{"id":35682,"date":"2016-03-20T23:18:42","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T06:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/?p=35682"},"modified":"2016-03-20T23:18:42","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T06:18:42","slug":"challenge-week-11-the-dance-of-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/challenge-week-11-the-dance-of-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Week 11: The Dance of Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I made my preview post<\/a> listing how excited I was about various films I’d be watching for this challenge, I put two films under “I’m Terrified” – notable so-bad-it’s-good movie Birdemic: Shock and Terror<\/em> and this Alejandro Jodorowsky film. I was terrified because my husband had watched it for his podcast and thought it was pretty weird and maybe a little offputting. I’d heard Jodorowsky was a tough nut to crack in general, and I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a good introduction to his surrealism or not – and surrealism has about an iffy track record with me. So I went in with quite a bit of trepidation.<\/p>\n

Well, I kind of loved it.<\/p>\n

\"tf-mother\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It’s far more narratively straight-forward than I expected, with Jodorowsky telling us a surreal version of his childhood in the town of Tocopilla, Chile. I don’t know much about Jodorowsky’s biography aside from a cursory look at Wikipedia, so I won’t even try to figure out how accurate the story is to his life. Pretty sure it doesn’t really matter. In the film, his father Jaime is a harsh and authoritarian husband and father, a merchant who is also a communist – he plans to assassinate Chilean dictator Carlos Ibañez. Much of the film actually follows Jaime’s elaborate assassination plot and long odyssey to return home. Other parts showcase Alejandro as a boy, the outlandish characters he meets (like the Theosophist, a religious fanatic who lives nearly naked on the docks), and his close but unusual relationship with his mother.<\/p>\n

The style of the film is surreal and absurd, but not inscrutable. Meanwhile, the photography is breathtakingly beautiful, filled with flamboyant colors and unforgettable set-pieces. Oh, and his mother sings all of her dialogue as if she’s in an opera. There are some parts that could probably be deemed offensive (the mother cures the father’s plague with, um, her pee, there’s a part where Alejandro’s afraid of the dark and she paints him black to make him a “monster of the night”, and there’s some naked torture scenes), but it all kind of fits within this world. Plus, for some reason that stuff came across as a provocateur’s indulgence rather than juvenile prurience. Plus plus, I loved the cinematography and the style and the other absurdity so much I didn’t much care. Perhaps most surprising, I found the whole thing intensely satisfying in a way I certainly never expected, given Jodorowsky’s reputation for obscurity and what I’d heard about this film in particular.<\/p>\n

\"tf-monsternight\"<\/p>\n

As a comparison, it’s basically Jodorowsky’s Amarcord<\/em>, and I’m actually much more interested in revisiting Fellini’s semi-autobiography after having seen The Dance of Reality<\/em> than I have been before. Bryan took a big risk recommending this one (and I wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone myself), but it paid off for me.<\/p>\n

Stats and stuff…<\/h3>\n

2013, Chile<\/em>
\nwritten and directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky<\/em>
\nstarring Brontis Jodorowsky, Pamela Flores, Jeremias Herskovits, Alejandro Jodorowsky<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m ranking all my Challenge films on Flickchart (as I do all the films I see), a movie-ranking website that asks you to choose your favorite between two movies until it builds a ranked list of your favorites. Just for fun, I will average out the rankings and keep a running tally of whose recommendations rank the highest. When you add a film to Flickchart, it pits it against films already on your chart to see where it should fall. Here’s how The Dance of Reality<\/em> entered my chart:<\/p>\n

The Dance of Reality<\/b> beats Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
\nThe Dance of Reality<\/b> beats The Little Matchgirl
\nThe Dance of Reality loses to The Juggler of Our Lady<\/b>
\nThe Dance of Reality<\/b> beats The Magnificent Seven
\nThe Dance of Reality<\/b> beats American History X
\nThe Dance of Reality loses to M<\/b>
\nThe Dance of Reality loses to Ratatouille<\/b>
\nThe Dance of Reality loses to The Untouchables<\/b>
\nThe Dance of Reality<\/b> beats Grave of the Fireflies
\nThe Dance of Reality loses to Desperado<\/b>
\nThe Dance of Reality loses to Dumbo<\/b>
\nThe Dance of Reality<\/b> beats Easy Rider<\/p>\n

