Customer reviews
and actors - it all seemed like a stretch and frankly didn't really connect with me
By E. Schmith on January 17, 2016
I have mixed feelings on this documentary. Most of it talks about the cinematic history of Alejandro Jodorowsky and mainly features interviews with the director himself. The main focus for most of the time is on how he came to take on the project of adapting the Sci-Fi book "Dune" (one of my all time favorites, hence the interest in this documentary.) It covers how he came to work with Moebius, HR Geiger and Chris Foss - and Jodorowsky's obsession with pulling in celebrities of his time (Salvador Dali, Mick Jagger, etc) into the film as well. Before watching this, I knew nothing of Jodorowsky himself, was very familiar with Geiger from the Alien franchise, knew a limited amount about Chriss Foss from his reputation for Sci-Fi book artwork, and was fairly familiar with Moebuis from Heavy Metal.
As I was watching though this, I was interested but the interviews with the director went on a little too much and it was a bit hard to stay engaged with his over exuberant extolling of his concepts for the film, art direction, concept art, and actors - it all seemed like a stretch and frankly didn't really connect with me.
But - at the end of the documentary, it shifts gears to talk about how many of those ideas I didn't connect with - coming from the directory's own manic, confusing though enjoyable explanations - were later adopted into so many different movies. And it's not as simple as "HR Geiger because famous for Alien..", it shows how specific shots and sequences Jodorowsky had visualized in his own mind and story boarded later were adopted almost frame for frame by other directors in other movies. It made me realize, to a degree, why I never ended up an artistic field, and gave me an vastly increased respect for Jodorowsky, Geiger, Foss, and Moebius. It's not something I would watch twice, but if you are interested in any of the main players in the documentary, or the Dune books, I'd strongly recommend to give it a watch!
11 people found this helpful
The Greatest Sci-Fi Film Never Made
This is basically the story of the greatest movie never made. He would have had Mick Jagger, Orson Wells, David Carradine and Salvador Dali all playing the leads in Dune with Pink Floyd as the soundtrack. It either would have been terrible, like The Who's Tommy, or sheer brilliance, like 2001; A Space Odyssey. Jodorowsky's Dune, however, as this documentary shows, would have been completely unworkable for Hollywood back in the mid 1970's. He wouldn't back down on numerous issues the studios had, including the 6 hour running time and the 15 million dollar budget, which back in the 70's was a lot.
This documentary is Jodorowsky and the men who tried to make Dune looking back and commenting and describing the process and it's fascinating. From how he tortured his son into 6 hour training periods, 6 days a week to "become" the character of Paul for 2 years to how he finessed the 400 pound Orson Welles to play the character of the Baron by promising to hire his favorite French chef to cater his meals on set. It's absolutely mesmerizing for the Jodorowsky fan, which I am. Required viewing. Of course, in the end, after all the shucking and jiving, the millions spent on traveling the world scouring for talent, the hours and hours spent creating the story board, Hollywood canceled the whole thing and then went on to borrow his ideas for films like Star Wars, Contact and Prometheus. And then, of course, we wouldn't even have Alien if it wasn't for Jodorowsky's Dune. So God bless him.
I will never, ever again be afraid to fail after seeing this film and that is it's message, in the end.
One person found this helpful
This movie clocks in at 90 minutes and think that's just about the perfect length. You get to see and hear all.
I'm not a fan of documentaries, but I am fanatical about Frank Herbert's Dune. I'd heard stories about "the failed movie before the Lynch movie", but never dug into the details. This movie clocks in at 90 minutes and think that's just about the perfect length. You get to see and hear all kinds of crazy takes on Herbert's masterpiece. I honestly don't think I would have enjoyed the movie if it had been produced, but that was a very different time, and Jodorwsky definitely had a unique take of the story. He was deliberately changing the plot to make the movie his own interpretation of the novel.
One thing that was genius was getting H.R. Giger to design the visual theme of House Harkonnen. Herbert sets Harkonnens up as a morally corrupt and vile society, where a single scene describes slavery, attempted patricide and directly implied deviant acts against children. Lynch demonstrated their corruption through physical deformity and a complete and blatant disregard for human life. I think Giger's visual style was an ideal selection to represent the inhumanity of the Harkonnens.
