Alejandro Jodorowsky
The Dance of Reality (Original Soundtrack)
Photo: popmarket.com
Let’s talk about Alejandro Jodorowsky’s evolution as a filmmaker. If you compare one of his latest movies Dance of Reality with his earlier work like El Topo or Holy Mountain, you can clearly notice how Jodorowsky’s become a much more polished filmmaker while still staying on message. That message of course is to challenge his viewers, bombard them with iconography, make them think, and truly try to change the world through filmmaking. It’s obvious watching one of his films that he thinks filmmaking is almost sacred artform.
When you listen to the soundtrack of Jodorowsky’s movies, that evolution into a polished filmmaker is just as obvious. If one compares the soundtracks of El Topo and Holy Mountain, with Dance of Reality we can notice right away that Dance of Reality is a much more polished, and dare we say, mature effort. While the earlier films sound chaotic with switches between many styles and genre, there was also a raw and startling feeling prevalent throughout. The Dance of Reality has this mix of genres, but all in all it’s much more coherent as certain themes are revisited over and over again. There’s no doubt listening to this soundtrack that this movie is simply beautiful. Composed by his son (and playing the Anarchist) Adan, Jodorowsky has now found a way to make his films even more personal. His children are playing him in his movies and they are also providing the music. The Dance of Reality is childlike, forgiving, playful, dramatic, and dangerous all at once, and it’s all delivered in what seems like a single performance. This is masterful stuff.
As we live in a vinyl revolution, the Dance of Reality is of course available on vinyl and while the format fits into the punk rock DIY aspect of El Topo, one must not forget that Dance of Reality was crowdfunded and also has DIY blood coursing through its vein. That said there’s a certain elegant aspect that the vinyl brings to this equally elegant soundtrack. Any other format would be simply unthinkable.
