WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT???

Fando and his partially paralyzed lover Lis search for the mythical city of Tar. Based on Jodorowsky's memories of a play by surrealist Fernando Arrabal.

Thanks.

Anytime friend.

Here's what I was able to get out of it:

http://everyonesacritic.net/comment.asp?ratingid=512401

When Alejandro Jodorowsky’s debut Fando y Lis was originally released back in 1967, a full-scale riot broke out in the audience, the director barely escaped the theater with his life, and the film was banned. That has got be the best, most intriguing publicity I have ever heard of any picture receiving. Of course, when I heard about this, I simply had to see it. I mean, what could this film possibly contain that could provoke such an extreme reaction?

After watching it, I honestly have to say that I really don’t know.

Fando y Lis is by far the strangest, most bizarre film I have ever seen. There is no cohesive narrative, no coherent style, and in the end, no real point. The movie feels like some incredibly strange spawn of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Eraserhead, and 8 1/2, though it is very different (and far more bizarre) than any of those films. This is an art house flick, through and through. Fiercely experimental and filmed on a shoestring budget, its unbelievably loose (almost non-existent) plot follows Fando and his half-paralyzed girlfriend Lis as they search a wasteland inhabited by hoards of…erm…interesting characters for the mythical city of Tar, a paradise on Earth. Or are they even on Earth? In this film, nothing is for certain.

When one watches an obtuse art film such as Fando y Lis, one’s first reaction is most likely to try and decipher it and unlock its “message” or “meaning”, so to speak. However, there is no such thing in Fando. Jodorowsky himself said that he finds what he doesn’t understand to interest him the most, so in reality, no one is going to understand this film, because I’m not really even sure there is anything to understand.

That said, there are still some rather intriguing visuals and scenes in Fando, such as an incredibly striking sequence involving black paint (at least I think it’s black paint – the black and white cinematography makes it hard to tell). Actually, this brings me to the point of the cinematography, which, in my opinion, is the most unsettling aspect of the film. Though it was filmed in the 1960s, the black and white is bleached and brightened to an uncomfortable degree, giving one the impression that the film was shot in 1920s. For some reason, it gives the whole picture something of a disturbing aura.

Unfortunately, the fact that this is Jodorowsky’s first film really shows. The whole thing seems more like a big experiment than anything else, and some rather amateur editing and borderline laughable sequences ruin a lot of the interesting segments. That’s not to say the film is without worth; it makes for a rather interesting watch. But overall, it just feels like a heavily experimental student film with no real purpose. It can be hard to sit through occasionally, but at 93 minutes, it doesn’t drag for too long, and it is worth viewing if only for its historical value.

On a semi-related note, I bought El Topo on DVD recently. Going to pop it in when I have the time.

How I wish there were a legitimate release of that movie.