Roaden Polynice
Superstar
Yes.
We'll all see the 30th new Marvel movie eventually. We'll see everything that will be released in the mega googaplexes, we'll watch things crash into other things and we'll watch a huge lizard fight a praying mantis. And that's great. It's a gift that people have CHOICE when it comes to films and we can each allot our given hours on this spinning rock to a wide variety of entertainment choices, from lowbrow to the highbrow, for whatever reason.
I wanted to make threads though that shed light on some films that I feel won't get that much shine, on the coli at least. And perhaps give gentle recommendations towards films that may not be blockbusters, nor may they have the largest budgets but are still really well done and worth seeing, or not. These threads will likely not have many posts, or none. All opinions welcome either way. (And I say all this as someone who in no way claims to be an expert on film or anything of the like.)
JODOROWSKY'S DUNE
I've only seen one Alejandro Jodorowsky film in El Topo. The original midnight madness film.
There was a midnight showing in my city and I didn't know much about the film prior to seeing it. There was some received knowledge via wikipedia pages and I knew that John Lennon & Yoko and a spate of other 70's polymaths, pseuds, freaks, geeks, effetes, artists, arteests and intellectuals blew their collective load during the film's original run in theaters. Harboring this sliver of information I elected to take a lady friend to El Topo in a bid to douse myself with an air of complexity and general pop-culture know-it-all-ness. So a bit like your typical Coli poster.
Halfway through the first hour (THE FIRST fukkING HOUR) I look over at my date and she has the permanent :avbehh: face.
All the while I'm:
at the goings on on screen. Realize that this movie is fukking interminable. Realize that this movie has no plot. Realize that my lady friend just kept asking, "What the fukk are we watching/what the fukk did you take me to." I couldn't tell her. The movie is beyond words. It's an endless barrage of symbolism, violence, dwarves, sand, honey, metaphysical meditations on the meaning of life, allusions to different religious strands etc. I reckon Ebert's line from his review sorta sums things up (I'm paraphrasing) in that if you have to ask what something means or what something symbolizes, it doesn't, or it stands for itself. That's El Topo for you.
I didn't get laid.
And with that knowledge in tow and being utterly fascinated by Jodorowsky, I went and saw Jodorowsky's Dune tonight.
To be brief it's essentially about Jodo's failed attempt to adapt Frank Herbert's novel Dune. He assembled a team that went on to provide art and special effects for some of the most well-known sci-fi films of the past decades, and the film posits that Jodo's Dune either lightly or heavily influenced a good chunk of sci-fi films and big budget sci-fi films from the late 70s and onwards.
The film interviews Jodo at length and he shares that there are only 2 of his Dune manuscripts left in the whole world. It's a huge tome of every single shot, character design and costume design that he came up with. The film brilliantly animates the storyboards from the book and you get to see a rudimentary version of what Jodo's vision might have looked like. It probably would've been pretty fukking stunning, even for the early 70s.
I say it without hesitation, it's one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. If you've ever dreamt of a big project, a project with a grand scope that was also equipped with great ambition, this film will resonate for you. And this sounds banal as fukk, but if you've never tried anything in your life, this film will make you want to go out and try to change the world.
Lastly, I actually read, on this website, a brilliant post that was in the Official Football Thread that I was instantly reminded of when I was walking home from the theater. It was a post about Arsene Wenger. The gist was that in a world (and football world) that is soaked with money, and where the only endgame that ever matters is winning by any means, it is refreshing to have genuine figures who place dignity, respect, style, philosophy ahead of common profits and dollar signs. Those who are unbending in their will and who stubbornly adhere to values and a vision that reaches far beyond any monetary unit or bottom line are a rare treasure. Wenger is one. Jodo is another
We need more Jodorowskys.
We'll all see the 30th new Marvel movie eventually. We'll see everything that will be released in the mega googaplexes, we'll watch things crash into other things and we'll watch a huge lizard fight a praying mantis. And that's great. It's a gift that people have CHOICE when it comes to films and we can each allot our given hours on this spinning rock to a wide variety of entertainment choices, from lowbrow to the highbrow, for whatever reason.
I wanted to make threads though that shed light on some films that I feel won't get that much shine, on the coli at least. And perhaps give gentle recommendations towards films that may not be blockbusters, nor may they have the largest budgets but are still really well done and worth seeing, or not. These threads will likely not have many posts, or none. All opinions welcome either way. (And I say all this as someone who in no way claims to be an expert on film or anything of the like.)
JODOROWSKY'S DUNE
I've only seen one Alejandro Jodorowsky film in El Topo. The original midnight madness film.
There was a midnight showing in my city and I didn't know much about the film prior to seeing it. There was some received knowledge via wikipedia pages and I knew that John Lennon & Yoko and a spate of other 70's polymaths, pseuds, freaks, geeks, effetes, artists, arteests and intellectuals blew their collective load during the film's original run in theaters. Harboring this sliver of information I elected to take a lady friend to El Topo in a bid to douse myself with an air of complexity and general pop-culture know-it-all-ness. So a bit like your typical Coli poster.
Halfway through the first hour (THE FIRST fukkING HOUR) I look over at my date and she has the permanent :avbehh: face.
All the while I'm:
at the goings on on screen. Realize that this movie is fukking interminable. Realize that this movie has no plot. Realize that my lady friend just kept asking, "What the fukk are we watching/what the fukk did you take me to." I couldn't tell her. The movie is beyond words. It's an endless barrage of symbolism, violence, dwarves, sand, honey, metaphysical meditations on the meaning of life, allusions to different religious strands etc. I reckon Ebert's line from his review sorta sums things up (I'm paraphrasing) in that if you have to ask what something means or what something symbolizes, it doesn't, or it stands for itself. That's El Topo for you.
I didn't get laid.
And with that knowledge in tow and being utterly fascinated by Jodorowsky, I went and saw Jodorowsky's Dune tonight.
To be brief it's essentially about Jodo's failed attempt to adapt Frank Herbert's novel Dune. He assembled a team that went on to provide art and special effects for some of the most well-known sci-fi films of the past decades, and the film posits that Jodo's Dune either lightly or heavily influenced a good chunk of sci-fi films and big budget sci-fi films from the late 70s and onwards.
The film interviews Jodo at length and he shares that there are only 2 of his Dune manuscripts left in the whole world. It's a huge tome of every single shot, character design and costume design that he came up with. The film brilliantly animates the storyboards from the book and you get to see a rudimentary version of what Jodo's vision might have looked like. It probably would've been pretty fukking stunning, even for the early 70s.
I say it without hesitation, it's one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. If you've ever dreamt of a big project, a project with a grand scope that was also equipped with great ambition, this film will resonate for you. And this sounds banal as fukk, but if you've never tried anything in your life, this film will make you want to go out and try to change the world.
Lastly, I actually read, on this website, a brilliant post that was in the Official Football Thread that I was instantly reminded of when I was walking home from the theater. It was a post about Arsene Wenger. The gist was that in a world (and football world) that is soaked with money, and where the only endgame that ever matters is winning by any means, it is refreshing to have genuine figures who place dignity, respect, style, philosophy ahead of common profits and dollar signs. Those who are unbending in their will and who stubbornly adhere to values and a vision that reaches far beyond any monetary unit or bottom line are a rare treasure. Wenger is one. Jodo is another
We need more Jodorowskys.
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