If there’s one thing to expect from Alejandro Jodorowsky it’s the unexpected. Now in his 80s, the Chilean filmmaker/writer/Psychomagic guru/graphic novelist and all around Renaissance man is taking to cinema to tell the story of his eclectic life. His latest film, Poesía sin fin (Endless Poetry) is the second in a planned 5-film memoir. To say it is about the struggles of his teenage years and how he came to embrace his artistic calling doesn’t quite do this surrealist film justice.
When a young Jodorowsky stares into a burning flame and says, “Poetry, you shall illuminate my path like a blazing butterfly,” you perhaps get a better sign of what Endless Poetry is all about. There are plenty of Jodorowsky’s signature flourishes. He’s gotten his youngest son, Adan, to play him as an ambling young man finding his way amidst the bohemian lSantiago of the 40s and 50s (think: a Chilean riff on Moulin Rouge!). Just like in his previous film The Dance of Reality, his mother only speaks by singing opera.
And, as the newly released trailer shows, he’s filled the film with the kind of images we’ve come to expect from the iconoclastic filmmaker. Raw meat packed into a guitar case. A neon sign in the form of a penis. A woman covering herself in paint. A man hammering down a piano. A crowd full of masked people. An angry mime destroying a door. They beg you to watch the full film itself to see how they all come together to tell his tale.
In the meantime, though, you can check out the full trailer below and let your eyes feast themselves on this colorful take on young artistic ambition.
Endless Poetry opens in limited release in NY and LA July 14, 2017 with more cities to follow July 24, 2017