They say Jodorowsky's Dune is the greatest sci-fi movie never made and after watching this documentary, I believe it. The ideas for the movie inspired other great sci-fi movies like Star Wars and Alien. This was very inspirational, especially the ending. "I am Dune." Alejandro Jodorowsky is a controversial director. I remember watching El Topo for the first time the year I moved to Austin and was blown away with the craziness. This documentary is about him and his early adventures in trying to make a big sci-fi epic called Dune. It was supposed to be a big acid trip adventure. It shows how he got a talented group together to make this happen. He got Salvador Dali, Dan O'Banon, Pink Floyd and even Orson Welles involved. That was one of my favorite parts: how he persuaded Orson Welles to play a big mean fat bastard. All the visuals and storyboards were thought out. All he needed was back up financing by Hollywood. Well, we all know what happens next. Hollywood didn't believe in this artist. A big producer took over the rights and David Lynch (one of my favorite directors) was hired to make it. And for the record, David Lynch was not happy with Dune and calls it his "biggest mistake ever." That's a whole other story. Jodorowsky's Dune was totally different than the novel. It was going to change the world before Star Wars did. Good documentary to see.
I recommend this to any sci-fi and comic book fans, the visual and ideas shown here are awesome. This documentary won the "Audience Award" at last year's Fantastic Fest. And with that, I end this post by saying: 4 more days until this year's festival, motherfuckers!
