The film itself barely has any narrative and many of the film's mysteries will not be revealed until the viewer watches the commentary by the director (referring to the DVD version). Nevertheless, the film is an excellent example of the abstract art cinema. Everything in the film is a symbol, the film plays itself out in symbols and imagery, it is an example of a pure attempt to tell a story without holding the audiences hand in any way. This is international art cinema at it's best, and of course I understand that not everyone will enjoy this film, fortunately this genre does not require the audience to follow along. If you put your heart into watching the film and later watch the commentary to wash away the confusion, I promise, you'll be happy you did so.
38 Reviews
Very interesting
jimeneznitay16 November 2019
This is the first film of this type that I've seen, and I have mixed emotions about it. I have to say that this film is very tedious to watch, and you have to be open minded, and not expecting nothing normal. Watching it from the surface is easy to say it has no sense or narrative at all, but if you pay some attention you'll be able to at least figure out the relation between scenes and basic concepts, such as love, death and fear. This is a very abstract film and I don't think I got all the hidden messages, but the ones I interpreted, left me with a rewarding feeling. If you're looking for something different and unique in film, this is something you'll find interesting, but be patient though, because the movie is slow
"The Tree Sought Refuge in the Leaf." - Jodorowsky's Fascinating Feature-Length Debut
Witchfinder-General-66614 May 2009
The bizarre films of counterculture icon Alejandro Jodorowsky are, without any doubt, some of the most unique cinematic experiences one can have, and, in my humble opinion, also some of the greatest. Eleven years after debuting with the great, but relatively harmless short "La Cravate" (aka. "The Transposed Heads") of 1957, Jodorowsky made his feature length debut in 1968 with this incredibly surreal, fascinating and often disturbing gem called "Fando y Lis". It is never possible to fully understand a Jodorowsky film and its 'meaning' by 100 per cent, even after multiple viewings. Even so (or therefore), there is nothing more fascinating than the cinematic World of Jodorowsky.
The adaptation of a play by Fernando Arrabal, with whom Jodorowsky had worked on stage before, "Fando y Lis" is just as surreal as the master's more famous films to follow, "El Topo" and "The Holy Mountain". This is also doubtlessly Jodorowsky's most pessimistic film and, at the time of its release, it was scandalous due to its disturbing, uncompromising and bizarre nature. When it premiered in Mexico, "Fando y Lis" caused such outrage that riots broke out, and Jodorowsky had to escape the theater secretly in order to avoid getting seriously hurt or even lynched by protesters. The film was subsequently banned by the Mexican government.
The film, which is divided into four acts, follows Fando (Sergio Kleiner) and his crippled girlfriend Lis (Diana Mariscal), who drift through post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of a mythical city named Tar. In search for Tar, a sort of paradise that has survived a 'final war' that has left the world in ruins, Fando y Lis encounter a variety of bizarre people and situations. On their journey, which is always surreal, and gradually gets disturbing, Fando becomes more and more abusive towards his innocent, helpless girlfriend... This is only a very vague description of the film, however it is hardly possible to give a proper one. As Jodorowsky' other films, "Fando y Lis" simply is a film that has to be seen. It is no wonder that this was highly controversial when it came out, and it is still disturbing today. Scenes which broach the issue of child abuse were arguably the most controversial ones, but the film includes all other sorts of controversial topics, including violence in relationships, humiliation and exploitation of the poor, cross-dressing, incest, etc., as well as the Jodorowsky-typical religious/iconoclastic symbolism. These were, of course, explosive issues for narrow-minded so-called 'moralists' at the time, and it is therefor no wonder that the film was controversial. Jodorowsky also gives his personal, very bizarre vision of the living dead in this film, which was released shortly before G.A. Romero's milestone "Night of the Living Dead". The film is often disturbing, yet is fascinating on so many other levels, sometimes beautiful and even funny, and always very, very weird (in an ingenious manner).
I cannot claim that this is a proper description of "Fando y Lis", but, as said, there is probably no such thing as a proper description of a Jodorowsky film. Jodorowsky's films are probably not accessible to everybody, and to many "Fando Y Lis" is probably even his least accessible film. This is maybe the Jodorowsky film, which is most strictly a film for Jodorowsky-fans. It may not quite as continuously overwhelming as his masterpieces "El Topo" (1970), "The Holy Mountain" (1973) and "Santa Sangre" (1989), but it certainly is a fascinating experience that is unique and awe-inspiring. To those unfamiliar with Jodorowsky's cinema, I recommend to begin your journey into this great man's cinematic world with "El Topo" or "The Holy Mountain", or even with "Santa Sangre", which is probably his most accessible film to lovers of a more conventional kind of cinema. Those who loved the previously mentioned films should definitely see this one. To lovers of surreal art-house cinema, and to my fellow Jodorowsky-fans in particular, "Fando y Lis" is an absolute must see!
The adaptation of a play by Fernando Arrabal, with whom Jodorowsky had worked on stage before, "Fando y Lis" is just as surreal as the master's more famous films to follow, "El Topo" and "The Holy Mountain". This is also doubtlessly Jodorowsky's most pessimistic film and, at the time of its release, it was scandalous due to its disturbing, uncompromising and bizarre nature. When it premiered in Mexico, "Fando y Lis" caused such outrage that riots broke out, and Jodorowsky had to escape the theater secretly in order to avoid getting seriously hurt or even lynched by protesters. The film was subsequently banned by the Mexican government.
The film, which is divided into four acts, follows Fando (Sergio Kleiner) and his crippled girlfriend Lis (Diana Mariscal), who drift through post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of a mythical city named Tar. In search for Tar, a sort of paradise that has survived a 'final war' that has left the world in ruins, Fando y Lis encounter a variety of bizarre people and situations. On their journey, which is always surreal, and gradually gets disturbing, Fando becomes more and more abusive towards his innocent, helpless girlfriend... This is only a very vague description of the film, however it is hardly possible to give a proper one. As Jodorowsky' other films, "Fando y Lis" simply is a film that has to be seen. It is no wonder that this was highly controversial when it came out, and it is still disturbing today. Scenes which broach the issue of child abuse were arguably the most controversial ones, but the film includes all other sorts of controversial topics, including violence in relationships, humiliation and exploitation of the poor, cross-dressing, incest, etc., as well as the Jodorowsky-typical religious/iconoclastic symbolism. These were, of course, explosive issues for narrow-minded so-called 'moralists' at the time, and it is therefor no wonder that the film was controversial. Jodorowsky also gives his personal, very bizarre vision of the living dead in this film, which was released shortly before G.A. Romero's milestone "Night of the Living Dead". The film is often disturbing, yet is fascinating on so many other levels, sometimes beautiful and even funny, and always very, very weird (in an ingenious manner).
