The Dance of Reality, Blu-ray (2014)

by | Mar 14, 2015 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

The Dance of Reality, Blu-ray (2014)

Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Cast: Brontis Jodorowsky, Pamel Flores, Heremias Herskovits, Alejandro Jodrowsky, Bastian Bodenhöfer
Studio: Le Soleil/Camera One/Pathe/ABKCO Films 1037-9 [8/25/14]
Video: 1.85 for 16:9 color 1080p HD
Audio: Spanish 5.1 & 2.0
Subtitles: English
Extras: What is Reality? – Jodorowsky, My Father’s Father – Jodorowsky, The Art of the Costumes
Length: 129 min.
Rating: ****1/2

This is the first feature film from Jodorowsky in 24 years and is 100% straight Jodorowsky material, with himself inserted into the film as a sort of autobiographical explainer and philosopher. He looks like a sort of good Donald Sutherland. Some of it deals with his childhood living with his strange parents in Tocopilla, Chile. The film equals the wild and wooly material found in his creative film achievements El Topo and The Holy Mountain and is full of surreal imagery and Jodorwsky sharing his soul with us. As one reviewer said, it’s brutal and tender at the same time, very emotional and personal. Another said the film’s discomfort makes you analyze many things about yourself. It’s completely different from the typical Hollywood film. Be prepared for the horror and despair along with the humor and hard-hitting philosophy. Jodorwsky challenges all the norms.

His father, Jaime, is a severe communist with a dry-goods store, who sees Stalin as a god and of course doesn’t believe in God. He is all about self-control and discipline. His big-breasted mother, on the other hand, is much involved in God and sings everything as tho she was in grand opera. She loves her son and tells him to be himself and not be ashamed of the anti-Semetic curses he runs into. The father goes on a long journey, supposedly to assassinate the Chilean dictator Ibanez, but in the end cannot do it. His hands become crippled and he loses his mind for a time, but after some anti-organized religion drama he is eventually returned to his family for the end of the film.

—John Sunier

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