La Constellation Jodorowsky
Documentary Film is Included in New Box Set
This 1990 documentary about controversial filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky is almost as strangely satisfying as his surreal films.
La Constellation Jodorowsky, included on the Fando Y Lis disc,comes in a box set from Anchor Bay titled “The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky,” released in 2007 along with three of Jodorowsky’s films, plus additional bonus features.
Includes Bizarre Theater Footage
The documentary includes the filmmaker talking about his life, his loves, his career as a filmmaker, graphic novelist, and workshop leader, and his eccentricities including tarot reader and theatrical director during The Panic Movement. Directed by Louis Mouchet, La Constellation Jodorowsky includes a lengthy on-camera interview with Jodorowsky in Spanish with subtitles. Marcel Marceau, Fernando Arrabal, Peter Gabriel, Jean "Moebius" Giraud, and Jean Pierre Vignau make appearances discussing their various projects with the director.
In addition to the interview and film clips, Mouchet features some bizarre footage from Jodorowsky’s absurdist plays in which topless women splattered with paint writhe around the stage in a theatrical production meant to represent The Panic Movement, i.e., an artistic expression in which reason cannot fully express the human experience.
Uses Creative Violence
Sometimes disjointed with clips, comments, and unidentified speakers seemingly changing the subject at will, La Constellation Jodorowsky covers lots of territory, including a discussion of Jodorowsky’s other films (not included in the box set) Santa Sangre, The Rainbow Thief, and Tusk. There’s also much lamenting about the film Dune that Jodorowsky had hoped to direct, and his subsequent creation of the comic strip “Incal,” which contains many Dune-like elements.
Jodorowsky denies that he is a mystic or an artist, explaining that he is “still an adolescent” who “plays games.” Strongly attracted to things he does not understand and committed to presenting “creative violence” rather than “destructive violence,” he puts all his talents to use in the weekly workshops that he leads. Just like the strange twists in his films (as in The Holy Mountain where surreal turns suddenly real), in this documentary, Jodorowsky turns the observer into the observed by putting Mouchet in front of the camera in a shocking turn of events.
- La Constellation Jodorowsky
- Director: Louis Mouchet
- Run Time: 90 minutes
- Rating: Not Rated (Contains strong sexual content and graphic violence)
- DVD Box Set includes: Fando Y Lis (commentary by the director), El Topo (feature-length film plus on-camera interview with Jodorowsky, The Holy Mountain (feature-length film plus on-camera interview with Jodorowsky). The set also includes soundtracks for El Topo and The Holy Mountain, and La Cravate (Jodorowsky’s first short film). Subtitles in English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French.
