Chilean writer/director Sebastián Silva stumbles badly in this cockeyed, autobiographically inspired recollection of a youthful sojourn to gather the medicinal/hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus and ‘experience’ it while camping overnight with like-minded friends on a pristine beach. But whatever Silva was aiming at, he fatally compromised his vision with two ‘Ugly American’ types to lead the way, messy handheld camera work and improvised dialogue out of a Method Acting class exercise. Michael Cera who’s got the cash to round up a few fellow travelers (delightful company as played by three actual Silva siblings) and the lack of morals & sense of entitlement to steal a hunk of someone’s cactus when no one will sell them any. The girl, Crystal Fairy (Gaby Hoffman, daughter of Andy Warhol fave Viva), a self-invited New Age flake imposing enlightened views on one & all (though sneaking in coke & chips as needed), not helped by looking as if she always skipped the rinse cycle. (She’s the college roommate who’d do nude yoga in the living-room whenever you had guests.) Worse, Silva turns sentimental right at the end, letting these two off the hook with positive personal growth you may find even harder to swallow than the film as a whole.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: Silva a totally different fellow in THE MAID/LA NANA. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2023/09/la-nana-maid-2009.html
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