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El Topo

6.6

5,661

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Original title

El Topoaka

AKA

The Mole

Year

1970

Running time

125 min.

Country

Mexico

Director

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Screenwriter

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Music

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Cinematography

Rafael Corkidi

Cast

Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky, Mara Lorenzio, David Silva, Paula Romo, José Legarreta, Alfonso Arau, José Luis Fernández

Producer

Producciones Panicas

Genre

Western. Fantasy | Cult Movie. Surrealism

Synopsis

A fascinating collision of Sixties avant-garde theater, Latin American symbolism, European radical cinema and the furthest reaches of the movie western, El Topo chronicles the exploits of a master gunfighter and cosmic mystic (played by director Jodorowsky himself) as he sets out to do battle with four sinister, sharp-shooting rivals.

John Lennon himself declared the film a masterpiece, and the rest was history: Jodorowsky’s film became an international cult classic and was one of the key works to establish the concept of the “midnight movie.” Now lovingly restored, El Topo feels no less provocative than when first released, but today also evidences a kind of multi-cultural fusion that puts it far ahead of its time.

Rankings Position

#74 Best Mexican Movies of all time

Awards: 1971: Ariel Awards: 3 Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Production Design. 5 Nominations

Critics' reviews

"As a greasy, grimy, gore-dripping Western, it works just fine, and not even the early Clint Eastwood films had so much sweat and sadism (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: rogerebert.com
"Jodorowsky balances so carelessly between creating spiritual art and succumbing to total artifice that his film seems to sprout and show off new feathers every time one revisits it (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5)"

Chris Cabin: Slant
"[It is] more enjoyable for its unending string of outrages than for its capacity to make coherent sense (...) If you're looking for pure sensation with intimations of pseudoprofundity, this is the place to go"

Jonathan Rosenbaum: Chicago Reader
"It comes down heavily on first and last things, and leaves out a lot that might have been in the middle"

Roger Greenspun: The New York Times
"'El Topo' seems just as pretentious and shallow as it did more than 35 years ago"

Kevin Thomas: Los Angeles Times
"Without the aid of mind-expanding narcotics though, 'El Topo' can't help looking laughably ramshackle (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"

Neil Smith: BBC
"Trippy, cult classic (...) Violent, visionary, vital (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"

David Parkinson: Empire
"If you're stone cold sober, it comes out a charmingly slapdash assemblage of mostly extraordinary - though sometimes idiotic - images and setpieces (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"

Andrew Pulver: The Guardian

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Ranking Lists Position

66 The Weirdest Movies I Have Ever Watched (59)

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