Jodorowsky’s Dune
Composite Score: 82.9
Featuring: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Michel Seydoux, H.R. Giger, Chris Foss, Amanda Lear, Brontis Jodorowsky, Christian Vander, Devin Faraci, Diane O’Bannon, Drew McWeeny, Gary Kurtz, Jean-Paul Gibon, Jean-Pierre Vignau, and Nicolas Winding Refn
Director: Frank Pavich
Genres: Documentary, History, Film
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some violent and sexual images and drug references
Box Office: $661,586 worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Jodorowsky’s Dune is a documentary chronicling the first attempt to bring Frank Herbert’s novel Dune to life on screen in the 1970s. It focuses on the work of legendary but divisive filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky to make the film into a “prophet” that would leave a lasting cultural impact. Featuring interviews from many of those attached to work on the project, it gives audiences a solid sense of what kind of film Jodorowsky was trying to craft and the reasons – warranted or not – for its ultimate failure to get produced. It is a documentary that paints a picture of a beautifully wild film and its lasting impact on the world of filmmaking while critiquing the mainstream production companies in the process.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Viewers not overly interested in film history will most likely not find much to latch onto in Jodorowsky’s Dune. The film makes some light references to other films, which are certainly beneficial to be aware of going into the documentary. Jodorowsky’s other filmography being the most prominent, but also films like Dune (1984), Star Wars (1977), and Alien (1979) feature as contemporaries or comparison points for Jodorowsky’s failed film. If you aren’t big into science fiction films from the 1970s on, Jodorowsky’s Dune does not offer a lot of interesting content; however, for those who are, it contains multitudes.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
Jodorowsky’s Dune does three things really well. The first is giving audiences a glimpse of what kind of film Jodorowsky would have made. From art stills to descriptions from the production team and Jodorowsky himself, much of the unmade film makes its way to the documentary. Even the major casting decisions are shared with the audience, some of them even giving interviews themselves forty years later. Basic knowledge of the story of Dune, whether from the novel or one of the two film adaptations that successfully made their way to the screen, can fill in the missing pieces and give viewers a fairly clear idea of Jodorowsky’s direction. It would have certainly been unlike anything else, and even different from the story it was based on, but from the sound of things, it would also have been a game-changer of a film.
Secondly, the documentary clearly traces the impact of the unmade film, explaining to the audience why it remains important, even though it doesn’t really exist in a traditional sense. A good portion of Jodorowsky’s design team went on to do work on later sci-fi films like Alien, and the film’s art book inspired a great deal more in later science fiction films, like Blade Runner and The Matrix. Interviews with film critics Devin Faraci and Drew McWeeny and directors Nicolas Winding Refn and Richard Stanley illuminate further connections in the film world and bring home its impact on the community of filmmakers.
Finally, Jodorowsky’s Dune also chronicles the film’s failure to receive the production funds necessary to go to shooting, highlighting two key reasons as equally responsible. The first has more to do with Jodorowsky: His willingness to do whatever it took to bring his vision to life left the film with a massive production budget and a difficult collection of personalities to work with, though the director certainly seemed up to the task. The second, and more impactful reason, was the major production studios’ hesitancy to work with Jodorowsky. Reasons cited by the filmmakers for each of the studios’ rejections of the film have nothing to do with the craziness of the film or its budget or most of the crew. Most of the studios simply did not want to work with the filmmaker of El Topo and The Holy Mountain. There is an abject fear of artistic flair that gets placed upon the major film studios by this documentary, which is not inherently inaccurate. Most of the major studios have become a bit more willing to work with independent filmmakers in recent years but with major oversight from the studios often being involved (see Robert Eggers’s The Northman), so the critique still stands.
Jodorowsky’s Dune highlights the potential of an unmade film, its impact despite not being made, and the reasons for its rejection by Hollywood, crafting a documentary that has plenty to say and does justice to its subject matter, a feat worthy of a place among the greats. The film’s focus on science fiction works and that particular vein of film leave it as a relatively niche property but a great one, nevertheless. This film is currently available to stream via Starz subscription or to rent on most other streaming services if you’re looking to check it out.
