The Dance of Reality (2014) - Alejandro Jodorowsky

Returning to the directors chair for the first time in over a decade, Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Dance of Reality is an epic, surreal experience chronicling the filmmaker's early years.  Taking place in the city the filmmaker was born, Tocopilla, a coastal town on the edge of the Chilean desert, the film depicts a traumatic childhood which Jodorowsky had to endure.  The Dance of Reality is a return to form for Jodorowsky, a rich, magical experience that's profound, absurd, humorous, and emotionally affecting.  More so than any of his other films, The Dance of Reality feels like an incredibly personal experience, telling a coming of age story in a way in which only Jodorowsky could.  While there are plenty of filmmakers who have tackled the power and essence of memory, none have done so in such a fascinating way as Jodorowsky, whose surrealist touches and playful tone make a truly unique experience.  The film is a spiritual almost metaphysical experience about identity and discovering oneself, that is portrayed through both this young boy and his headstrong father, who begins to realize the principles he has always stood for are bullshit, living in the guile of the tyrant's he praised.  The Dance of Reality isn't perfect, at times suffering from pacing issues and a somewhat bloated running time, but what Jodrowsky has accomplished far outweighs the films faults, being a evocation of this unique man's past that encapsulates the "dance" that's life as we know it.

---