The Dance of Reality

Film Review by Josh Slater-Williams | 22 Feb 2014
Film title: The Dance of Reality
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Starring: Brontis Jodorowsky, Pamela Flores, Jeremias Herskovits, Alejandro Jodorowsky

For a man with a huge cult following and clear influence on many filmmakers, the Chilean-French director Alejandro Jodorowsky has actually made very few films since his 1968 feature-length debut Fando and Lis; indeed, one of his most famous projects is his intended adaptation of Dune which ultimately never came to fruition. The likes of his El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Santa Sangre are revered for their provocative and often violent surrealism.

The Dance of Reality is his first effort since 1990, and concerns his childhood and his father’s exploits in 1930s Chile. The autobiographical premise might incline one to think this would be a relatively straightforward effort, but among the regular sights and sounds are a mother who sings all her dialogue, a gang of limbless street beggars, interjections from adult Jodorowsky to his child self, and chests and radios being pissed on. This probably isn’t an ideal starting point for a Jodorowsky novice, but fans of the Fellini brand of self-referential biography cinema may find it appealing. [Josh Slater-Williams]

23 Feb, GFT 2, 5.45pm

http://www.glasgowfilm.org/festival/whats_on/5834_the_dance_of_reality