Endless Poetry continues the late-bloomed productivity of one of the most creative and controversial minds in the world of cinema.
Cult directorial legend Alejandro Jodorowsky achieved popularity in the 1970s underground cinema scene with El Topo and The Holy Mountain, two films often considered amongst the greatest in the art house genre. In 2013, he released The Dance of Reality — his first film after over 20 years of inactivity. The work was a surrealistic reflection of his childhood in a small Chilean town. In what is now a series of films recounting his own life, Endless Poetry continues exactly where The Dance of Reality left off. This time, the plot explores Jodorowsky’s life in the poetic underground scene of Santiago and his own path towards both creative and sexual maturity.
Alejandro Jodorowsky has a very particular style of filmmaking. He essentially takes the concepts behind magical realism — pioneered by author Gabriel Garcia Marquez — and translates them into film. Most scenes are set up in their own unique style, with actors using faceless masks, towns and props represented as carbon cutouts, waiters at a bar being boring and monotonous, etc. It all reflects a very literal perspective towards what real life objects represent, and fills the background of this film with constant ambiguity.
The story itself is extremely fascinating. The whole idea of going against your family and attempting to live as a poet in the streets of Chile sounds insane today, yet somehow Jodorowsky managed to get away with doing it. His own success wasn’t really due to money or fame, but more of an artistic satisfaction. There are some scenes that show him living in poverty and through terrible scenarios, but somehow the excitement behind all of this manages to provide him with a more memorable life than what studying to become a doctor ever could have. The editing at times does seem off, especially in the context of a few plot devices that could easily have been fixed with an extra scene. Regardless, the flow of the film persists through these moments and manages to render them fairly inconsequential.
The performances were all phenomenal. Adan Jodorowsky plays his own father (Alejandro) when he was 20 and Brontis Jodorowsky plays their grandfather. Essentially, the film is a gigantic family project mixing a great assortment of talents into its realization. The love and determination Alejandro had for the project is obvious, overcoming any limitations that might have arisen from the film's small budget, which was mainly funded through Kickstarter.
As much as I enjoyed this film, it is not something I’d recommend to anyone who hasn’t seen The Dance of Reality, or any other Jodorowsky film for that matter. The work seems and acts like a sequel. Even though you can still understand what’s going on without seeing the previous installment, it is highly recommended that you do so in order to adapt to Jodrowsky's style of storytelling, as it is a lot harder to grasp at times than most other films.
Overall, Endless Poetry is a great continuation to the exploration of Jodorowsky’s past and it shows that at 86, age is not something that will get in the way of him making movies.
The film doesn’t have a Canadian release date at the moment, but that will likely change now that VIFF has ended.
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