I cannot claim that this is a proper description of "Fando y Lis", but, as said, there is probably no such thing as a proper description of a Jodorowsky film. Jodorowsky's films are probably not accessible to everybody, and to many "Fando Y Lis" is probably even his least accessible film. This is maybe the Jodorowsky film, which is most strictly a film for Jodorowsky-fans. It may not quite as continuously overwhelming as his masterpieces "El Topo" (1970), "The Holy Mountain" (1973) and "Santa Sangre" (1989), but it certainly is a fascinating experience that is unique and awe-inspiring. To those unfamiliar with Jodorowsky's cinema, I recommend to begin your journey into this great man's cinematic world with "El Topo" or "The Holy Mountain", or even with "Santa Sangre", which is probably his most accessible film to lovers of a more conventional kind of cinema. Those who loved the previously mentioned films should definitely see this one. To lovers of surreal art-house cinema, and to my fellow Jodorowsky-fans in particular, "Fando y Lis" is an absolute must see!
Is this man a genius or a drugged out hack? You tell me!
reptilicus30 January 2002
Mention the name Alexandro Jodorowsky wherever two or more film buffs are gathered and a fight is only minutes away. Some argue that he is a latter day Bunuel whose non-linear style of storytelling illustrates the falsities and hypocrasies of the ruling class while others declare that he is a talentless poseur who incorporates his own LSD inspired ramblings into his scripts and "non linear" is just a fancy way of saying his plots make no sense.
Many directors have woven the search for the Meaning of Life into their plots. Ingmar Bergman, David Lynch, Carl Dreyer and Luis Bunuel among them especially. The thing about Jodorowsky is not that his characters are looking for the meaning OF life, rather they are seeking to give meaning TO their lives. This is not wrong per se, but the problem is the characters in EL TOPO, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN and even FANDO AND LIS all find what they are seeking, and that is where the problems begin, not end. While having a goal and dedicating your life to it is laudible in itself, once you have satisfied that goal where do you go? Is Life still meaningful once you have solved Meaning of same? Not to reveal the ending of any of these movies but: There are disastrous results for everyone in these pictures once they reach their goal . . .which turns out to be not what they expected anyway.
Fando and his crippled girlfriend Lis are on a journey to the legendary magical city of Tar where, both believe, Lis will be able to walk and all their problems will be solved. Along the way they meet all sorts of odd characters (the only kind who inhabit the Jodorowsky universe) and Fando tries to leave several times only to return repentant. Jodorowsky seems to share a dislike of the upper classes of society with Bunuel. The representatives of the upper crust we encounter are narrow minded ineffectual idiots anxious to maintain the status quo because that is the only life they know and they are unwilling to accept change (think about the townsfolk in EL TOPO and compare them to the rich people in VIRIDIANA).
Tar may be no more real than El Dorado or Atlantis but as long as they are actively involved in searching for it, Fando and Lis's live's have meaning. The question ultimately put before them and, by proxy, also before us is this: Is the realisation of this goal worth it? And what happens if we arrive at the wrong answer? Of course with Jodorowsky the wrong answer is the only one anyone ever seems to reach, EL TOPO being the prime example of this. FANDO AND LIS reaches a climax which, while not wholly unexpected, is no less heartbreaking because we saw it coming.
This film was withdrawn for several film festivals worldwide and allegedly caused riots when it was shown in Brazil. It was withdrawn from distribution for many years by Jodorowsky himself but is now available on videocassette and DVD. So is this man an unsung genius? You figure it out, I'm going home.
Many directors have woven the search for the Meaning of Life into their plots. Ingmar Bergman, David Lynch, Carl Dreyer and Luis Bunuel among them especially. The thing about Jodorowsky is not that his characters are looking for the meaning OF life, rather they are seeking to give meaning TO their lives. This is not wrong per se, but the problem is the characters in EL TOPO, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN and even FANDO AND LIS all find what they are seeking, and that is where the problems begin, not end. While having a goal and dedicating your life to it is laudible in itself, once you have satisfied that goal where do you go? Is Life still meaningful once you have solved Meaning of same? Not to reveal the ending of any of these movies but: There are disastrous results for everyone in these pictures once they reach their goal . . .which turns out to be not what they expected anyway.
Fando and his crippled girlfriend Lis are on a journey to the legendary magical city of Tar where, both believe, Lis will be able to walk and all their problems will be solved. Along the way they meet all sorts of odd characters (the only kind who inhabit the Jodorowsky universe) and Fando tries to leave several times only to return repentant. Jodorowsky seems to share a dislike of the upper classes of society with Bunuel. The representatives of the upper crust we encounter are narrow minded ineffectual idiots anxious to maintain the status quo because that is the only life they know and they are unwilling to accept change (think about the townsfolk in EL TOPO and compare them to the rich people in VIRIDIANA).
Tar may be no more real than El Dorado or Atlantis but as long as they are actively involved in searching for it, Fando and Lis's live's have meaning. The question ultimately put before them and, by proxy, also before us is this: Is the realisation of this goal worth it? And what happens if we arrive at the wrong answer? Of course with Jodorowsky the wrong answer is the only one anyone ever seems to reach, EL TOPO being the prime example of this. FANDO AND LIS reaches a climax which, while not wholly unexpected, is no less heartbreaking because we saw it coming.
This film was withdrawn for several film festivals worldwide and allegedly caused riots when it was shown in Brazil. It was withdrawn from distribution for many years by Jodorowsky himself but is now available on videocassette and DVD. So is this man an unsung genius? You figure it out, I'm going home.
Into it
kosmasp19 April 2021
The thing to know .. well if the name of the director is telling you something, it most likely is because you are a fan of his work(s). Having said that, it is obvious that those who are will not like me rating it so low ... but on the other hand I also know that those completely annoyed by him and his movies will think I rated it way too high.
If there are movies that really split viewers, I'd say the ones Jodorowsky makes are a sure fire bet to be amongst them. There is not much of a story here (though I have to admit I do not know the play this is based on and one Jodorowsky had worked on, before turning it into a movie), but there is a lot of symbolism. There are things that you either want to read between the lines, some will align with the views of the director some others you may have made up yourself.
So in a sense you get more than a movie here. Social criticism and a lot allegories ... oh and quite a bit of sexual innuendo! Even if it is still quite tame here. Jodorowsky is also very proud of the fact that he has a lot of non actors in this too .... those who are mean might think "how can I tell the difference between the actors and those who aren't?" ... I have seen a few of his other movies, but I wanted to start from the beginning. The man is clearly controversial ... and his movies are too (he was banned and threatened to be killed over this ... which no matter how you feel about a movie is way too extreme) ... so be aware of certain things and go with the flow ... on a journey you may or may not (totally) understand!