One person found this helpful
How to not make a movie in the USA
As a Dune fan, I'm not sure I'm sad or not that this movie wasn't made. Clearly Jodorowsky was using the material to go vastly off in his own mystical direction. He even calls it his right as a director to "rape" the original material. The end of his version would have had Paul's throat cut and then live on as some sort of group consciousness in the Fremen. This concept isn't too far gone from Leto's final death in the sequel books, but I think it would have ruined Dune. Apparently I am the only one who liked Lynch's Dune. If this movie had been made I imagine it as a cross between 5th Element and Alien. Most of the ideas that would have gone into this movie made it into other projects, especially Jodorowski's Incal and Metabarons. At the end of the day, I think it is for the best. If Jodorowski had been less demanding this movie might have actually been made and it could have been judged by its own merit. Its not hard to see why it wasn't, with Jodorowski foolishly insisting on 15+ hr movie time. That and the movie execs were probably terrified that he would have Paul poop gold at the end or fly off into the air on a burning giraffe.
One person found this helpful
The story of Jodorowsky's Dune is fascinating. Just the.
By RoboGriffey on December 22, 2014
The story of Jodorowsky's Dune is fascinating. Just the pure level of joyful exuberant insanity that makes you wish the project had seen fruition. The only thing disappointing about the documentary is it focuses more on Jodorosky and only gives a few fleeting glimpses of the movie that might have been. It needed to show more of the art and pre production materials. Less of the naked small boys.
2 people found this helpful
Great documentary of something that never was
By K. Deines on September 18, 2014
If it had ever been made--the egos involved would alone almost preclude it reaching distribution--I think that Jodorowsky's version of "Dune" would be in the exalted ranks of other masterworks of 1970's cinema such as Zardoz. Unless, I suppose, you really like middle-aged Sean Connery running about on horseback and afoot in a red leather speedo/diaper with matching suspenders and thigh high boots, and that is but one of many images I would like to excise from my memory. (Share my pain.)
Jodorowsky himself strikes me as a titanic ego hunting innocent icebergs to molest, and he would have done nothing nice to Frank Herbert's novel--but then again, the movie he would have made would have been so far from the source material as to be a different entity entirely. Sort of like going to see the joint adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" by David Cronenberg and Rob Zombie. (Which strikes me as being much more interesting than the original, but anyway. )
Visually, this would have been a stunning film. There is no other way to describe the costuming, art direction and pre-production work, which is displayed to great effect in the documentary. As is pointed out in the documentary, later films like "Alien" owe a lot to Jodorowsky's Dune, for both bringing new artists into the movie business, and getting the movie business ready for new ideas in art. The talent and skill of the concept artists individually is formidable, and as a group--if their own work were to have been realized--would have made the movie worth watching. Probably with the sound off, the Pink Floyd soundtrack playing separately on your stereo.
One annoyance with the extras: the deleted scenes lack subtitles or other translation.
The documentary itself does what justice for the work as can be done from a distance of 30-odd years. Personally, I would have appreciated more screen time with the concept artists (Chris Foss, H.R. Geiger) than the extended interviews with Jodorowsky (nuts, but in a mostly good way) and his money-man (boring in that special fashion only accountants can achieve). In the way "Lost in La Mancha" gave us glimpses of the Terry Gilliam movie the universe connived to keep from us, this documentary gives voice to the "Dune" we managed to escape.
Was this review helpful to you?
fascinating documentary, trainwreck of a movie
By Arnold on September 3, 2014
Despite the title, this documentary is really more for fans of science fiction in cinema than of the novel Dune. In fact, I'm thoroughly convinced that Jodorowsky's version of Dune would have been an atrocity. Jodorowsky comes across as very charming but also a bit of a charlatan. He keeps emphasizing that his film would have changed the world and uplifted consciousnesses, but I have a hard time believing that any movie could have such a profound impact (Star Wars comes the closest). More importantly, Jodorowsky admitted to not having read the book and clearly didn't understand key aspects of the story (Frank Herbert wanted to warn against charismatic leaders, not make Paul into a Christ-like figure).
The documentary does a very good job in bringing this unmade film to life. There are some great images from unused concept art, as well as a few neat camera tricks, to keep it lively. However, felt the documentary really became JODOROWSKY'S Dune rather than Jodorowsky's DUNE. Jodorowsky's is definitely the focus and gets the lion's share of time. Most of the rest of the interviewees spend their time talking about Jodorowsky. This is fine insofar as the documentary needed to personalize the struggle to put Dune on film, but at times I felt it almost distracted from other parts of the production.
The other aspect I felt missing from the documentary was the story of Dune. The actual story is barely mentioned. The film pretty much assumes you know Frank Herbert and his works. Yet there were some missed opportunities to think about how and why Jodorowsky's Dune differed from Herbert's work. I would have enjoyed perhaps hearing what Dune scholars thought about those changes. I'd imagine Frank Herbert, who was alive at the time, also had some thoughts on the subject. Unfortunately, there's probably not enough for hardcore Dune fans.
Ultimately, I definitely recommend checking this documentary out if you're interested in science fiction in cinema. There are some notable sci-fi gurus, including H.R. Giger, who got their start on this movie. If you're just coming at this documentary from a Dune perspective, you'll probably find less to satisfy.
Was this review helpful to you?
My only disappointment is with the four deleted scenes
I knew of this project for decades but Had not known what had become of it. I had seen the docementary in the theater and wanted to have it for me collection. My only disappointment is with the four deleted scenes; two of which are in (I believe French) without subtitles as they did not make the final cut.
One person found this helpful
". also dreams change the world."
Our popular culture is steeped in a fascination with the production and marketing of movies that often threatens to eclipse our interest in movies themselves.
What we are woefully in the dark about is the preproduction of movies, so much so that even though this documentary was all about Alejandro Jodorowsky, one of my favorite directors of all time, I was skeptical that it could hold my interest, seeing as it was all about a film that was cancelled before a single shot was taken. It seemed that even a best case scenario would only have one pining to see a movie that never could be seen, rather than enjoying the movie one is seeing.
My skepticism melted away quickly as I watched this. Jodorowsky, as anyone who's listened to his commentary on El Topo or Holy Mountain knows, is fascinating to listen to as well as to act. His ideas are so grandiose and at the same time so heartfelt, his erudition so inspirational, his spirit so untamed even at age 84, the age when he was filmed for this project. But his Dune is remarkable for how much other top notch talent was brought in. There's HR Giger of Alien fame, Dan O'Bannon who did Dark Star and Alien, Chris Foss, whose illustrations of space ships filled the Terran Trade Authority books that so fascinated me as a child, and of course MÅ“bius, that incredible French comic book artist who went on to do so many fascinating collaborations with Jodorowksy. And all of them participated in some fantastic work, including a full storyboard by MÅ“bius, which is brilliantly animated here, sumptuous costume sketches, a full-color painting of a zebra striped, psychedelic hued pirate spaceship hemorrhaging spice by Foss and four stunning airbrush paintings of the Harkonnen castle by Giger, And then at the end, just after the story is told of how Hollywood turned down an opportunity to fund the project to a score of a (measly sounding to today's ears) $15 million, irony of all ironies because they doubted that big budget, special effects laden science fiction epics would be capable of attracting big audiences (and more reasonably because they were afraid that Jodorowsky would make the movie too long and too challenging for American audiences) documentary makers tack on a pretty astounding montage of how many of the Dune ideas have been translated into such memorable films as Star Wars, Flash Gordon, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Contact.
The film is relatively merciful on David Lynch's Dune, but the minuscule sampling they do have, featuring Sting, of course, makes it hilariously clear that Lynch's version was simply on a much lesser plane than Jodorowsky's. Lynch would bounce back to make the amazing Wild At Heart, which I just watched recently (wow!), but one gets the sense that a part of Jodorowksy never recovered completely from having this project, which could well have been his masterpiece, scuttled so unceremoniously.
3 people found this helpful
Such a great film all in all
The documentary really delved into the creation of Jodorowskys Dune, however in my desire I wished to see much more of his actual creation from the book and see his vision of dune.
Most of the film I feel spent it's time talking on the creation of his team and their experience. Such a great film all in all.
One person found this helpful