Poesia Sem Fim

Endless Poetry is absolutely, incessantly, unceremoniously weird, but kind of astonishing. In other words, a typical Jodorowsky film. Continuing his saga of semi-autobiographical films, this tells the tale of Jodorowsky in youth discovering the power of poetry and living out a culturally enriched, eccentric fantasy. T he film is immediately arresting, by virtue of its strangeness. People in black suits appear to take items out of characters hands at random moments across the film. One of the characters sings every line she has, for no explicable reason. There is so much imagery packed into each frame that any attempt to understand their meaning is pointless. Endless Poetry is amovie that most people would probably not have the patience for. Under objective terms, it verges on incoherent, pretentious, unintentionally funny and flagrantly self-aggrandising (imagine if Scorsese, Nolan or even David O'Russell decided to make a trilogy of films about their own lives) where very little makes sense. But Jodorowsky films defy categorisation. There's this peculiar, unique spell the film takes on where a minority of the audience will become enraptured in the pure strangeness, as well as Jodorowsky's infectious enthusiasm and "joie de vivre" that pours out of every frame.

Being a Jodorowsky fan I enjoyedthis, but this film is certainly not for every one. However if you arelooking for something incredibly different to watch, perhaps you willfind the endearing, beautiful, non-hagiographic ode to life that i found, or you will hate it and switch it off after ten minutes. For me, anyway, it was a film that offered many rewards, especially as Jodorowsky is a filmmaker so wondrously unique that anything he makes is immediately compelling.

"Every path is my path."

In this autobiographical film, Jodorowsky has his father, played by his son, making love to his mother, and himself, played by another son, carousing from one woman to the next. As usual with him, anything goes, and nothing is taboo. It's kind of sweet that his vision of his mother is a giving person who always sings her lines, and his domineering father, intent on having his son become a doctor, is quite a contrast. The final moments between father and son, where the real Jodorowsky intervenes and with the benefit of age, constructs a better ending, is touching.

Mostly the story of Jodorowsky surrounding himself with fellow artists and kindred spirits, at times the film seemed a little self-serving and threatened to become banal with its platitudes that were along the lines "be yourself," but there was something pure about him trying to communicate his story and guiding principles, seen through the warping of a surrealist perspective. The principles are given to us rather directly, often by the elderly Jodorowsky himself, resulting in a film that's more accessible / less surrealistic, and more heartfelt / less artistic, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view. Personally, I liked it, and saw it as Jodorowsky's version of himself in the same vein as Bergman's Fanny and Alexander (among others), something that felt every bit as personal and presented with the director's unique aesthetic.

A few more quotes, some more poetic than others, but the truths the elderly Jodorowsky wanted to communicate about life: "My aim is to return to what I have always been."

"Where there are ears but no song in this evanescent world, Where the Being surrenders to the undeserving, I am more my footprints than my steps."

"What is the meaning of life?" "Life! The brain asks questions, the heart gives the answers. Life does not have meaning, you have to live it! Live! Live! Live!"

"Life is a game. You have to laugh at everything, even the worst things!"

"Old age is not a humiliation. You detach yourself from everything. From sex, from wealth, from fame. You detach yourself from yourself. You turn into a butterfly, a radiant butterfly, a being of pure light!"

This is one of my favorite movies of all time! Thank you. rating = infinity hearts

Think Cocteau meets David Lynch with the colourful brilliance designed for the 4K HD TV sets we've been inundated with

Great visuals with hilarious storyline yet still a powerful message

Thank you

There's hope for the return of Jodo in the first scenes, where the real street is transformed by roll down monochrome photo mural drapes into the street of his youth and we see the child in the shop where his dinero-dominated dad encourages him to put the boot into shop lifters, stripping them naked in the street while his singing mum creates strawberry sponge cakes like the one her brother choked on for her tortured mum.

However it soon becomes obvious that we are in for two hours plus of not very clever ideas punctuated by some striking images in Christopher Doyle's brilliant colours and some kinky sex that loses it's shock impact at this length. Concepts - the broken mirror,monochrome Cafe Iris, real Jodo's appearances, the bunraku black covered scenery changers, the circle of bohemian artists led by the pierette - come back not as motifs but as indications that the maker has run out of new ideas.

We get about half an hour of great material buried in the pretentious and increasingly un-funny stodge.