Fando y Lis (1968)

Director:

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Writers:

Fernando Arrabal (play)
Alejandro Jodorowsky (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

8 June 1972 (Mexico)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy

Tagline:

See this film before it sees you.

Plot:

Fando and his partially paralyzed lover Lis search for the mythical city of Tar. Based on Jodorowsky's memories of a play by surrealist Fernando Arrabal. |

Plot Keywords:

Post Apocalypse | Blood Drinking | Graveyard | Blindfold | Eating Flower

Cast

Sergio Kleiner	...	Fando (as Sergio Klainer)
Diana Mariscal	...	Lis
María Teresa Rivas	...	Fando's Mother
Tamara Garina	...	Pope
Juan José Arreola	...	Well-Dressed Man with Book (as Juan Jose Arreola)
Rene Rebetez
Amparo Villegas
Miguel Álvarez Acosta		(as Lic. Miguel Alvarez Acosta)
Raul Romero
Julio Castillo
Adrián Ramos
Henry West
Luis Urias
Valerie Jodorowsky	...	Junkyard Temptress / Woman with Leg Brace (as Valerie-Jean)
Graciela R. de Mariscal	...	Entertained Woman
Tina French
Fuensanta	...	Showgirl
Julia Marichal	...	Woman with Whip
Freddy Marichal
Alejandro Romero
Hector Mariscal
Rosita Oliver
Elizabeth Moore	...	Young Lis
Vicente Moore	...	Young Fando
Greta Cohen
Basha
Miguel Kafka
Pablo Leder
Alina Sánchez		(as Alina Sanchez)
Roberto Cirou
Antonio Cepeda
Ricardo Montejano
Gabriel Weiss
René Alís		(as Rene Alis)
Sergio Rendon
Carlos Acosta
Carlos Ancira	...	Narrator
Alfonso Toledano	...	Doctor (as Dr. Alfonso Toledano)
Roberto Colmenares
Jacqueline Ducolomb
Carlos Savage
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rafael Corkidi	...	Fando's Father / Well-Dressed Man with Beard (uncredited)
Alejandro Jodorowsky	...	Puppeteer (uncredited)
Samuel Rosemberg	...	Well-Dressed Man with Cane (uncredited)

Directed by
Alejandro Jodorowsky		(as Alexandro Jodorowsky)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Fernando Arrabal		play
Alejandro Jodorowsky		adaptation (as Alexandro Jodorowsky)
Alejandro Jodorowsky		screenplay (as Alexandro Jodorowsky)

Produced by
Juan López Moctezuma	....	producer (as Juan Lopez Moctezuma)
Moshe Rosemberg	....	executive producer (as Mauricio Rosemberg)
Samuel Rosemberg	....	executive producer
Roberto Viskin	....	producer

Original Music by
Mario Lozua
Hector Morely
Pepe Ávila		(as Pepe Avila)

Cinematography by
Rafael Corkidi		(as Corkidi)
Antonio Reynoso		(as Reynoso)

Film Editing by
Fernando Suarez

Music Department
Mario Lozua	....	musician: percussion

Other crew
Manuel Rosano	....	dubbing director

Thanks
Samuel Rosemberg	....	in memory of

Production Companies

• Producciones Panicas

Distributors

• Cannon Film Distributors (1970) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled) (edited)
• International Film Distributors (1970) (Canada) (theatrical) (as "Fando and Lis") (subtitled)
• Fantoma (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• DomoVideo
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Raro Video (2007) (Italy) (DVD)
• Siren Visual Entertainment (2007) (Australia) (DVD)
• Tartan Video (2007) (UK) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Section 49 of Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Industria Cinematográfica (STIC)  technical support

Also Known As:

"Fando and Lis" - USA
"Fando and Lis: Tar Babies" -
"Fando és Lis" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Fando et Lis" - France
"Fando i Lis" - Poland (imdb display title)
"Il paese incantato" - Italy

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA | Italy:VM14 (1990) | South Korea:18 (2008)

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Company:

Producciones Panicas

Trivia:

When the film premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the first screening erupted into a riot. Director Alejandro Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine. When the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but fights broke out in the audiences and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the scandal provided much fodder for the Mexican newspapers.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator:Once upon a time... a long, long time ago... there was a mystical city, Tar. And at that time all the cities were intact and flourishing, because the final war had not yet begun. When the great catastrophe occurred, all the cities crumbled... except Tar...

Movie Connections:

Featured in La constellation Jodorowsky (1994)

Is this man a genius or a drugged out hack? You tell me!

Mention the name Alexandro Jodorowsky wherever two or more film buffs are gathered and a fight is only minutes away. Some argue that he is a latter day Bunuel whose non-linear style of storytelling illustrates the falsities and hypocrasies of the ruling class while others declare that he is a talentless poseur who incorporates his own LSD inspired ramblings into his scripts and "non linear" is just a fancy way of saying his plots make no sense.

Many directors have woven the search for the Meaning of Life into their plots. Ingmar Bergman, David Lynch, Carl Dreyer and Luis Bunuel among them especially. The thing about Jodorowsky is not that his characters are looking for the meaning OF life, rather they are seeking to give meaning TO their lives. This is not wrong per se, but the problem is the characters in EL TOPO, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN and even FANDO AND LIS all find what they are seeking, and that is where the problems begin, not end. While having a goal and dedicating your life to it is laudible in itself, once you have satisfied that goal where do you go? Is Life still meaningful once you have solved Meaning of same? Not to reveal the ending of any of these movies but: There are disastrous results for everyone in these pictures once they reach their goal . . .which turns out to be not what they expected anyway.

Fando and his crippled girlfriend Lis are on a journey to the legendary magical city of Tar where, both believe, Lis will be able to walk and all their problems will be solved. Along the way they meet all sorts of odd characters (the only kind who inhabit the Jodorowsky universe) and Fando tries to leave several times only to return repentant. Jodorowsky seems to share a dislike of the upper classes of society with Bunuel. The representatives of the upper crust we encounter are narrow minded ineffectual idiots anxious to maintain the status quo because that is the only life they know and they are unwilling to accept change (think about the townsfolk in EL TOPO and compare them to the rich people in VIRIDIANA).

Tar may be no more real than El Dorado or Atlantis but as long as they are actively involved in searching for it, Fando and Lis's live's have meaning. The question ultimately put before them and, by proxy, also before us is this: Is the realisation of this goal worth it? And what happens if we arrive at the wrong answer? Of course with Jodorowsky the wrong answer is the only one anyone ever seems to reach, EL TOPO being the prime example of this. FANDO AND LIS reaches a climax which, while not wholly unexpected, is no less heartbreaking because we saw it coming.

This film was withdrawn for several film festivals worldwide and allegedly caused riots when it was shown in Brazil. It was withdrawn from distribution for many years by Jodorowsky himself but is now available on videocassette and DVD. So is this man an unsung genius? You figure it out, I'm going home.