El Topo (1970) ***1/2

Next to The Holy Mountain (1973), El Topo (1970) is widely considered Alejandro Jodorowsky's second best film. Those were indeed the first two AJ films that I saw and they both had an impact on me. But after I saw his films Santa Sangre (1989) (my review here), and then later on The Dance Of Reality (2013) (my review here) and Endless Poetry (2016) (my review here), my opinion of El Topo has waned a bit.

Jodorowsky's acid "Italian" Western (though Spanish is the film's spoken language, it was filmed in Mexico, and Jodo himself is Chilean) sees the director starring as the titular character, a gunfighter on a quest for enlightenment. On the way he meets many unusual characters and lots of surrealist non sequiturs occur.

There is no denying that El Topo is a unique film, and I still like it a great deal overall, but over the years (this was the third or fourth time I've watched it) some of its power has been diminished. There's lots of heady ideas but not a lot of cohesion. From what I remember, The Holy Mountain—universally considered his magnum opus—is more "focused" (if that's possible). I'll be interested to see how that film (which truly is like no other and which I'll be revisiting soon) holds up.

You can find my Alejandro Jodorowsky Feature Films Ranked list here.