Tuesday, July 26, 2011

30 Day Film Challenge: Day 24: Your Favorite Foreign Language Film

 Day 24: Your Favorite Foreign Language Film (Where the Whole Thing Feels Alien):
Again: your favorite foreign language film might be a decent prompt for someone who's seen all of three French films or martial arts epics, or a person who's about fourteen years old, but when your cinema diet consists of regular consumption of film from all countries, the question feels a little too broad.  I've already listed a slew of foreign films in my 30 Day sentence, so for this one I'll choose my favorite non-English bit of celluloid that feels as though it's speaking a different conceptual language in addition to its subtitled dialogue.  Enter stage left: Alejandro Jodorowsky and his un-Holy Mountain.  Here's a film that made me understand the colloquialism "that blew my mind," because, wait, what?  Did they just?  Did that happen?  Look at those colors!  Lizards with hats!  The film mixes Spanish and English, but its true language is a hodgepodge of religions, hippie dippie astrology, and cultures.

In truth, my absolute favorite thing about The Holy Mountain is watching it with others.  For some reason, it's a fantastic social experience (and experiment).  There's nothing quite like watching the faces of others as they watch Jodorowsky for the first time.  A bit of disgust, shock, awe, confusion, and a whole lot of me sort of giggling in the corner.


  1. Haha you are spot on about watching this with the uninitiated. It is a hilarious and unpredictable experience every time.

  2. Isn't it? I remember forcing people to watch this in a common room on campus once, where people we didn't know might wander in at any time...their complete confusion upon stumbling in at almost any time made the experience even better. Really great (though my forced audience really wasn't convinced).

  3. I've taken at least 20 people to see this over the years. It plays about 3 times a year at the IFC Center in NYC...always a blast to see those reactions!


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