If there are movies that really split viewers, I'd say the ones Jodorowsky makes are a sure fire bet to be amongst them. There is not much of a story here (though I have to admit I do not know the play this is based on and one Jodorowsky had worked on, before turning it into a movie), but there is a lot of symbolism. There are things that you either want to read between the lines, some will align with the views of the director some others you may have made up yourself.
So in a sense you get more than a movie here. Social criticism and a lot allegories ... oh and quite a bit of sexual innuendo! Even if it is still quite tame here. Jodorowsky is also very proud of the fact that he has a lot of non actors in this too .... those who are mean might think "how can I tell the difference between the actors and those who aren't?" ... I have seen a few of his other movies, but I wanted to start from the beginning. The man is clearly controversial ... and his movies are too (he was banned and threatened to be killed over this ... which no matter how you feel about a movie is way too extreme) ... so be aware of certain things and go with the flow ... on a journey you may or may not (totally) understand!
The Theater Of Cruelty
loganx-213 December 2007
Warning: Spoilers
When I watched this film I was constantly thinking and analyzing, as virtually every scene is filled with some metaphorical, philosophical, or psychological significance. Jordowsky(the director) actually goes over each scene in the commentary. The story is about a two lovers, one a parapeligic in a cart, traveling through a post apacolyptic Mexican desert searching for the magical city of "Tar". Anyone interested in surreal films, magic realism, where Easy Rider, Night Of The Living Dead, and The Mars Volta got a lot of their ideas from I strongly recommend this, just try to look deeper when watching it, no matter how bizarre things seem to get. Jodorowsky apparently created the story while filming, and used his theater of cruelty ideas while working with the actors, the results are sensational.
Compares favorably to Fellini
stephenpitkin29 April 2005
I think Fando and Lis is a masterpiece, and one of the least pretentious films I've seen. As it's 2 am and I've just watched it, I am not in a position to be articulate, but I'll sum up my reasons in the following, then come back in a few days and further the commentary.
1. I was never once bored. 2. How the hell did the director get this made, and have all the actors and extras participate in what to them must have seemed embarrassing and weird sacrilege? 3. It was epic poetic fantasy, using creative theatrical games, fresh play of props and brilliant mise en scene - tapping into all kinds of primal emotions, fears and desires. 4. He makes good the limits of the medium. Even the high contrast black-and- white served its purpose; when Fando tries to convince Lis there are flowers, the surrounding many stones and bric-a-brac suggest flowers to the viewer. Where faded acoustics must have reigned given the budget and desert landscape, he fills the soundtrack with compelling auditory images. 5. It's a combination of Fellini's 81/2 (the bewildered director as lover) and La Strada, but even more personal; with more guts; rawer, fresher. 6. Who could deny the plaintively lovely Lis? The forlorn fawning seductress? And wasn't Fando a charming and silly chap, full of fondness for living when he wasn't cast in the role of the brute? And wasn't their chemistry palpable?
Above all, I was moved. I recognized it both as a simple love story toting the truism that love has no road map, and a cry from the wilderness. It was authentic scream of a soul to FEEL the experience of living, good and bad. Watch this film when you're lost - when your heart aches with unfulfilled desires - you want your dead parents back or the lover you mistreated. Watch it then. You'll know what the hell it's about.
1. I was never once bored. 2. How the hell did the director get this made, and have all the actors and extras participate in what to them must have seemed embarrassing and weird sacrilege? 3. It was epic poetic fantasy, using creative theatrical games, fresh play of props and brilliant mise en scene - tapping into all kinds of primal emotions, fears and desires. 4. He makes good the limits of the medium. Even the high contrast black-and- white served its purpose; when Fando tries to convince Lis there are flowers, the surrounding many stones and bric-a-brac suggest flowers to the viewer. Where faded acoustics must have reigned given the budget and desert landscape, he fills the soundtrack with compelling auditory images. 5. It's a combination of Fellini's 81/2 (the bewildered director as lover) and La Strada, but even more personal; with more guts; rawer, fresher. 6. Who could deny the plaintively lovely Lis? The forlorn fawning seductress? And wasn't Fando a charming and silly chap, full of fondness for living when he wasn't cast in the role of the brute? And wasn't their chemistry palpable?
Above all, I was moved. I recognized it both as a simple love story toting the truism that love has no road map, and a cry from the wilderness. It was authentic scream of a soul to FEEL the experience of living, good and bad. Watch this film when you're lost - when your heart aches with unfulfilled desires - you want your dead parents back or the lover you mistreated. Watch it then. You'll know what the hell it's about.
To Tar...So close and yet so far.
lastliberal4 January 2008
Avant-garde and surrealism is not for everyone. We tend to like our stories to be easy to understand and have nice endings. You will not find that is the work of Alejandro Jodorowsky. He reminds you of Jean Luc Godard, Luis Bunuel, Ingmar Bergman, David Lynch, Carl Dreyer and Salvador Dali at times, but he is different than all of them. You don't try to understand his work, you just enjoy it. Once you think you understand it, the magic will end.
This is Jodorowsky's first feature-length film. He was a play director before this, and this is actually a play written by Fernando Arrabal. Jodorowsky adapted it for the screen and put his own stamp on it. You will see his fascination with mime and with the French Panic Movement, as well as his own creative genius - or madness to some.
The film debuted at the Acapulco Film Festival, and Jodorowsky literally had to run for his life. It was lost for a long time until brought back on DVD. Now, it is available for those who want to stretch their film minds to the limit.
This is Jodorowsky's first feature-length film. He was a play director before this, and this is actually a play written by Fernando Arrabal. Jodorowsky adapted it for the screen and put his own stamp on it. You will see his fascination with mime and with the French Panic Movement, as well as his own creative genius - or madness to some.
The film debuted at the Acapulco Film Festival, and Jodorowsky literally had to run for his life. It was lost for a long time until brought back on DVD. Now, it is available for those who want to stretch their film minds to the limit.
An important film for surrealist film buffs everywhere.
