'Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus' Review

'Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus' Review

Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus is a charming, truth-seekers journey which sees a culture clash between a self absorbed thrill seeker and an insightful hippie. It is a comedy adventure film where Jamie, an obnoxious and self centred young American, played by Michael Cera, travels through Chile in search of a hallucinogenic cactus. Jamie is joined by his three Chilean friends who are played by director Sebastián Silva's brothers. In a moment of misjudgement Jamie invites a fellow young American the quirky 'Crystal Fairy', played by Gaby Hoffmann, along for their road trip adventure. Their aim is to find the psychedelic San Pedro cactus, boil it down and drink it on a Chilean beach.  

The movie portrays a sense of realism throughout as it is based on a real encounter that Sebastián Silva had with a woman named Crystal Fairy, who Hoffmann's character is based on, where they took mescaline many years ago. Not only that but the movie is largely improvised and highlights the actual road trip the cast faced whilst shooting the movie. There is a heavy use of handheld cameras throughout which gives the movie a more intimate feel. The cast also actually drank the psychedelic drug whilst shooting the relevant scenes which were shot over two days, affected their performance in a subtle way.  

This movie moves Michael Cera away from the gawky teenage roles we see him playing in movies such as Superbad and Juno. In this we see his more serious side as he plays a troubled drug tourist. Gaby Hoffmann's performance however is most impressive as part of it was whilst being under the influence of the drug as she is said to have took the most on set. In an interview with Buzzfeed, Hoffmann states that “I could use it almost as a tool, I just felt like I could step in and out of the experience of being on the drugs - it was just a beautiful, mellow experience and I was in he most gorgeous spectacular place you could imagine." Hoffmann also had only two weeks to prepare for the role as Sebastián Silva called her and asked her to fly to Chile out of the blue. 

  

Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus received the Directing Award (World Cinema Dramatic) at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival where it premièred in 2013. Written and Directed by Sebastián Silva who was responsible for the critically acclaimed 'The Maid' which won 13 wards as well as being nominated for a Golden Globe.