Cheap Fando & Lis (DVD) (Sergio Kleiner, Diana Mariscal, Alejandro Jodorowsky) (Alejandro Jodorowsky) Price

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Customer Reviews of Fando & Lis

FANDO & LIS is first film from Alejandro Jodorowsky, the creator of such cult classics as EL TOPO, HOLY MOUNTAIN, and SANTA SANGRE. It is the story of two young lovers search for a mythic city called Tar. Very surreal and very fun!

Fantoma has done an excellent job of bringing this film to DVD. The transfer from the recently rediscovered original negative is wonderful and there are lots of cool extras like CONSTELLATION JODOROWSKY (a feature-length documentary on the director), audio commentary by Jodorowsky, and a reproduction of the 8-page handbill given out at the film's premiere in addition to the regular DVD booklet.

If you appreciate the unusual, this film is for you.

if i ever figure this one out, i'll....
the world was a much happier place in 1999 & i can understand why. fando & lis was released on dvd by fantoma & we quivered with shameless delight. hence, there are slaves of jodorowsky still alive today but this any true fans' fantasy come true. hell, the interviews with jodorowsky himself &peter gabriel are literally worth the price you pay alone. yes, fantoma did this one up real nicely just like they did with jose mojica marins coffin joe trilogy. having never seen a jodorowsky film before, this was a complete shock to the system & an absolute eye opener. i have seen this film several times through the years & i'm still disturbed by it more than ever. of all the films i've ever watched, this one had an impact on me like no other. probability suggests we might truly hate this film if we're to know it's full meaning so i can say in all honesty that i hope i never fully understand it. supposedly, this film is based upon an avantguard play written by arrabal which jodorowsky loved. in fact, he mentions in an interview the play never made any money when he performed it & he deeply saddened by the fact they had to stop performing it when they ran out of money. fando & lis wasn't made on a huge budget from i can gather but the images will stay in your head for a very long time indeed. i'm reminded of the surrealism i've seen in films by rollin, lynch, or perhaps bunuel. yes, beautiful & erotic but haunting & somewhat grotesque. needless to say, there is a degree of ironic humor as well. fando & lis is a complicated, strange journey that reveals the darkest sides of human nature which are generally laced with a child-like innocence. in the beginning of the film, we are introduced to our characters & get a glimpse of their traumatic childhoods as well as fando's devotion to a crippled but beautiful young woman. the opening scene shows lis eating a flower & is a perfect metaphor for what we will see in the next 90 odd minutes. we are swallowing the beauty of the world around us amidst the chaos. in fact, we don't understand the true power or meaning of beauty so we clearly dispose of it without a moment's hesitation. this may not have been jodorowsky's intention ofcourse but i believe each person who views fando & lis will interpret his work in a unique way. i will visit this film again sometime & can only hope that fantoma or some dvd company will one day release the other five films of jodorowsky & do them up well just like this one. considered lost for nearly thirty years, i have to say it looks damn great & i'm proud to be an owner of this masterpiece.

Whimsical and spooky
Ever since I first heard about Alejandro Jodorowsky's "El Topo," I wanted to see it. Supposedly on the surface a spaghetti western, but so much more underneath, the movie sounded delightfully bizarre in a way I often enjoy. Well, I have not gotten a chance to see this movie yet since it has not come out on DVD. When I saw the opportunity to watch "Fando and Lis," an earlier film from the same director, I grabbed the chance figuring that something was better than nothing. I was wrong. While "Fando and Lis" does contain some interesting scenes, this Jodorowsky picture dwells deep in the land of surrealism. Nonsensical films do not usually bother me as long as there is some sort of touchstone to hang your hat on. A director can take his project completely over the top as long as a plot exists somewhere under the madness. This is the central problem of "Fando and Lis." The film, a totally improvised production based on memory and a one-page synopsis of a play written by Francisco Arrabal, never makes a bit of sense. It's theater of the absurd time here, folks, so prepare for the ultimate in weirdness. Fortunately, the disc also contains "Constellation Jodorowsky," a documentary about the filmmaker and artist that follows a more traditional approach to storytelling.

"Fando and Lis" tells the story of, predictably, Fando (Sergio Kleiner) and his main squeeze Lis (Diana Mariscal) in glorious black and white photography. The two live in a post-apocalyptic world, in an environment of desert climes and shattered cities. Earth as we know it is gone, so Fando and Lis begin a quest for the mythical city of Tar, a city that seems to promise hope and regeneration for the weary couple. The only possessions they have appear to be a drum, a phonograph, and a wooden cart in which Lis serenely rides. She cannot walk, for some reason, so her man pushes her around wherever they go. The two are a temperamental pair, with Fando often tiring of dealing with Lis's constant complaints. All of this information is the only thing we know for sure about the movie. You see, "Fando and Lis" soon embarks on a bizarre odyssey of disjointed scenes, sparse scenery, and downright odd secondary characters. Never before has such an incoherent movie found its way to my DVD player. And you thought Luis Bunuel or Salvador Dali were weird. Until you check out Jodorowsky, you ain't seen nothing yet. This movie would give Sigmund Freud a nervous breakdown.

I can offer no ample explanations for the unfolding silliness. Scenes and situations include a piano on fire collapsing and then reconstituting itself only to collapse again, a bunch of people rolling about in the mud while a religious figure cackles madly in the background, and a bunch of old ladies sitting around a table eating something that looks like eggs while a guy in a diaper lurches around in the background. You get more, such as a blindfolded Fando led around by women, a scene in which some strange guy drains blood from Lis's arm into a wine glass, and a funeral scene where Fando's mother lies down in her grave. Are you still here? Good, because I have not described my favorite scene yet. It's just as unfathomable as any other situation in the film, but it's so ridiculous that it bears mentioning. At one point, Fando stumbles over a bunch of Amazonian type women who chase him around a craggy hill while knocking him down with bowling balls. Yep, you heard right-bowling balls. Just when Fando thinks he has escaped these wacky women, another bowling ball comes crashing down a hill and fells our hero like he's a pin. Jodorowsky missed out on really giving the scene meaning by failing to shod these gals with bowling shoes. As for the music score, you have to listen to it yourself to believe how peculiar it is.

What could this madness possibly imply? Good luck figuring it all out. As far as I can tell, the film means whatever you want it to mean. I would not worry too much about extracting a coherent theme from "Fando and Lis" unless you want to end up in a rubber room for a few years. What really threw me for a loop was how much I enjoyed specific parts of the movie. I usually despise films this whimsical, but Jodorowsky's vision occasionally possessed a certain charm that made the whole thing worthwhile. That scene with the paint was interesting, as was the couple posing over tombstones. Yet, I would never attempt to recommend the movie to anyone else. It's way too abnormal for you to take my word that you should possibly watch the picture. You have to decide yourself whether to dive in to Jodorowsky's film

"Constellation Jodorowsky" is a bit easier on the eyes and ears. The documentary runs nearly as long as "Fando and Lis." Consisting of lengthy interviews with the director about such diverse subjects as life, philosophy, and theology, "Constellation" shows us what the filmmaker does with his time nowadays. Apparently, he teaches some course at a university where he tosses off lots of new age aphorisms to a docile audience. These scenes run far too long and take away from the more interesting segments, namely the discussion about Frank Herbert's "Dune." Incredibly, Jodorowsky nearly directed the film adaptation of the book, going so far as to hire an artist to draw storyboards. His plans for "Dune" looked fabulous; it's too bad the project went to David Lynch. Only purveyors of atypical cinema should check out this disc. For me, I am still waiting for "El Topo" to come out on DVD.