Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
In 1974, Chilean-French director Alejandro Jodorowsky embarked on the quixotic project of adapting Frank Herbert's influential novel Dune (1969) for the big screen. After investing two years, and millions of dollars, the gigantic project ended in failure; but the artists Jodorowsky brought together to carry it out continued to work together, and ended up laying the foundations for modern science fiction cinema.
Jodorowsky's Dune is a fascinating documentary about one of cinema's greatest unmade films. The story it tells is inherently compelling — a visionary director assembling an unprecedented team of artists for an impossibly ambitious project that never came to be. Jodorowsky himself is a magnetic, almost mythological presence, and the film captures both his genius and his grandiosity with honesty. The documentary's novelty is high: it chronicles a singular moment in film history, tracing the ghost influence of an unmade film on decades of science fiction. Cinematography is serviceable but unremarkable — standard talking-head and archival material presentation. The ending is satisfying but not revelatory, leaving viewers with a bittersweet meditation on creative failure and legacy. Acting, in documentary terms, reflects the quality of interview subjects, and Jodorowsky and collaborators like Chris Foss and H.R. Giger are captivating participants.