May 6th: EL TOPO (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970)

A mysterious gunfighter's revenge spree also serves as a rite of passage for his young son.

Chilean-born, Urkranian-descended Alejandro Jodorowsky is one of the most fascinating figures in motion picture history. He moved from writing poetry to performing as a circus clown to forming an anarchist experimental theatre troupe, and upon moving to Paris collaborated with world-famous mime Marcel Marceau.

Beginning to dabble in filmmaking, Jodorowsky moved again to Mexico City, where he fell in with the local surrealist movement, creating theatrical performance art, comic strips, and finally his feature film debut Fando y Lis, which caused a riot at its premiere due to controversial subject matter, and was banned in the country. His second film would also be shot in Mexico, his first in color, and plunging headfirst into psychedelic and phantasmagoric waters.

Not only does Jodorowsky play the title role, but he also cast his own son Brontis as a co-lead. Future director Alfonso Arau (Like Water For Chocolate) also has a notable role, and the remainder of the cast features those with physical deformities or afflictions, including dwarves, amputees, and people with Down syndrome. The crew is made up of all Mexican locals.

While on the surface appearing as a cousin of the recent Italian "spaghetti" western genre, Jodorowsky mines various religions (both eastern and western) and mythologies for his heavily symbolic work, which appears to be more concerned with raising questions than answering them. Clear themes involving death, transformation, rebirth, and sacrifice are prominent.

Cautious of further controversy, Jodorowsky declined to release the film in Mexico where it was made, debuting the film at the Museum Of Modern Art in New York City. A local theatre owner made it the first "midnight movie", and it screened daily for over six months. Early supporters were John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who helped the film get national distribution via Beatles manager Allen Klein.

Some critics were offended, others puzzled, some impressed. Roger Ebert's 4-star review drew comparisons to Tolkein's Lord Of The Rings, 2001: A Space Odyssey, T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, Easy Rider, and Robert Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land, all works heavily dissected in the contemporary counter-culture.

Many artists in film and music have professed their admiration for the work, and it launched a midnight movie subculture that continues to this day. Lennon contributed $1 million towards Jodorowsky's next feature The Holy Mountain. Due to financial disputes with Klein, the two films were out of print for decades, never released on home video until after a revival screening at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Running time is approx. 2 hrs.