Fando y Lis (1968)

Director:

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Writers:

Fernando Arrabal (play)
Alejandro Jodorowsky (adaptation)

Release Date:

8 June 1972 (Mexico)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy

Tagline:

See this film before it sees you.

Plot:

Fando and his partially paralyzed lover Lis search for the mythical city of Tar. Based on Jodorowsky's memories of a play by surrealist Fernando Arrabal.

Plot Keywords:

Saxophone | Cult Director | Victrola | Statue | Blood

Cast

Sergio Kleiner	...	Fando (as Sergio Klainer)
Diana Mariscal	...	Lis
María Teresa Rivas	...	Fando's Mother
Tamara Garina	...	Pope
Juan José Arreola	...	Well-Dressed Man with Book (as Juan Jose Arreola)
Rene Rebetez
Amparo Villegas
Miguel Álvarez Acosta		(as Lic. Miguel Alvarez Acosta)
Raul Romero
Julio Castillo
Adrián Ramos
Henry West
Luis Urias
Valerie Jodorowsky	...	Junkyard Temptress / Woman with Leg Brace (as Valerie-Jean)
Graciela R. de Mariscal	...	Entertained Woman

Also Known As:

Fando and Lis (USA)
Fando and Lis: Tar Babies

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA | Italy:VM14 (1990) | South Korea:18 (2008)

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Company:

Producciones Panicas

Trivia:

When the film premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the first screening erupted into a riot. Director Alejandro Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine. When the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but fights broke out in the audiences and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the scandal provided much fodder for the Mexican newspapers.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: Once upon a time... a long, long time ago... there was a mystical city, Tar. And at that time all the cities were intact and flourishing, because the final war had not yet begun. When the great catastrophe occurred, all the cities crumbled... except Tar...

Movie Connections:

Featured in La constellation Jodorowsky (1994)

Amazing Surreal Cinema at It's Finest

While it may not be the best introduction to Jodorowsky's film work, it is, probably one of the best surreal films you'll come across.

This original re-telling of "Fando y Lis" is at times very haunting, dreamlike and down right disturbing in a Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali kind of way.

It is a "lost classic" that nearly got away for good, but thanks to American Zoetrope and Fantoma, it found its way onto DVD with a bonus documentary on the filmmaker's amazing life and work called "La Constellation Jodorowsky". Let's hope that in the future more of his films are released in the U.S.

I highly recommend this film, as well as "The Holy Mountain", "El Topo", and "Santa Sangre", if you can track them down.