NateManD7 July 2005
"Fando & Lis" is Alejandro Jodorowsky's first full length feature film. Like the 1930 film "L Age D Or", the 1967 premier at the Acapulco film festival in Mexico led to riots. The images shocked many viewers and Jodorowsky had to flee for his life. The film's story concerns Fando and his crippled girlfriend Lis. Fando is very cruel, but sometimes sympathetic. He pushes Lis around in a cart through many strange and surreal scenarios. We also witness flashbacks of Lis as a child loosing her innocents to the corruption of adults. Fando has flashbacks of his father and the soldiers which took his dad away from him. For the two main characters, it's a bizarre world gone mad. Fando & Lis are on a journey to the miraculous city of Tar. Lis is convinced she'll be healed of her physical disorder and able to walk again. This film is based on a short play by Fernado Arrabal. and at time feels like a follow up to the later filmed "Viva la Muerte". Although shot in B&W viewers are treated to many bizarre images including; a burning piano, body painting, drag queens, mud people and other assorted strangeness. "Fando & Lis" holds its place in the hall of fame of weird films. You must see it to believe it.
Pre El Topo
shawnblackman11 November 2016
Before El Topo and Holy Mountain there was Fando y Lis which shows the beginnings of a very strange dude. Alejandro Jodorowsky hones his stylings with this black and white story of a couple looking for a city named Tar. Lis can't walk so she sits on a cart with a gramophone as Fando pushes her. They meet all kinds of quirky people along the way to the fabled city.
I think he made it mandatory for the actors to get high before each scene. Not very many envelopes pushed in this one. There is a quick scene with a man breastfeeding from a naked pregnant girl and a young guy has to make out with a few grannies. These are just a few reasons why we like Jordorowsky. He's just totally out there in an entertaining sort of way. If you have seen his films check this one out for sure. It takes a grim turn at the end though.
I think he made it mandatory for the actors to get high before each scene. Not very many envelopes pushed in this one. There is a quick scene with a man breastfeeding from a naked pregnant girl and a young guy has to make out with a few grannies. These are just a few reasons why we like Jordorowsky. He's just totally out there in an entertaining sort of way. If you have seen his films check this one out for sure. It takes a grim turn at the end though.
Amazing Surreal Cinema at It's Finest
dpantz742 October 2004
While it may not be the best introduction to Jodorowsky's film work, it is, probably one of the best surreal films you'll come across.
This original re-telling of "Fando y Lis" is at times very haunting, dreamlike and down right disturbing in a Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali kind of way.
It is a "lost classic" that nearly got away for good, but thanks to American Zoetrope and Fantoma, it found its way onto DVD with a bonus documentary on the filmmaker's amazing life and work called "La Constellation Jodorowsky". Let's hope that in the future more of his films are released in the U.S.
I highly recommend this film, as well as "The Holy Mountain", "El Topo", and "Santa Sangre", if you can track them down.
This original re-telling of "Fando y Lis" is at times very haunting, dreamlike and down right disturbing in a Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali kind of way.
It is a "lost classic" that nearly got away for good, but thanks to American Zoetrope and Fantoma, it found its way onto DVD with a bonus documentary on the filmmaker's amazing life and work called "La Constellation Jodorowsky". Let's hope that in the future more of his films are released in the U.S.
I highly recommend this film, as well as "The Holy Mountain", "El Topo", and "Santa Sangre", if you can track them down.
Let's go watch the grass grow and paint dry. It shall be more rewarding than this film
Meganeguard6 December 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Apparently when this film was released at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival it incited a riot and while making his escape Jodorowsky's limousine was pelted by rocks. When the film was released in Mexico City it incited a riot there as well and almost led to Jodorowsky's deportation. I strongly agree that they should have deported him because I believe that this is possibly the worst film that I have ever seen. I mean it definitely ranks up there with such sludge as Valerie Breiman's Going Overboard and Robert Longo's Johnny Mnemonic. However while these two films are nothing more than a low budget comedy and a cheesy science fiction film, Fando y Lis is full of enough art house pretensions that it could choke a horse. Now, please do not get me wrong, I mainly watch foreign films and prefer well done American independent films more than the flashy, vacuous films released by Hollywood, but, in my humble opinion, Fando y Lis has nothing to offer a film audience.
Taking place in a post-apocalyptic land, the lovers Fando and his semi-paraplegic lover Lis, she can stand but she cannot walk, are on a quest to find the city of Tar, the only city that has not fallen. During their travels they come across quite a number of oddballs, including a group dressed out in tuxedos and evening dresses enjoying a jazz trio amongst the burnt out husks of ancient cars, three old women playing cards with peaches used for money and to the winner the amours of a chunky fellow sitting in his tighty whities, amongst others. As Fando makes his way through the devastated landscape his affection for Lis changes dramatically from syrupy sweet to almost sadistic and he abandons her quite a few times throughout the film. This pretty much sums up the "plot" of this film. While David Lynch's Eraserhead and Tsukamoto Shinya's Tetsuo the Ironman also lacked a cohesive plot overall themes could be read into them. This film on the other hand is an utter disaster.
Maybe I am being unfair and maybe I should give this film another chance before I rank it with the two bombs listed above, but there are so many good films available and I do not want to lose a hour and a half of my life watching this film that is at the bottom of filmic value, but at the height of pretentiousness.
Taking place in a post-apocalyptic land, the lovers Fando and his semi-paraplegic lover Lis, she can stand but she cannot walk, are on a quest to find the city of Tar, the only city that has not fallen. During their travels they come across quite a number of oddballs, including a group dressed out in tuxedos and evening dresses enjoying a jazz trio amongst the burnt out husks of ancient cars, three old women playing cards with peaches used for money and to the winner the amours of a chunky fellow sitting in his tighty whities, amongst others. As Fando makes his way through the devastated landscape his affection for Lis changes dramatically from syrupy sweet to almost sadistic and he abandons her quite a few times throughout the film. This pretty much sums up the "plot" of this film. While David Lynch's Eraserhead and Tsukamoto Shinya's Tetsuo the Ironman also lacked a cohesive plot overall themes could be read into them. This film on the other hand is an utter disaster.
Maybe I am being unfair and maybe I should give this film another chance before I rank it with the two bombs listed above, but there are so many good films available and I do not want to lose a hour and a half of my life watching this film that is at the bottom of filmic value, but at the height of pretentiousness.
visionary, disjointed, profound
cread5 July 2000
Jodorowsky's first film has recently been released on DVD with director's commentary and documentary, and it is looking beautiful for a 'lost' low-budget film. A frequently disjointed film, although to be honest not as much as El Topo, Jodorowsky's adaption of a bizarre stage production (filmed from memory with a one-page outline script) creates some of his most affecting images despite the low-budget. The narrative, which may seem annoying for those unaccustomed to Jodorowsky's work, actually develops in quite a mature and artistic manner; Jodorowsky shows a great understanding of his art despite the fact this was his first feature. But, as Jodorowsky himself says about this film, it is a pure work of art - i.e. a film created without any thought going into what the audience will think about it, he was filming from the heart. So it does drag in places and the pacing prevents any but the most arty of us to be excited by it. But if you liked El Topo (etc.), give it a go.