Final #554 out of 3603 films on my chart (85%)<\/p>\n

It is now my #1 Alejandro Jodorowsky film, my #10 Avant-Garde\/Experimental Film, my #18 Based-on-a-True-Story Film, my #14 Biopic, my #19 Coming-of-Age film, and my #7 film of 2013.<\/p>\n

The Dance of Reality<\/em> was recommended by Bryan Dressel, friend and host of my husband’s podcast.<\/p>\n

A few more screenshots…<\/h3>\n

\"tf-twojodorowskys\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-fisticuffs\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-clowns\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-queenofcups\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-dentist\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-theosophist\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-communists\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-plague\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-firemen\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-boys\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-cliff\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-parents\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I made my preview post listing how excited I was about various films I’d be watching for this challenge, I put two films under “I’m Terrified” – notable so-bad-it’s-good movie Birdemic: Shock and Terror and this Alejandro Jodorowsky film. I was terrified because my husband had watched it for his podcast and thought it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3027],"tags":[3092,3091],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/tf-feat.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35387,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/the-2016-movie-challenge-a-preview\/","url_meta":{"origin":35682,"position":0},"title":"The 2016 Movie Challenge: A Preview","author":"Jandy","date":"January 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Because I can't leave well enough alone, here's a brief rundown of (some of) what I'll be watching in 2016 for this crazy challenge. I currently have 50 people signed up to recommend me movies, and all but a handful have already chosen their picks, so this thing is scheduled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/fc-keaton.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36006,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/challenge-week-23-the-hole\/","url_meta":{"origin":35682,"position":1},"title":"Challenge Week 23: The Hole","author":"Jandy","date":"June 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I figured I'd be coming up against some of the odder films of the challenge when I got to Chad's week - he's got some of the more eccentric tastes in my main movie group on Facebook, and he didn't disappoint. Tsai Ming-liang's 1998 take on the turn of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/tf-feat-hole.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36016,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/challenge-week-23-lemora-a-childs-tale-of-the-supernatural\/","url_meta":{"origin":35682,"position":2},"title":"Challenge Week 23: Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural","author":"Jandy","date":"June 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The whole time I was watching this, I couldn't help comparing it in my head to Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, another film about a young innocent running into a bunch of alternately alluring and frightening vampires - both films are kind of dreamy and definitely cut from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/tf-feat-lemora.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36221,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/challenge-week-33-videodrome\/","url_meta":{"origin":35682,"position":3},"title":"Challenge Week 33: Videodrome","author":"Jandy","date":"September 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I went into Videodrome with both anticipation and some amount of apprehension, as I have some Cronenberg films I love, but I'm also not really into body horror that much (though my favorite Cronenberg is eXistenZ, and it definitely delves into some of the same territory as Videodrome). And the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/tf-feat-videodrome.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35505,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/2016-challenge-debrief\/","url_meta":{"origin":35682,"position":4},"title":"2016 Challenge Debrief","author":"Jandy","date":"March 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it's been almost three months since my year-long movie challenge officially completed, and it's taken me that long to decompress, rerank everything, and generally get ready to post a recap of the year. The short version: it was awesome! I watched a ton of movies I really liked, very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/crop-400-Blows-watching.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36657,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/challenge-week-52-autumn-sonata\/","url_meta":{"origin":35682,"position":5},"title":"Challenge Week 52: Autumn Sonata","author":"Jandy","date":"February 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Finishing the Challenge out with a classic Bergman-Bergman film, the only one Ingmar and Ingrid ever made together, and it's a doozy. There are Ingmar Bergman films I love to bits, but I often find him a tough nut to crack, his film striking me as a bit austere and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/tf-autumn-sonata-feat.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}