Jodorowsky's Dune

Frank Pavich's documentary tells the story of cult director Alejandro Jodorowsky's (El Topo) ambitious plan to adapt Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel Dune during the 1970s. Since the project never actually made it past the planning stage, no footage is included and Pavich must make do with interviews of the director, his surviving collaborators, and a host of commentators, while also drawing from the voluminous preparatory materials created during pre-production. All of which provides a tantalizing taste of what might have been a truly remarkable film (as Jodorowsky and his admirers are inclined to claim). When producer Michel Seydoux offered to back whatever project the Chilean director might wish to undertake, Jodorowsky chose Herbert's novel, spending two years crafting a script—which he hired French comic artist Moebius to storyboard—and then assembling, largely on intuition and whim, an eclectic cast that included his son, Brontis, along with Orson Welles, and Mick Jagger, backed by a crew featuring key Alien contributors Dan O'Bannon and H.R. Giger. As Jodorowsky describes it, a sense of playfulness guided his search for the “spiritual warriors” who would help him realize his mind-bending vision, but the effort turned out to be for naught, since Seydoux was unable to secure financing and he sold the rights to Dino De Laurentiis—who eventually produced David Lynch's disastrous 1984 version. Whether Jodorowsky's Dune would have been any better is open to question, but Jodorowsky's Dune is an engaging documentary centering on an ingratiating story-spinner who tried to follow an impossible dream. Recommended. [Note: Blu-ray/DVD Combo extras include deleted scenes (47 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an intriguing documentary for film buffs.] (F. Swietek)