A duo's surreal and mystical search for enlightenment
Afracious7 January 2000
Shot using only a one page script and Jodorowsky's memory of the stageplay, Fando & Lis is a tale of the two people in the title, a man, Fando, and his disabled female partner, Lis, who can't walk but does stand up on one occasion. They set off together to search for the mystical city of Tar, with Lis most of time being on a four-wheel cart along with a gramophone and a drum, and Fando pushing her. He also carries her as well. This reminded me of the man and woman in Jean Luc Godard's Week-End from the same year. On their escapade they encounter some strange characters like the mud people and a man playing a burning piano. There is all the usual Jodorowsky elements with surreal and obscure symbolism and for ninety-six minutes all rational thought is disbanded. It is in Jodorowsky's words, "a pure piece of art without any concession". It is provoking and leads to a savage conclusion, but it is not as accomplished as Jodorowsky's later work.
The Lost Film from the Director of El Topo
neal_fischer22 February 2000
Copied with permission from FANTOMA.COM
Considered lost for nearly 30 years, FANDO & LIS had its world premiere at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival. What should have marked the arrival of a new master of the surreal, instead degenerated into a full scale riot on the festival floor. The director barely escaped with his life and the festival was closed.
FANDO & LIS is a modern fable about two young people searching through a destroyed world for a mythic city called Tar where all their wishes will be fulfilled. Instead they are corrupted and driven mad.
Other Reviews of FANDO & LIS:
"FANDO & LIS is without question, one of the strangest, most bizarre and disturbing films on DVD I've ever seen. Or any other format for that matter. It makes ERASERHEAD look mainstream. I wish you could see me shaking my head from side to side in disbelief as I listen to this guy speak during the commentary."
Considered lost for nearly 30 years, FANDO & LIS had its world premiere at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival. What should have marked the arrival of a new master of the surreal, instead degenerated into a full scale riot on the festival floor. The director barely escaped with his life and the festival was closed.
FANDO & LIS is a modern fable about two young people searching through a destroyed world for a mythic city called Tar where all their wishes will be fulfilled. Instead they are corrupted and driven mad.
Other Reviews of FANDO & LIS:
"FANDO & LIS is without question, one of the strangest, most bizarre and disturbing films on DVD I've ever seen. Or any other format for that matter. It makes ERASERHEAD look mainstream. I wish you could see me shaking my head from side to side in disbelief as I listen to this guy speak during the commentary."
cheap and disappointing film
peter-20929 September 2000
The accompanying documentary (on DVD) was much better than the film itself. I found that watching Fando and Lis with Jodorowsky's commentary in the background added tremendously to my viewing experience since it successfully detracted from incoherent and amateurish images and story line of the film. In the commentary, the author describes his idiosyncratic philosophy of life, art and everything, including making of this movie. Unfortunately, I disagree with Jodorowsky, and perhaps with Freud himself, about the deprived nature of our inner self. The film itself is boring and cannot be compared to surrealist masterpieces of Bunuel, Lynch or early Chytilova.
Fando and Lis literal & unimaginative
bazarov2422 August 2006
Warning: Spoilers
"EVERY cinematographic trick was avoided. The actors, enduring a veritable 'Via Crucis,' were stripped naked, tortured and beaten. Artificial blood was never used." So conclude the clues for critics attractively printed and furnished by Panic Productions to accompany Alexandro Jodorowsky's film version of Fernando Arrabal's play, "Fando and Lis".
It's a good thing movies are for one time only, because "Fando and Lis" subjects its heroes to vampirism at several levels of refinement. It also has Fando murder Lis (no retakes on that one), and at her funeral it exposes her body to be devoured in bite-sized portions by her mourners.
But such is the anesthetic effect of Jodorowsky's direction (and perhaps of Arrabal's dramaturgy) that each new outrage invites a yawn; each torture, beating and nonartificial blood letting, an acknowledgment of shocking intention and little more.
He is impotent and she is paralytic, and together, through trash heap and desert, they search for an unattainable city called Tar. Along the way (which, of course, leads back to where they started) they have many meaningful experiences and encounter numerous exemplary grotesque characters.
Repeatedly Fando is misled into strange adventures, and repeatedly he returns to serve and humiliate Lis. Occasionally they remember their childhoods in flashback, and near the end Fando's dying mother reappears and his dead father jumps out of the grave to claim him.
Such figures of the imagination, particularly the imaginations of Hieronymus Bosch, Gustave Dore, and above all, Federico Fellini give a comfortable familiarity, a strong sense of having seen it all before, to the innovative excesses of "Fando and Lis." And Jodorowsky, in everything from his selection of freaks to his choice of camera angles, admits his indebtedness.
It is as if the grotesque of the later Fellini, mostly drained of their (nonartificial) blood, has wandered zombie-like onto a landscape created by a marriage of low budget with literary sources, to take part yet again in the most approved rituals of academic absurdist tradition.
Deprived of responsibility to objective reality, "Fando and Lis" tends to exploit accounts of subjective reality, most obviously, a simplistic Freudian system of guilt and repression. In spite of its fantastic premises, it seems almost wholly conventional in the interpretation it asks for its images. And like most overt film fantasy, the end product is flat, literal, unimaginative.
Neither Sergio Klainer as Fando nor Diana Mariscal as Lis are acceptable actors (whether they could be if they had the chance is another question), and Miss Mariscal's Giulietta Masina make-up (another tribute to Fellini) works to reduce her part from performance to mere representation. For all its invocations of theater of cruelty, "Fando and Lis" hardly ever scares up anything stronger than unpleasant whimsey.
It's a good thing movies are for one time only, because "Fando and Lis" subjects its heroes to vampirism at several levels of refinement. It also has Fando murder Lis (no retakes on that one), and at her funeral it exposes her body to be devoured in bite-sized portions by her mourners.
But such is the anesthetic effect of Jodorowsky's direction (and perhaps of Arrabal's dramaturgy) that each new outrage invites a yawn; each torture, beating and nonartificial blood letting, an acknowledgment of shocking intention and little more.
He is impotent and she is paralytic, and together, through trash heap and desert, they search for an unattainable city called Tar. Along the way (which, of course, leads back to where they started) they have many meaningful experiences and encounter numerous exemplary grotesque characters.
Repeatedly Fando is misled into strange adventures, and repeatedly he returns to serve and humiliate Lis. Occasionally they remember their childhoods in flashback, and near the end Fando's dying mother reappears and his dead father jumps out of the grave to claim him.
