The Greatest Film Ever Made Showing in Peterborough

Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain is the holy grail of weird cinema. It's intensely surreal yet packed with meaning, and gutbustingly funny throughout. I doubt I will ever see anything like it again. Jodorowsky set out to give his audience an actual spiritual experience through film, and his work definitely belongs on another plane.

A little history: Jodorowsky's first feature, Fandro y Lis, caused a riot at the Acapulco film festival in 1968 and was subsequently banned in Mexico, where Jodorowsky was living at the time. As a consequence he skipped Mexico and released his second film, El Topo, to other markets, including the New York midnight movie circuit, where John Lennon caught it and was deeply impressed (with good reason - it's a humdinger). Lennon helped Jodorowsky finance his third film, The Holy Mountain.

Deepening the Beatles connection, George Harrison was set to star, but objected to a scene in the script where he was to have his anus washed by a woman with a shaved head and long silver fingernails, in a fountain with a hippopotamus. Jodorowsky told him that without that scene there was no movie. Harrison walked away and Jodorowsky cast an unknown, establishing the gold standard of  artistic integrity in the bargain.

I could rhapsodize about the film for days, but luckily I don't have to because it will be showing at the Spill (414 George Street North, Peterborough) on May 10th at 9:00. To make it a real feast for the senses, we're kicking things off with a couple bands: Them Blades will take the stage around six, and my brand-spanking new band The Real Coyotes will play between sets. You can get yourself in the mood with some hot music or come to the showing fresh, but either way we'd love to see you there.


A word of warning: the film is definitely what you'd call graphic, and contains such a pastiche of religious imagery that statistically it is guaranteed to offend. Just sayin' so you know what you're in for. Attached is the trailer to the film, to give you a sneak peak (including a glimpse of the hippopotamus scene):