Endless Poetry

Liberal arts majors may find this movie a rare treat; others will likely feel profoundly disoriented. It is full of insider humor and perplexing imagery that cannot be fully understood. What is it like to grow up a poet in Chile during the fifties? Coming from a nice Jewish family that, stereotypically, thinks only of money, with a dad who fears homosexuality more than the Devil, how do you assert an artistic identity? Falling into a social circle of profoundly original characters, how do you remain yourself as they pull you in all directions? In this sense, the film is a bildungsroman... and if you don't know that word, you don't belong. From my perspective as an older white guy who graduated from Oberlin in the sixties, it's an exhilarating time capsule that also honestly reflects our efforts to understand our youth as we grow older. Prudish people who like a well-organized story in English should stay away!

88 year old art, poetry, movie, theatre and spirituality guru Alejandro Jodorowsky returns with another bonkers screen story about his youth, which does not resemble any other thing you may be used to catching at your local multiplex. Jodorowsky’s younger self is played by his 37 year old son Adan – think Andy Samberg without a stupid grin – and the story narrates the artist’s youth during which he liberated himself from all of his former limitations, including strict parents, and was introduced into the bohemian artistic circle of 1940s Chile. If you are like me – familiar mostly with mainstream cinema and not familiar with Jodorowsky at all – „Poesía sin fin“ („Endless Poetry“) will be most curious experience indeed. The 128-minute journey resembles experimental play rather than movies as we like to think about them in traditional sense, but in this case, it’s a good thing. The resulting comic-dramatic-weirdness explosion is packing so many enjoyable things and details to digest that only very smart people really „get it“, probably. But first and foremostly, art is not for the mind, and just by watching I can tell that the movie has lot of heart. It could probably benefit from being shorter, the last third feels a bit stretched out – maybe because the visual side feels so rich and inventive that it wears many down eventually. But the whole thing is so unusual and good-weird that it’s easy to recommend it. If you watch at least ten minutes from the start, you will know if this kind of thing is right for you. Even if it’s not your cup of tea, you would probably like some parts of Jodorowsky’s seemingly endless inventiveness and wackiness. It may go on for too long, but the ending is powerful, especially if you are familiar with depth psychology and symbolics related with it. Jodorowsky is. During his colorful life, the man has founded his own **** practice psychomagic which uses aspects of eastern philosophies, mysticism and psychoanalysis to heal patients with emotional problems. You know, just saying.