Rickting
Alejandro Jodorowsky's surreal cinematic retelling of his own childhood, The Dance of Reality, is an unbearably beautiful film. The surrealism may get tiresome at times, but it's a cinematic poem and a masterful one at that. Filled with poetry, metaphor, heart and emotion, this one is a devastating, gobsmacking punch in the face. This is one extremely weird and abstract movie, yet it somehow manages to be unbelievably human. It works because it is telling a good, interesting story and it's filled with raw, enormously powerful acting. The imagery and visual metaphors may be tiresome to some, but mostly they work well and seem to actually mean something, rather than just being pretentious. At over 2 hours it's a pretty exhausting film. It's an emotional juggernaut and the drama is extremely hard-hitting. Alejandro Jodorowsky himself appears in the film occasionally in a very interesting way. This is just such a unique and fascinating movie and while it won't be to everyone's tastes, those who like it will most likely still not know what it means and what exactly the film is about. Yet that is the key to the film's quality. It is a subjective, abstract, metaphorical work of art which is utterly overwhelming, but in the best possible way.9/10
John Richards (monolith94)
One accusation that I've heard leveled against Jodorowsky is that he is too much a madman: that there is nothing to understand about his films, as they are the work of a deranged mind. Deranged? That hardly seems likely. He seems to way far too functional to earn that label. An author as well as a filmmaker, he is clearly a person of some thoughtfulness. What makes him different, however, is that he is a magical thinker. I mean he is a magical thinker in two senses: first, that he is prone to applying causal relationships where, to quote wikipedia, "scientific consensus says that there are none." Secondly, he is a magical thinker in that his imagination is vivid, almost magical in the connections that makes between various elements of this strange life on Earth.His personal beliefs, so central to the message of this film, flow from spiritual traditions, from philosophies that depend upon magical thinking for their support. He holds an idea of psychogenealogy, for example, which draws upon Jung's collective unconscious. One can take Jung's ideas more or less literally, but there exists enough ambiguity in the style of Jung's writing that a popular interpretation of the collective unconsciousness is that of a sort of world mind, a sort of wellspring which exists outside of our reality and perhaps unbounded by time. In this way, the experience of the father, and the father's father, are the experience of the son. The father-son relationship is, of course, key to The Dance of Reality. Ostensibly an autobiographical look at Jodorowsky's childhood, the film diverges quite often from following the story of the child to illustrate the story of the father, perhaps as imagined by the child. My girlfriend, having watched this with me, found this a bit jarring. These two narratives, however, are unified, as one comes to understand the character of the father in The Dance of Reality as a sort of avatar of Alejandro. We all become like our fathers, in at least some ways, and it is our great challenge to differentiate ourselves. It should come as little surprise that part of the abuse heaped upon child-Jodorowsky by his father stems from a desire on the part of the father to slough off any such "weaknesses" that he exhibits.The elder Jodorowsky represents, in this film, a sort of arch anti- magical thinking mindset. Portrayed as a true-blue communist, he rejects religion as an "opiate of the masses." When the child escapes into the world of theosophy as a way to experience happiness outside of the bitter realm of his father, the father reacts by flushing the religious symbols which hold such meaning down the toilet. A thinker like Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris will certainly react negatively to such an illustration of a rational thinker. But remember, that in their writings, they essentially patronize the magical-thinker. But this is perhaps too far a digression from the film itself. After all, as the story unfolds, we see Jaime, Jodorowsky's father, going on a sort of picaresque journey of suffering and redemption. Only, unlike most picaresques, the main character experiences transformation, more in the vein of Apuleius's Lucius than Fielding's Tom Jones. During this journey, we see his strongly-held beliefs stripped away from him as his goals are at once realized, hindered, and transformed. The person he was no longer proves to be a trustworthy guide; he must create for himself a new identity, and indeed perhaps discover what he was all along in the process. It's important to look at this film not as an attack on rational thought, but rather an exploration of how catharsis and suffering can help a person develop a stronger self- awareness, and subsequently develop an identity which provides them with greater happiness. As a sometime magical-thinker myself, I can relate to and sympathize with Jodorowsky's point of view. When I like to imagine that there is some sort of divine purpose which guides the river of time, I immediately chastise myself for allowing such intellectual indulgences. I know that it is absurd; at times, I wonder if perhaps that is the very reason why I sometimes believe, why I always want to believe. Heresy, of course. I like to mollify myself by saying that I'm somehow different: what I imagine to be sacred, to be god, differs immeasurably from the simplistic, straight-forward theology that we see so often in our culture. But that feels hollow, like I am simply using what intelligence I have to construct a more complicated, more elaborate and perhaps more fashionable way of putting forward what is still simply a magical thought.Is it cowardice? Perhaps. Perhaps I am simply afraid of being called a lunatic – of thinking myself a lunatic. Certainly, Jodorowsky has no such fears. Although I don't agree with Jodorowsky on what may actually exist and what is true in regards to matters of the spirit, I can't help but admire his willingness to go out on a limb.Watching a film like this, I find in myself a strong desire to dig deeper. What is the real truth of the matter? Was Jodorowsky's real father this much of a tyrant, or a communist? Was his mother so dramatic and bosomy? Just how many cripples and lepers did he encounter as a child, after all? Ultimately, such matters must remain unknowable. We can no more depend upon a child to accurately portray his father than we can depend upon a painter to paint a relation with photo-realism. All we can really depend on is to discover truth through the fabulism present in this work. Core truths which shine through and are your own work, and indeed pleasure, to discover.
George Roots (GeorgeRoots)
After a 23 year absence, Alejandro Jodorowsky returns with "The Dance of Reality". Financed entirely by donations, it is also adapted from Jodorowsky's autobiography of the same name, and the first use of CGI in the directors filmography that usually features nothing but visual flair.Managing to encompass the surreal and absurd-ism of Jodorowsky's early theatre work. The movie focuses on Alejandro's childhood in Tocopilla, Chile, and the abuse his family suffered at the hands of his father Jamie (Played by Jodorowsky's son Brontis). The story also focuses on Jamie's devout love of communism, and setting him on a quest of "enlightenment". One scenario involves becoming a horse groomer in a bid to assassinate right-wing president Carlos Ibanez del Campo.As usual, scenarios get out of hand leading to a movie of visual splendour. However, I would only recommend "The Dance of Reality" to those familiar with the directors previous work. The CGI can be slightly choppy, but nothing that hinders the overall production. The script work is admirable, much of the symbolism is presented by Jodorowsky himself and then subtly included for you to find and decipher. Brontis Jodorowsky gives a fantastic performance, so much so I hope to find more of them and Jeremias Herskovits as the young Alejandro was wonderful also.Final Verdict: If there's anything that "The Dance of Reality" suffers from it is a pacing issue, but upon reflection certain scenes really leave an impression and is wildly different than anything recently released. Jodorowsky's magical biopic is an admirable return to form, and is wonderfully colourful enough to ensure the movies charm for many years to come. 7.5/10.
jlgAltman
Alejandro Jodorowsky is back! Could there be a better time? Cinema needs daring filmmakers like this who ground the truly absurd in reality. Like EL TOPO and HOLY MOUNTAIN, THE DANCE OF REALITY is far from perfect. The film is at least 30 minutes too long with sequences that come out of left field with no impact. But the central statement, an examination of dogma-- religious, social, and political--the easy bending of our minds that impact us all, is an important topic to explore and Jodorowsky does it winningly. Yes, the message is clear and loud. We are hit on the head with it. Maybe sometimes we need to be hit?
