Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
The Holy Mountain (1973)
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Having distributed El Topo to cult success in the United States, former Beatles lawyer Allen Klein co-produced Jodorowsky's more lavishly funded follow-up, in which the Chilean maverick unleashes wave after wave of religious symbolism, would-be spiritual gobbledygook and violently surreal imagery (memorably, small birds emerging from gunshot wounds). The connecting narrative, broadly, involves a Christ figure seeking enlightenment under the tutelage of 'The Alchemist' (Jodorowsky himself, in flowing robes and very tall hat), as a group of astrologically significant individuals set out to scale the legendary Holy Mountain and replace the all-powerful beings residing on its peak. With Jodorowsky's meaning somewhat opaque, it's slightly tedious going, but you certainly get plenty to look at, what with costumed frogs and lizards re-enacting the conquest of Mexico, the plucky armless dwarf, and (don't snigger) the scene where the protagonist has his excreta distilled while a naked woman plays cello and a pelican lurks portentously in the background. We will not see its like again.Author: TJ
Cast & crew
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Producer: Allen Klein, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Robert Taicher, Roberto Viskin
Cast: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Horácio Salinas, Zamira Saunders, Juan Ferrara, Adriana Page, Burt Kleiner, Valerie Jodorowsky, Nicky Nichols, Richard Rutowski, Luis Loveli full cast
Duration: 114 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now