Such figures of the imagination, particularly the imaginations of Hieronymus Bosch, Gustave Dore, and above all, Federico Fellini give a comfortable familiarity, a strong sense of having seen it all before, to the innovative excesses of "Fando and Lis." And Jodorowsky, in everything from his selection of freaks to his choice of camera angles, admits his indebtedness.
It is as if the grotesque of the later Fellini, mostly drained of their (nonartificial) blood, has wandered zombie-like onto a landscape created by a marriage of low budget with literary sources, to take part yet again in the most approved rituals of academic absurdist tradition.
Deprived of responsibility to objective reality, "Fando and Lis" tends to exploit accounts of subjective reality, most obviously, a simplistic Freudian system of guilt and repression. In spite of its fantastic premises, it seems almost wholly conventional in the interpretation it asks for its images. And like most overt film fantasy, the end product is flat, literal, unimaginative.
Neither Sergio Klainer as Fando nor Diana Mariscal as Lis are acceptable actors (whether they could be if they had the chance is another question), and Miss Mariscal's Giulietta Masina make-up (another tribute to Fellini) works to reduce her part from performance to mere representation. For all its invocations of theater of cruelty, "Fando and Lis" hardly ever scares up anything stronger than unpleasant whimsey.
Jodorowsky's First Masterpiece
noelartm25 April 2001
The sad fact is that nobody makes movies like this anymore. Surrealism is dead and has been replaced by so-called "reality-based TV". Seeing FANDO & LIS over thirty years later, one realizes the power Jodorowsky has to teach a new generation how it's done - for the pendulum is sure to swing back in surrealism's favor any day now. Listen to the audio commentary and learn how to use symbolism effectively. Nobody does it better. The scene in the graveyard alone is a classic. As for shock value, this was the UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1928 by Luis Bunuel & Savador Dali) of it's day. Yes, like its predecessor, FANDO Y LIS caused riots when first screened and it's easy to see why. Audiences are still being challenged by it. This is the first "midnight movie" made before the term was even coined. There is only one way to describe it: a brilliantly shocking masterpiece.
a contender for the weirdest surrealism of its time; whether it's a great movie or not you be the judge
Quinoa198428 February 2007
Come to think of it, really, when I got done with the whole miasma that is Fando & Lis, I didn't know what exactly to think, which is the case with all of Alejandro Jodorowsky's films. But more than ever, maybe even more than the 'anything goes' spaghetti-western spoof El Topo, Jodorowsky holds absolutely nothing sacred with cinema, not just with conventions but with anything having to do with anything. The philosopher SlavojZizek once said that when fantasy becomes reality, it's when it becomes a nightmare. But where exactly does the fantasy start and end and reality come into play?
It's really a one-of-a-kind consciousness, not to sound like a pretentious f*** about it, where Jodorowsky puts the outcasts into the limelight here. He's obsessed by them, fascinated, repulsed perhaps, and he knows if only for brief bursts he can't control them. And even more strangely enough, this wasn't even his original work to start with! There were times I shook my head, laughed out loud, and probably felt a little tingling here and there of what those outraged crowds felt when they first saw the film in Mexico in 1968. Only Bunuel has ever made the kind of reaction one sees in revolutions south of the border.
So at the least, even when Fando & Lis doesn't make a lick of sense- which might be fairly often for more than some- Jodorowsky makes a piece of anarchy into provocative, cartoonish poetry that's as dirty and deadly as the empty spaces the two "heroes" go around throughout the picture. They both have dark pasts, these two, as Lis was sexually abused as a little girl by a group of circus performers (I'd guess they're circus performers, they might just be accountants for all one can tell in this world), and Fando had to face wretched contention with his father and mother. They find each other in a dilapidated town, where rubble is everywhere, a jazz band plays randomly, and a piano burns while being played.
The main crux of the 'quest' of the picture is Tar, a city that promises all the pleasures life just doesn't seem to provide. But along the way, there's incident after incident after mind-warped incident that stops them from getting to their goal. Yet it's not just this that they have to deal with, but each other, as Fando is simply a schizophrenic, or a sociopath (you take your pick) who's idea of love is chaining up the paralyzed-from-the-waist-down Lis, and gives new meaning to 'tough-love'. Lis, meanwhile, is like a little lump of jelly, where love is very strong but feeble, following the years of abuse and illness.
So how does Jodorowsky make his film unique? Hmm, let me count the ways...For one thing, he had me saying a line I often put forward in films like this at some point during the duration of the film, "here's where it starts to get weird", in the first ten minutes, maybe sooner. There's no stone unturned in Jodorowsky's passionate ideas of just pure shock value. He might be lacking the more firmly grounded sources of surrealism that Bunuel had, which was the church and the bourgeois, but Jodorowsky probably tops him (and maybe even Fellini too) in befuddling his lead characters probably as much as the audience.
But what's great too about the abstractions is that they almost can't stay too long around these doomed lovers on their quest; just enough time to leave an imprint and move along. As they wander through this baron wasteland of rocky, sandy mountains, Fando grows listless and leaves Lis, and suddenly encounters what looks like a Mexican version of the Golden Girls, playing cards at a table and squeezing fruit on some hunky man. When Fando refuses their advances, it sets off a chain reaction of other large, incensed female hatred against him, as they hurl their fruit-balls like it's bowling, knocking him almost into unconsciousness. But then just as they crawl around him, they drift away.
Things like that are what one can expect in the bigger scenes in the movie, where there's hilarity in spots, as there was in the 'hey, why not' method of film-making in Jodorowsky's other cult efforts. But he's also inspired in flashbacks as well, or what might be seen as fever-dream hallucination aspirations, like a bravura gonzo scene where Fando and Lis cover each other in some weird paint. Or an actually delightful and touching scene where Fando makes up a song about what he'll do if Lis dies, and during this mostly non-lyrical music number, they appear in different forms all over a cemetery.
And because logic is completely turned on its screws here, when Fando and Lis seem to be going in circles, and doom seems to be coming to a peak in the climax, there's even a moment of solemnity that reminded me of something out of Snow White with all the forest creatures coming together for something non-destructive or perverse. While there's been a lot of the latter so far in the film, including transvestites in regalia and crazed sexual implications all around, Jodorowsky almost has the good sense to finally make us care about what the characters are going through- or what they *could* be going through.
Loaded with enough allegory to keep me guessing for days, and a musical score that's equally lively and ambient (only Lynch can go this far in making sound effects like a true art form), Fando & Lis is an unequivocal work of debauchery and directorial originality, where the means of going too-far are tested for whatever it's worth. There's of course the danger of it being too personal, and I felt that danger a few times in the film. But there's also the sense of this being like some comic-book that a madman wrote and designed in a 60s avant-garde fever, which is never too boring for me.
