"Let's take a psychedelic voyage," says an enthusiastic Michael Cera, while embarking on a journey to drink the psychoactive mescaline found within the San Pedro cactus.
Jamie (Cera, "Juno"), accompanied by the Silva brothers Champa (Juan Andrés), Lel (José Miguel) and Pilo (Agustín Silva, "The Maid") has made it his goal to drink San Pedro on the beaches of Chile, but a drunken, cocaine-infused invitation ends up putting a damper on his plans. Cue Crystal Fairy (Gaby Hoffman, "Field of Dreams"), the "crazy, dancing girl" who accompanies the group on their travels, claims she is from "everywhere," and is most comfortable in the nude.
Crystal Fairy, alternatively nicknamed Crystal Hairy for reasons that will be left up to the imagination, is a dynamic character with a free-spirited, independent streak and a fascination for the healing power of yoga. Jamie, a starry-eyed expat residing with the Silva brothers in Chile, resembles Bob Dylan, with the unkempt hair of his youth.
Although the storyline for "Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus" is reminiscent of the drug-induced roadtrip in Terry Gilliam's frantic "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," the film delves deeper into a comparison of American versus Chilean culture. Director Sebastián Silva, brother of the three Silva brothers cast for the film, explores how we go about accepting or brushing aside the people or concepts that appear strange and different to us, and our inner discomforts that often cause us to shy away from such dialogue.
Silva pinpoints Western discomfort with the unknown, specifically nudity, versus the good vibes, or "buena onda," of Latin American cultures that often perpetuate a better understanding of the diverse. Attempting to combat the standoffish mentality exhibited by Jamie, Crystal Fairy asks the group what their greatest fears are to which Jamie replies, "the ocean, and like, sharks." Silva's talent for engaging audiences shines through when humorously portraying the varying responses of Jamie and the Silva brothers to social situations that could prove potentially uncomfortable, often involving Crystal Hairy.
"Crystal Fairy" also succeeds in terms of entertainment value. Accompanied by Manu Chao's Latin-reggae beats and various tracks by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, we get to experience Cera on drugs, which seems to have become the standard for Cera, who recently played a cocaine-aficionado version of himself in Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg's "This Is The End."
Although Cera is often in an anticipatory frenzy over the San Pedro cactus, his character is counterbalanced very well by the Silva brothers and Hoffman, who embody the "buena onda" mantra.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
