So I finally got around to watching this last night and man, it is one of the coolest, most mesmerizing documentaries I've seen in quite some time.
For being 84 years old, Jodorowsky is so full of life, passion and ambition. Not only just in general, but still for this project. I got the sense that even if he was given free reign to create the motion picure today, he would STILL be able to pull it off. It's like the whole film is eternally captured up in his brain. I loved his stories about hiring the big names for their participation, particularly Pink Floyd and Dali. And the soundtrack, my god. Whoever that composer is completely nailed this surreal hybrid of Floyd and Tangerine Dream. It was heavenly and what is Im assuming going to be what the soundtrack to Dune could've been.
The artistic direction (Foss's pictures and Giger's designs) were on a whole other level. The pictures were simply out of this world. My jaw dropped when they showed what the castle of Harkonnen was going to look like Xenomorph head and all, and then later cut to the late scene in Prometheus when you see it in the background! I was shocked to see how much of this project carried over to later sci fi films. The character designs were simply wondrous to look at. So full of color and imagination (like the spice ship that looked like some sort of tropical fish). Once again like all of Jodorowsky's work, everything seemed like something out of an otherworldly dream that no one but this man would be able to concoct and bring to life.
One thing that especially stood out was the fact that no one, including Jodorowsky had actually read the book. He bought the rights for cheap and as such, was allowed to have his way with the world, however he chose to do so. This reminded me much of when Kubrick bought the rights to "The Shining" and thus crafted his own tale out of the story, nitpicking odds and ends that King included, but mostly making it his own work.
It's a tragedy that this was never made, however it was really cool to see Jodorowsky say that he wouldn't mind it being animated (which he knew could be done today, easily or not). Also fascinating were the comic books that he and Moebius crafted together, adding in panels of shots that were more or less directly taken off of Dune's storyboard. I'd love to get my hands on that.
All in all once again one of the best docus I've seen in a long, long time. Simply an amazing watch for me and like others have said, I'd give anything to get my hands on that telephone book of a storyboard script.