It's really a one-of-a-kind consciousness, not to sound like a pretentious f*** about it, where Jodorowsky puts the outcasts into the limelight here. He's obsessed by them, fascinated, repulsed perhaps, and he knows if only for brief bursts he can't control them. And even more strangely enough, this wasn't even his original work to start with! There were times I shook my head, laughed out loud, and probably felt a little tingling here and there of what those outraged crowds felt when they first saw the film in Mexico in 1968. Only Bunuel has ever made the kind of reaction one sees in revolutions south of the border.
So at the least, even when Fando & Lis doesn't make a lick of sense- which might be fairly often for more than some- Jodorowsky makes a piece of anarchy into provocative, cartoonish poetry that's as dirty and deadly as the empty spaces the two "heroes" go around throughout the picture. They both have dark pasts, these two, as Lis was sexually abused as a little girl by a group of circus performers (I'd guess they're circus performers, they might just be accountants for all one can tell in this world), and Fando had to face wretched contention with his father and mother. They find each other in a dilapidated town, where rubble is everywhere, a jazz band plays randomly, and a piano burns while being played.
The main crux of the 'quest' of the picture is Tar, a city that promises all the pleasures life just doesn't seem to provide. But along the way, there's incident after incident after mind-warped incident that stops them from getting to their goal. Yet it's not just this that they have to deal with, but each other, as Fando is simply a schizophrenic, or a sociopath (you take your pick) who's idea of love is chaining up the paralyzed-from-the-waist-down Lis, and gives new meaning to 'tough-love'. Lis, meanwhile, is like a little lump of jelly, where love is very strong but feeble, following the years of abuse and illness.
So how does Jodorowsky make his film unique? Hmm, let me count the ways...For one thing, he had me saying a line I often put forward in films like this at some point during the duration of the film, "here's where it starts to get weird", in the first ten minutes, maybe sooner. There's no stone unturned in Jodorowsky's passionate ideas of just pure shock value. He might be lacking the more firmly grounded sources of surrealism that Bunuel had, which was the church and the bourgeois, but Jodorowsky probably tops him (and maybe even Fellini too) in befuddling his lead characters probably as much as the audience.
But what's great too about the abstractions is that they almost can't stay too long around these doomed lovers on their quest; just enough time to leave an imprint and move along. As they wander through this baron wasteland of rocky, sandy mountains, Fando grows listless and leaves Lis, and suddenly encounters what looks like a Mexican version of the Golden Girls, playing cards at a table and squeezing fruit on some hunky man. When Fando refuses their advances, it sets off a chain reaction of other large, incensed female hatred against him, as they hurl their fruit-balls like it's bowling, knocking him almost into unconsciousness. But then just as they crawl around him, they drift away.
Things like that are what one can expect in the bigger scenes in the movie, where there's hilarity in spots, as there was in the 'hey, why not' method of film-making in Jodorowsky's other cult efforts. But he's also inspired in flashbacks as well, or what might be seen as fever-dream hallucination aspirations, like a bravura gonzo scene where Fando and Lis cover each other in some weird paint. Or an actually delightful and touching scene where Fando makes up a song about what he'll do if Lis dies, and during this mostly non-lyrical music number, they appear in different forms all over a cemetery.
And because logic is completely turned on its screws here, when Fando and Lis seem to be going in circles, and doom seems to be coming to a peak in the climax, there's even a moment of solemnity that reminded me of something out of Snow White with all the forest creatures coming together for something non-destructive or perverse. While there's been a lot of the latter so far in the film, including transvestites in regalia and crazed sexual implications all around, Jodorowsky almost has the good sense to finally make us care about what the characters are going through- or what they *could* be going through.
Loaded with enough allegory to keep me guessing for days, and a musical score that's equally lively and ambient (only Lynch can go this far in making sound effects like a true art form), Fando & Lis is an unequivocal work of debauchery and directorial originality, where the means of going too-far are tested for whatever it's worth. There's of course the danger of it being too personal, and I felt that danger a few times in the film. But there's also the sense of this being like some comic-book that a madman wrote and designed in a 60s avant-garde fever, which is never too boring for me.
A little bit of blood for a blind man por favor...
rotildao25 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers
My God de los cielos! What a work of art! After this one I think everyone would find funerals much more interesting rather than boring or sad. I understand the reason only recently we could watch it on DVD. Not the first Jodorowski to be watched, but one of his best! Although there are only a few of his to watch.
The film will provoke many different effects on people. Couples with their emotional problems will switch from Dr. Phill to Jodorowski's spiritual philosophy of life (watch La Constellation Jodorowski with Marcel Marceau), I mean, what a stupid (intentional) comparison?
The beauty reached with the bedroom scene where Fando and Lis are covered in ink is simply unforgettable. The black and white images obtained seems like a cartoon made by Dali. Amazing experience!
Any audience should get some satisfaction of any kind out of this film!
The film will provoke many different effects on people. Couples with their emotional problems will switch from Dr. Phill to Jodorowski's spiritual philosophy of life (watch La Constellation Jodorowski with Marcel Marceau), I mean, what a stupid (intentional) comparison?
The beauty reached with the bedroom scene where Fando and Lis are covered in ink is simply unforgettable. The black and white images obtained seems like a cartoon made by Dali. Amazing experience!
Any audience should get some satisfaction of any kind out of this film!
Worthless garbage for small minded, wannabe intellectuals
Bill35725 March 2009
I attempted to watch this trash on two separate occasions and had to stop because of extreme boredom, bordering on cardiac arrest.
When I read about the riots that greeted it's premiere, I figured that this movie is a bit like soccer. If you make a large number of people bored long enough, they'll begin to fight one another. Too bad the riot didn't spread to wherever the negatives are stored, some dumpster I imagine.
Jodorowsky, however, didn't suffer enough. The crowd should have seized him and tortured him until he was too afraid to lay hands on a movie camera ever again, but I can only dream.
My thoughts about the films of Alejandro, the overrated one, are continued and further expanded in my review of Holy Mountain (more like holy crap).
When I read about the riots that greeted it's premiere, I figured that this movie is a bit like soccer. If you make a large number of people bored long enough, they'll begin to fight one another. Too bad the riot didn't spread to wherever the negatives are stored, some dumpster I imagine.
Jodorowsky, however, didn't suffer enough. The crowd should have seized him and tortured him until he was too afraid to lay hands on a movie camera ever again, but I can only dream.
