The Films of Alejandro Jodorwsky

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Unavailable in the United States since their final midnight theatrical screenings in the late-'70s, Alejandro Jodorowsky's hallucinatory masterworks El Topo and The Holy Mountain finally arrive on stateside shores courtesy of ABKCO Films and Anchor Bay Home Entertainment. Championed by John Lennon for its visionary counterculture edginess, El Topo is largely considered to be the first true "Midnight Movie," and also includes a director's commentary track, an on-camera interview with the director, an original theatrical trailer, a photo gallery, and script excerpts. Jodorowsky's audacious follow-up to El Topo, the existential meditation on illusion versus reality entitled The Holy Mountain, also comes packaged with a satisfying collection of bonus materials. In addition to a feature commentary track by the director himself, this release of The Holy Mountain also includes an on-camera interview with Jodorowsky, an original theatrical trailer, a photo gallery, and script excerpts. Also included in this impressive collection is Jodorowsky's "lost" 1957 short film La Cravate, an abstract film about a girl who sells human heads. When the girl swaps the craniums of a sensitive poet and a brutish boxer, the bodies begin to experience a startling transformation. The feature-length Jodorowsky documentary La Constellation Jodorowsky (originally included on the special edition DVD of Fando & Lis) is also included, as is the director's 1967 debut Fando & Lis, and the original soundtracks to El Topo and The Holy Mountain. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 4
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Letterbox for TV
• Features:
  • cc
  • La Cravate - 1957
  • La Constellation - Jodorowsky
  • El Top Soundtrack
  • The Holy Mountain Sountrack
  • Feature commentary by Alejandro Jodorowsky
  • On camera interview with Alejandro Jodorowksy
  • Original theatrica trailers
  • Photo gallery/Original script excerpts

AWARDS

• London Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 2006

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Alejandro Jodorowsky - Master
       Alejandro Jodorowsky
       Alejandro Jodorowsky - El Topo
       Brontis Jodorowsky - Son Of El Topo (as a boy)
       Maria Teresa Rivas
       Alfonso Arau - Bandit 1
       Jose Luis Fernandez - Bandit 2
       Gerardo Cepeda - Bandit 4
       Rene Barrera - Bandit 5
       David Silva - The Colonel
       Jean "Moebius" Giraud
       Juan Jose Gurrola - 2nd Master
       Ramona Saunders - Disciple
       Robert John - Son Of El Topo (as a man)
       Ana De Sade
       Marcel Marceau
       Paula Romo - The Woman in Black
       Jacqueline Voltaire
       Horacio Salinas - Christ Figure
       Julian DeMeriche - Priest
       Jose Flores
       Jacqueline Luis - The Small Woman
       Hector Ortega
       Peter Gabriel
       Richard Rutowski
       Agustin Isunza - 4th Master
       Robert Carter
       Mara Lorenzio - Mara
       Juan Ferrara
       Fernando Arrabal

• Director:

  Alejandro Jodorowsky, Louis Mouchet

• Producer:

  Allen Klein, Roberto Viskin, Robert Taicher

• Screenwriter:

  Alejandro Jodorowsky

• Book Author:

  Thomas Mann

• Cinematographer:

  Rafael Corkidi

• Composer (Music Score):

  Pepe Avila, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Nacho Mendez, Don Cherry, Ronald Frangipane

• Editor:

  Alejandro Jodorowsky, Federico Landeros

• Production Designer:

  Alejandro Jodorowsky

• Costume Designer:

  Alejandro Jodorowsky

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Gonzalo Gavira

REVIEWS:

• Though it is widely regarded as one of the first-rate experimental films of its time, Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain remains as influential as it is unseen. While its scenes have been copied in music videos by rockers such as Marilyn Manson, problems between Jodorowsky and producer Allen Klein kept the film hidden away in vaults for years. The fact that more people have not seen this incredible work is a shame, as The Holy Mountain packs in a massive amount of stunning images that are so joyfully bizarre, one cannot help but be amazed. Part of the film's charm is that the imagery is so random and surreal that its meaning is open to almost any interpretation. Topics as diverse as war, sex, violence, religion, immortality, necrophilia, bestiality, and castration are all given equal attention and carried out with great skill and beauty. With its massive sets, lavish costumes, and an enormous cast, watching this well-crafted film is an experience a viewer will never forget. Some of the subject matter shown in The Holy Mountain may not be for every taste, but for those who are willing, this is a pilgrimage worth taking. ~ Jason Gibner, Rovi
• Virtually out of circulation from the mid-1970s into the 1990s, performance artist/provocateur Alejandro Jodorowsky's second film El Topo claims a place in film history as the first "midnight movie." Determined to bypass traditional distribution after his experience with his first film Fando and Lis (1968), Jodorowsky sought another route for his surreal western. Described by critics as Sergio Leone crossed with Luis Bunuel, Sam Peckinpah, and Jean-Luc Godard, and infused with eastern and western religious iconography, El Topo premiered at New York's Elgin Theater at midnight in December 1970 and began playing at the witching hour every evening. With almost no publicity, El Topo quickly became a cult sensation, as Jodorowsky's trippy, ultra-violent screen quest for "sainthood" deeply appealed to the Elgin's hipster, counterculture crowd (especially since the management tolerated pot-smoking). Picked up for distribution six months into its Elgin run on the recommendation of fan John Lennon, El Topo divided critics over whether it was a timely avant-garde masterpiece or reactionary faux art pandering to its acolytes' worst impulses. Regardless, El Topo all but vanished by 1975 in the wake of the distributor's stipulation that it play only with Jodorowsky's less-admired Holy Mountain (1973), with its rare screenings raising the question of whether El Topo could have succeeded outside of its cultural moment. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi