For any creative person who has felt for a moment that they have impulses their contemporaries just don’t understand, there’s a spectacular new movie for you. Frank Pavich’s documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune (A) chronicles the extraordinary tale of a cult filmmaker (Alejandro Jodorowsky) who decides to follow up his underground sensations El Topo and Holy Mountain with an ambitious adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi bestseller in the mid-1970’s, and his vision is in nearly every way clearly before its time. Like a filmmaking Dorothy Gale, he rounds up talent ranging from Salvador Dali to H.R. Giger to David Carradine, Mick Jagger and Pink Floyd for a consciousness-awakening opus that was alas never to manifest. Through the ebullient storytelling of the dreamer at the heart of the story and his collaborators’ marvelous artwork brought to life, this film gives a sample of the visionary work that could have been. In chronicling the director’s failure, the movie shows the power of unlocking doors to the imagination, being true to your spirit and heeding the inner voices of creation. There have been movies made about the struggle of making movies that did and didn’t happen (Francis Ford Coppola and Terry Gilliam have been subjects), but this one was one of the best representations of conjuring the spirit of creativity and collaboration. It made me wish Jodorowsky’s outer space saga had been made, but the telling of this story – and its unintended effects on the template for the past 40 years of the global blockbuster action film – will bring the spice of life to anybody who savors wonder, surprise and inspiration at the movies.
Tag Archives: Documentary
“Room 237” Explores Curse of the Overlook Hotel
Rodney Ascher’s Room 237 (B-), the documentary about eccentric conspiracy theories around Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, is an intriguing dissection of one puzzling, polarizing movie. Despite the crazy rabbit holes ranging from the film being a subliminal meditation on genocide or a cover-up for the director’s alleged involvement in a fake lunar landing, the proceedings and format are all a bit silly. Movie buffs may still get a kick out of it.
“Broadway Idiot” (2013) Document’s Green Day’s Journey to Broadway Stage
Doug Hamilton’s Broadway Idiot (B) is an effective documentary about how the dueling aesthetics of punk rock and musical theatre find their place together on the Great White Way. In this case, the doc tracks how theatrical wunderkinds including Michael Mayer and Tom Kitt translate the watershed Green Day concept album American Idiot to the musical stage, winning new fans including the band itself. There’s great access to backstage footage as the production evolves and awesome sequences from the show itself; but since there’s not a lot of dramatic tension behind the scenes, it registers more straightforward than surprising.
“An Inconvenient Truth” Awakens Eco-Consciousness
Al Gore’s environmental call to action in An Inconvenient Truth (A) shouldn’t make good cinema, but as directed by Dennis Guggenheim, it’s an efficient and effective entreaty for citizens to help combat global warming. As persuasive filmmaking, it makes a stirring case.
“Crumb” Offers Offbeat Documentary Lead
Terry Zwigoff’s profound documentary Crumb (A-) covers the life of an underground artist and his dysfunctional family with brazen and bizarre panache. Scored with nickelodeon-style three-penny opera music and riddled with the art that made its subject famous, the film chronicles Robert Crumb’s disturbing influences and counter-cultural outputs (he’s the guy who first shocked with the X-rated Fritz the Cat character). Playing out like a psychedelic horror-show, the film is like a sketchbook with Crumb’s stream of consciousness continually building the narrative, and you just can’t look away.
“Brother’s Keeper” a Fascinating 1992 Documentary
Somewhere on the cultural spectrum between Norman Rockwell and David Lynch, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s documentary Brother’s Keeper (A-) plays out like a real-life murder mystery with penetrating character study, pastoral splendor and interpersonal interactions begging the question of what makes a community tick. Chronicling the lives of four elderly, nearly illiterate farmer brothers who have spent their entire lives in the same dilapidated shack, this cult documentary takes on the power of high-profile Hollywood films when one brother mysteriously dies in his sleep and a surprising yarn ensues. The film asks questions about small-town America and will hold interest as final verdicts unfold.