Review of El Topo (1970) by Richard N — 15 Apr 2008

When I resurrected my facebook account, little did I know that Richard would baptize me with Alejandro Jodorowsky's classic allegory and homage to the spaghetti westerns I prefer vis a vis Clint Eastwood.

And yes, all the religious puns are intentional... I don't know enough buddhist ones to crack wise here.

Ok, here's the thing: It's a two-part play: half Christian, half Buddhist. The Christian part is far more amusing (I'm not going to wax philosophical a la Mr Ebert and hope to find spirituality in a dated western that would work considerably better if I still did acid) bordering upon funny than the Buddhist half. Frankly, it operates as a better samurai film than half the crap put forth by Jet Li and Jackie Chan over the last 30 years.

Yet, I digress... I don't see how I could not digress as this thing is what happens if you give Andy Warhol a Mexican backdrop, his usual budget and ask him to paint in a crimson that's far less blood and far more paint. Anyhoo. It's f*cked up. Not by contemporary standards... just by the standards it was constructed on many ott years ago.

And, funny enough... while I can't say that I enjoyed it... I was compelled (possibly by madness... possibly... god knows what). And the more I think about it... I was amused, if only from an entirely jaded Western perspective... but I was amused. I can see *something* operating here. Even if I don't entirely understand it.

I suppose this is art. I can appreciate that. I want to poke fun at it, laugh at it (and I certainly did... this is not a movie to watch sober the first time through)... but there is some odd, grotesque sense of resonance that I find appealing here. Something about it makes me want to watch more (and hope that Jodorowsky honestly does make a sequel starring Marilyn Manson)... I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt... but not to Ebert's absurd ejaculations of grandeur.

You will have to get me very drunk to do this again, Noggle. Very drunk indeed.