My thoughts about the films of Alejandro, the overrated one, are continued and further expanded in my review of Holy Mountain (more like holy crap).
his place in cinematic history
jimi9912 March 2007
Having seen "El Topo" and "Santa Sangre" (but not "Magic Mountain") I considered Jodorowsky a somewhat unique and insulated auteur, but now that I've seen his debut film, I have an entirely new slant on his work. "Fando and Lis" besides being an audacious and anarchic work, may be considered the "missing link" between Jodorowsky and the iconoclastic and surrealistic masters Bunuel, Fellini, and Cocteau, the 60's underground directors Smith, Anger, Mekas, and Warhol, and the contemporary allegorists Lynch, Miike, and Wong.
Although a bit too long at 3 hours, Jodorowsky's imagery and the balance between tightly composed scenes and complete anarchy kept me interest and often fascinated. And intellectually, there is much to ponder in the symbolism and the powerful exploration of one's sexuality and indeed, mortality, that we all must face.
Although a bit too long at 3 hours, Jodorowsky's imagery and the balance between tightly composed scenes and complete anarchy kept me interest and often fascinated. And intellectually, there is much to ponder in the symbolism and the powerful exploration of one's sexuality and indeed, mortality, that we all must face.
It's Not Surreal, It's Baloney
gbheron10 September 2001
Last summer a local arts group screened a series of rarely seen avant-garde movies. This was definitely a nice thing to do, especially since the films were shown in a theatrical setting and were free. But did these guys have strange tastes. They were showing "Fando y Lis" a week I was in town. so I dropped in. In their introductory talk, our hosts mentioned that the film started a riot at its premier at the 1967 Acapulco Film Festival. I understand why. It's supposed to be an example of cinematic surrealism, but to me it's an example of cinematic junk. It has no plot, direction, or point, surreal or not. Don't waste your time, even if it's free.
Inspiring
migcoyula4 November 2006
Fando and Lis depart in search of the magic City of Tar, which will probably offer a cure to Lis' legs in order to make her walk again, aside from granting eternal happiness to both of them. The Search: An early thematic goal to the director's later midnight classics El Topo and The Holy Mountain. Scandalous, and too sacrilegious for the audience at the Acapulco Film Festival, the film was subsequently dropped by the distributor in 1968. Fando and Lis remained obscure for over 30 years.
Alejandro Jodorowsky's long-lost feature debut film is uneven, but it's obvious that a raw energy and a torrent of imaginative ideas went into the making. Shot on weekends with a minuscule budget, casting friends and family, Fando and Lis plays like a cross of the later Fellini circus with the brutality of an early Buñuel film.
Structured as a road movie of sorts, our protagonists have bizarre encounters with an array of unpredictable characters. Many would call it violent, but there is a certain childlike quality in the staging: A burning piano is knocked over again and again in reverse motion; Mud bathers rise (a la Night of The Living Dead) at the base of a mountain; A knife perforates a little doll's crotch, and snakes are introduced in the crack. I could go on describing the stream of images that stuck with me, but you get the point: Watch the movie.
Trying to explain its meaning is beyond the point, as Jodorowsky himself stated: "I'm more attracted to what I don't understand." The symbolism ranges from light social satire to striking, brutal imagery. Same goes for the B&W cinematography, which alternates from bland hand-held "backyard style" to breathtakingly executed shots (see the wonderfully choreographed spiral movement when Fando abandons Lis in a pit, running up the hill in circles in the background while Lis laments in the foreground).
Yet Jodorowsky seems more invested at times in the power of his ideas than in their proper screen execution. The action is sometimes clunky and/or hampered by questionable editing choices. This inconsistency doesn't seem like a deliberate effect, since many sequences are conventionally but effectively cut. However, the use of music is quite expressive as well as many sound design choices.
Fando and Lis is not a perfect film, but "perfection" is an absurd term given the nature of the material. In any case, suffice to say that this feature debut resonates far more deeply than the sober, functional exercises that Hollywood chunks out every year, not to mention the "art-house mainstream" that permeates most of the Cannes Film Festival highlights of late.
Jodorowsky's work is often closer to performance art than it is to film, if we take film as an expression of consistent atmosphere and cinematic flow, illustrating ideas at the fully extent of the medium. The auteur expresses that as a filmmaker; he doesn't care whether the audience is bored or angry, he says a film should be made with your guts, without following any rules of cinematic grammar. The result is sometimes inconsistent but never disappointing.
In a world plagued by artistic concessions, Jodorowsky emerges as an artist with an unique voice, capable of delivering unforgettable images. His work is always refreshing and inspiring.
Alejandro Jodorowsky's long-lost feature debut film is uneven, but it's obvious that a raw energy and a torrent of imaginative ideas went into the making. Shot on weekends with a minuscule budget, casting friends and family, Fando and Lis plays like a cross of the later Fellini circus with the brutality of an early Buñuel film.
Structured as a road movie of sorts, our protagonists have bizarre encounters with an array of unpredictable characters. Many would call it violent, but there is a certain childlike quality in the staging: A burning piano is knocked over again and again in reverse motion; Mud bathers rise (a la Night of The Living Dead) at the base of a mountain; A knife perforates a little doll's crotch, and snakes are introduced in the crack. I could go on describing the stream of images that stuck with me, but you get the point: Watch the movie.
Trying to explain its meaning is beyond the point, as Jodorowsky himself stated: "I'm more attracted to what I don't understand." The symbolism ranges from light social satire to striking, brutal imagery. Same goes for the B&W cinematography, which alternates from bland hand-held "backyard style" to breathtakingly executed shots (see the wonderfully choreographed spiral movement when Fando abandons Lis in a pit, running up the hill in circles in the background while Lis laments in the foreground).
Yet Jodorowsky seems more invested at times in the power of his ideas than in their proper screen execution. The action is sometimes clunky and/or hampered by questionable editing choices. This inconsistency doesn't seem like a deliberate effect, since many sequences are conventionally but effectively cut. However, the use of music is quite expressive as well as many sound design choices.
Fando and Lis is not a perfect film, but "perfection" is an absurd term given the nature of the material. In any case, suffice to say that this feature debut resonates far more deeply than the sober, functional exercises that Hollywood chunks out every year, not to mention the "art-house mainstream" that permeates most of the Cannes Film Festival highlights of late.
Jodorowsky's work is often closer to performance art than it is to film, if we take film as an expression of consistent atmosphere and cinematic flow, illustrating ideas at the fully extent of the medium. The auteur expresses that as a filmmaker; he doesn't care whether the audience is bored or angry, he says a film should be made with your guts, without following any rules of cinematic grammar. The result is sometimes inconsistent but never disappointing.
In a world plagued by artistic concessions, Jodorowsky emerges as an artist with an unique voice, capable of delivering unforgettable images. His work is always refreshing and inspiring.
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