Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus – Film Review

Michael Cera stars as Jamie, an oddly cute but way too pale and insensitive American twentysomething travelling in Chile, who’s planning to take a road trip with three local male friends to experience a legendary shamanistic hallucinogen called the San Pedro cactus.

At a wild party, a drunk Jamie casually invites a wackily free-spirited young woman spirit named Crystal Fairy (Gaby Hoffmann) to come along. Next day Jamie and the boys set off on their druggy quest. In the sober light of day, Jamie is shocked to be contacted by Crystal by mobile but reluctantly agrees to meet her and take her along, prompted by the boys. But soon he starts to be unpleasantly passive aggressive with his admittedly annoying, half-crazy new travelling companion.

They find the fabled San Pedro cactus in various folks’ gardens. But no one will sell the American the cactus, so he simply chops it off and nicks it from a nice old lady, and the quintet head off with their trophy to a remote, pristine beach at the edge of the desert, where the magic brew is stewed overnight and finally imbibed. And the truth is out there, somewhere.

This has got to be one of the most peculiar, though inventive plots for ages. Top marks for it to writer-director Sebastián Silva and for his quirky, fresh, often outrageous dialogue (much it sounds improvised but, if it is, that’s good, because you can’t ever actually be sure) and for his entertaining, freewheeling, naturalistic handling. Life does hand you little gifts though, and this story was inspired by the director’s similar road trip and fateful meeting with a real-life woman who actually called herself Crystal Fairy.

The acting’s just right. Cera bravely plays an arrogant little pain in the ass, though I suppose it does turn out that he does have a heart of gold, and the more irritating he becomes en route, the more you start to like Crystal Fairy, aka Hairy Fairy, a nickname she gets after swanning around hippy style with her clothes off. By the end, you like everybody in the movie, it’s that hippy trippy, and you’ve grown to like the film and have a lot of laughs along the road.

A nice surprise, it is worth a little detour to find.

Obviously a bit of a Method actor, Cera lived with his co-starring Silva family in Chile for several months to prepare for his role. Juan Andrés Silva, Agustín Silva, José Miguel Silva and Sebastián Silva are all charming in the movie.

(C) Derek Winnert 2014 derekwinnert.com