In a corrupt, greed-fueled world, a powerful alchemist leads a Christ-like character and seven materialistic figures to the Holy Mountain, where they hope to achieve enlightenment.
A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his armless mother - the leader of a strange religious cult - and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name as he becomes "her arms".
Director:
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Stars:
Axel Jodorowsky,
Blanca Guerra,
Guy Stockwell
In a Chilean little town, the son of an uprooted couple, formed by a rigorous communist father and a loving but weak mother, tries to pave his own path in a society that does not understand their Jewish-Ukrainian origins.
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.
Surrealist filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky tells the story of himself as a young man becoming a poet in Chile, befriending other artists, and freeing himself from the limits of his youth.
After developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally kills his wife, and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa.
A theatre director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he creates a life-size replica of New York City inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
Director:
Charlie Kaufman
Stars:
Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Samantha Morton,
Michelle Williams
A Christlike figure wanders through bizarre, grotesque scenarios filled with religious and sacrilegious imagery. He meets a mystical guide who introduces him to seven wealthy and powerful people, each representing a planet in the Solar system. These seven, along with the protagonist, the guide and the guide's assistant, divest themselves of their worldly goods and form a group of nine who will seek the Holy Mountain, in order to displace the gods who live there and become immortal.
I refuse to be condemned by the art-house snobs for not liking this movie. People read way too much into a lot of different art, and it doesn't make them some special visionary. Sometimes artsy fartsy crap is just that. This movie is not "above" you intellectually or artistically.
The Holy Mountain is essentially a collage of wacky, strange, self-important images and scenes that really don't mean anything. Don't you ever wonder? There's a reason these rare, cult movies have only been seen by a small percentage of the population. It's not because we're better than the "unwashed, uncultured masses". It's because if the movie was actually really good it would be more widely seen. It's because some of us heard about these obscure, cult movies and actually took the time and energy to seek them out. And sometimes we just weren't that impressed. (Okay, and maybe it's because some jerk has held the release rights hostage for entirely too long).
Now having said all of that, I still don't think it is a waste of time to watch. How can I say that? Well, the bottom line is, people forget the notion that at the end of the day, not everything has to mean something. Shouldn't we be allowed to take in interesting or different images, films, etc...without decoding their grand vision? Yes, we should. So there are some pretty weird scenes and visions to behold in this movie. And for nothing more than the novelty of it it isn't a total waste of film. I also liked some of the music. But please spare me the "so far ahead of it's time, magnificent work of artistic expression" crap. You're taking it way too seriously. The Holy Mountain is not a landmark, it's a novelty of bizarre underground cinema. Nothing more.
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I refuse to be condemned by the art-house snobs for not liking this movie. People read way too much into a lot of different art, and it doesn't make them some special visionary. Sometimes artsy fartsy crap is just that. This movie is not "above" you intellectually or artistically.
The Holy Mountain is essentially a collage of wacky, strange, self-important images and scenes that really don't mean anything. Don't you ever wonder? There's a reason these rare, cult movies have only been seen by a small percentage of the population. It's not because we're better than the "unwashed, uncultured masses". It's because if the movie was actually really good it would be more widely seen. It's because some of us heard about these obscure, cult movies and actually took the time and energy to seek them out. And sometimes we just weren't that impressed. (Okay, and maybe it's because some jerk has held the release rights hostage for entirely too long).
Now having said all of that, I still don't think it is a waste of time to watch. How can I say that? Well, the bottom line is, people forget the notion that at the end of the day, not everything has to mean something. Shouldn't we be allowed to take in interesting or different images, films, etc...without decoding their grand vision? Yes, we should. So there are some pretty weird scenes and visions to behold in this movie. And for nothing more than the novelty of it it isn't a total waste of film. I also liked some of the music. But please spare me the "so far ahead of it's time, magnificent work of artistic expression" crap. You're taking it way too seriously. The Holy Mountain is not a landmark, it's a novelty of bizarre underground cinema. Nothing more.