The term cult visionary director is getting increasingly bandied about on movie trailers these days. Alejandro Jodorowsky, one of the directors most deserving of the term, actually does have a new film coming out this year (PSYCHOMAGIC) and to celebrate it Arrow Films are bringing out both PSYCHOMAGIC and three of the director's earlier works in a stunning (both in terms of the extras and the films themselves) Blu-ray box set. Let's take a look at what's in there:
Fando Y Lis (1968)
A man and his paralysed lover encounter bizarre and surreal situations as they seek the mystical land of Tar in Jodorowsky's first full length feature. There's a very helpful introduction from Richard Pena on the disc where he quite accurately describes the film as 'a series of provocations rather than an overall narrative'. A man plays a piano while it burns; people sit in bed with funnels on their heads; others spend their time immersed in mud pits.
A profound meditation on the nature of relationships or just a collection of crazy nonsense? Like much of the director's work what you take away from it will very much depend on you, but it's fascinating to see the initial development here of motifs Jodorowsky would return to explore again and again - the concept of the quest that culminates in unexpected results, processions as a recurring theme and so on.
Arrow's Blu-ray is a new 4K restoration of the film. Extras include a Jodorowsky commentary track and a new 2019 interview with the director. La Constellation Jodorowsky is Louis Mouchet's feature length 1994 documentary that includes interviews with Marcel Marceau and Peter Gabriel amongst others. LA CRAVATE, Jodorowsky's 1957 20 minute short adaptation of Thomas Mann's The Severed Heads is also on here along with a trailer and image galleries for the main feature.
El Topo (1970)
A black clad gunslinger rides through a town filled with dead people, slaughtered and gutted animals, and massive pools of blood presumably from both. He eventually finds himself an epic fantasy-style quest to take on four 'Masters' in the desert, all of whom he defeats. But his journey into the weird is only half done.
EL TOPO is an utterly bizarre experience that, together with film like John Waters' PINK FLAMINGOS and David Lynch's ERASERHEAD helped define what is nowadays known as the Midnight Movie - a film best experienced at some ungodly hour when the border between consciousness and sleep is suitably blurry. The less charitable might suggest they are actually called that on the basis that the kind of people who would want to watch this stuff are the same as those you might encounter at 3am shopping in Tesco. Either way, EL TOPO was there first and even though most sources call it a Western it really is its own unique and very strange thing.
Arrow's Blu-ray offers a new 4K restoration of the film in two aspect ratios: 1.85:1 and 1.37:1. There's a new interview with the director (and an archival one from 2007) who also provides a commentary track. You also get an interview with Brontis Jodorowsky, trailer, image galleries, a new introduction by Richard Pena and, on an accompanying CD, 37 minutes of soundtrack cues from the film.
The Holy Mountain (1973)
A man who looks like Jesus (or possibly George Harrison who was originally planned for the role) but is later identified as 'Thief' passes through a number of religious and historical tableaux (including a scene where toads dressed as conquistadores are blown up - I'll echo Kenneth Anger's comments in saying I wish Jodorowsky hadn't done that) before meeting The Alchemist (Jodorowsky himself). The Alchemist has gathered together a number of rich and powerful individuals ruled by the planets and together they set off on a quest for the Holy Mountain, seeking immortality.
Once again we find ourselves in a world of Fellini-esque grotesquery and startlingly beautiful imagery that's not always for the faint-hearted. Jodorowsky's mind-bending (and mind-blowing) odyssey features elements of SF (electronically operated cadavers participating in their own funerals) as well as multiple amputees being kicked about by very fat men dressed as Romans. Very much not to everyone's tastes THE HOLY MOUNTAIN is nevertheless a remarkable film and an incredible achievement for its director who also wrote the script, starred and did a lot of the production design.
Arrow's disc comes with a Richard Pena introduction (best watched after the film I would suggest), a Jodorowsky commentary track and a new 15 minute interview with the director along with a 20 minute separate interview with Pablo Leder, Jodorowsky's PA on this and other movies. A 29 minute video essay 'The A-Z of THE HOLY MOUNTAIN' is packed with fascinating information and is yet another aid to interpreting the film. There are also 25 minutes of out-takes and 5 minutes of deleted scenes with Jodorowsky commentary. An image gallery is broken down into sections of stills, posters, panels, awards and more.
Finally, Arrow's disc offers two sound options and the 5.1 mix really is something special. 73 minutes of the lengthy and eclectic soundtrack is also included on an accompanying CD but the surround option while the film is playing adds a whole new dimension of the trip that this film most definitely is.
Psychomagic (2019)
A complete change of pace for the final film in this set. This is a non-fiction piece documenting some of the cases Alejandro Jodorowsky has been able to treat using his own invented therapy of Psychomagic, a kind of mirror to psychoanalysis where the treatment of psychological problems very much has its basis in physical cures.
So we get to see a man with an abusive father buried in the ground and covered with meat that is then feasted on by vultures; a woman whose fiance killed himself by jumping out of the window the day before their wedding being taken parachuting; a man smashes pumpkins to bits with a sledgehammer; another plays the piano and then rolls around on top of it. Whether or not you'll agree with Jodorowsky's methods, by the time we get to the end of this feature length piece there's no denying his mass appeal in his homeland as he 'performs' to large audiences and takes part in a street demonstration. Also including clips from his films all the way back to FANDO Y LIS. It's a fascinating way to round off this box set of the works of this talented, original and supremely creative individual.
The Alejandro Jodorowsky Collection is a six disc set (four Blu-rays and two CDs) from Arrow Films on Monday 24th August 2020
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