52 +0000
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