Jodorowsky’s parable of Man’s (and not Woman’s) Moral Quest is wise, vile, and violent, an episodic stroll through symbolic realms that are recognizably metaphorical, but ingeniously impenetrable. Head film though it is, it’s a good deal smarter, more lucid, and more sensibly structured than many of its contemporaries, and it’s easy to see why this film, more than many vaguely similar films cut from the same cloth (or blotter?), has remained so cultishly beloved. In its totemic imagery and mystical fabulation of Ambition, Vanity, Rebirth, and Humility, the film presages Jodorowsky’s recent work in psycho-chicanery, and in its obvious self-mythologizing and creeping misogyny, it neatly prefigures Jodorowsky’s contributions to the world of French comic books (especially the Incal and The Metabarons series).
The restored HD at the IFC Center looked beautiful, but is it too much to ask that you warn patrons that you’re projecting something digitally instead of screening a print?
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: Abkco Films Digital Projection
14 Dec 2006 12:06 PM | Comments (6)
The restored HD at the IFC Center looked beautiful, but is it too much to ask that you warn patrons that you’re projecting something digitally instead of screening a print?
I hate it when they do this, and in almost every instance in which I’ve seen a digital projection the presupposed quality is noticeably inferior to film.
Not sure of the optical biology behind this, but digital projection simply doesn’t handle movement very well. Every time the camera pans, either your eye can’t follow it or the projection can’t keep up with it. Either way, as crisp as this restoration is — and it’s utterly gorgeous — it’s just not film. Not trying to be a purist about this; simply stating a fact.
I don’t know Leo. The guys I was with would surely agree with you, but I was thrilled with how sharp the HD projection was. Though no worse or better than seeing a print of the movie would be, it was noticeably different, and pleasurable.
Though I was warned by some weird dude who was exiting the theater as I entered. Who was that guy?
Obviously some purist freak who has nothing better to do with his time and energy but quibble over minor details.
But, yes, while I’d still like to have seen a print, the restoration did look lovely.
re the IFC Center presentation of EL TOPO:
IFC Center is playing a brand new HD-cam master of EL TOPO. this is the North American premiere of the full High-Definition digital restoration of this title. (the New York Film Festival played a standard definition digibeta of the current restoration version.)
for better or worse, there are no 35mm prints from this new 2006 restoration, in which Jodorowsky participated. (creating a 35mm version of a digital restoration is very expensive process.) any 35mm prints of EL TOPO in circulation are old distribution prints from, at best, the late-90s restoration of EL TOPO, which was done without Jodorowsky’s participation and is very different (in terms of color corrects, sound mix, etc.) from the new digital version.
while IFC Center would have preferred to have shown a brand new 35mm print from this Jodorowsky-authorized restoration, such a print does not and will not exist. given the worse than spotty distribution history for EL TOPO over the last thirty years, having a beautifully restored version of the film on screen in a beautiful theater with great projection is, in my opinion, something to be celebrated, especially when one considers the alternative ——- namely not having the film shown at all.
Davis,
You are incorrect. There are new prints for both films. The “El Topo” print is from an optical restoration done in 1996. “The Holy Mountain” print is from on the new digital restoration done recently. That’s straight from ABKCO Films.
Brian
Rumsey
14 December 2006
9:41 AM
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