Jodorowsky's Dune

4 Stars (out of four)

Jodorowsky's Dune is a documentary on one of the greatest films never made.  We all know David Lynch adapted Frank Herbert's seminal science fiction novel Dune in 1984 with Kyle MacLachlan and how he famously took his name off a reedited longer cut.  It was also adapted into a three-part miniseries by the Sci-Fi Channel in 2000.  But the first attempt to adapt the movie was made in 1974 by Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky, the director of the Svhlockfests El Topo and The Sacred Mountain (La Montaña Sagrada).  This documentary takes you on the bizarre trip of how Jodorowski put together possibly one of the most artistically talented cast and crews ever assembled (including such people like Jean Giraud aka Mœbius, Chris Foss, Dan O'Bannon (Blade Runner, Alien), H.R. Giger (Alien, Species), Salvador Dali, David Carradine, and Orson Welles), worked for two years on the project and had the whole movie ready to go, and yet failed to raise the last $5 million and studio backing.  The film is a documentary, a how-to on making movies, a cautionary tale, and in the end, a life-affirming piece of great entertainment about a man who aspired to make a movie that would totally change the consciousness of the industry and viewers.

At the center of the film is Jodorowsky himself.  The man, despite being 84 at the time of filming, is more full of life than people 2/3 his age, and his enthusiasm is incredibly infectious.  He is a charming Svengali, which probably explains why he got so many talented people to work for him despite the fact his movies are ultra outrè, hits on the midnight circuit but little elsewhere.  He is full of charm and showmanship with a little (or not so little) bit of con man thrown in.  Whatever the secret, his charisma makes you care for him and his plight instantly.  His stories are fun, tragic, and wickedly funny.  Everyone interviewed in the movie are under his spell, and you may also find yourself there as well by the end of the film.  You certainly are rooting for him by that point.  He takes you step by step through the entire process, how he recruited his artists (he calls them spiritual warriors) both in front of and behind the camera.  He got Mœbius, already famous at this point in Europe, to do his storyboards.  He got Salvador Dali to agree to play the mad Emperor.  He got Orson Welles to agree to play Baron Harkonnen.  He got Chris Foss, an English artists who was famous for book covers, to do his vehicle designs.  He got Dan O'Bannon and H.R. Giger, who would later design Alien with Foss to design the sets.  It is a literal dream team of technicians.

It is also a cautionary tale, especially for artists who always have to deal with the art versus commerce conundrum.  The movie, and most of the interviewees, are absolutely convinced on the artistic merits of the project.  They eloquently make the case of how groundbreaking this film would have been and the effect it may have had if it had come out before Star Wars.  Remember, this was 1972-74, when the only really significant science fiction film made was 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Star Wars changed the cultural landscape for movies in general and sci-fi in particular.  Before then, sci-fi was scoffed at as not being serious, simply midnight movie schlock.  When Jodorowsky and his producers tried to sell it to Hollywood, they had two big problems: the attitude toward sci-fi and the director himself.  The only reference they had at this point was the hallucinogenic weirdness of 2001, and a director who had 1. Never produced anything remotely profitable in America and 2. wanted to create that LSD-inspired weirdness which the studios did not understand and thought that the success of 2001 was a fluke.  The lesson to artists, especially ones aspiring to showbiz, is this:  Know your audience you are speaking to.  They have a name for people who have uncompromising visions they want to share:  it's called a starving artist.  Like it or not, if you want to make a dollar and a cent in art, there are always commercial considerations.

Finally, though, it is life-affirming.  Jodorowsky extols his audience to always be ambitious.  It's better to shoot for the stars and hit the mountain than shoot at the mountain and hit the ground.  Despite that this was a life-crushing failure to Jodorowsky by his own admission, he used his designs and story to make several award-winning comic books (The Incal, The Technopriests, The Metabarons) that are universally praised and he has started filmmaking again at 84.  He even addresses the Dune projects made later (his reaction is priceless).  All in all, a fantastic movie all together and I cannot recommend more highly.  See it at your earliest convenience.  You'll be glad you did.  I know I was.