Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus

Crystal Fairy & The Magical Cactus
Directed by Sebastián Silva
Produced by Juan de Dios Larraín
Pablo Larraín
Written by Sebastián Silva
Starring Michael Cera
Gaby Hoffmann
Music by Pedro Subercaseaux
Cinematography Cristián Petit-Laurent
Edited by Diego Macho
Sebastián Silva
Sofia Subercaseaux
Production
company
Content Media
Distributed by IFC Films
Release dates
  • 17 January 2013 (Sundance)
Running time
 99 minutes[1]
Country Chile
Language English
Spanish
Box office $202,370 [2]

Crystal Fairy & The Magical Cactus is a 2013 Chilean adventure comedy film written and directed by Sebastián Silva.[3] The film's full title, as shown onscreen, is Crystal Fairy & The Magical Cactus and 2012.[4] At the film's Sundance premiere, Silva said that his film, which is based on a real-life encounter, is "about the birth of compassion in someone's life."[5]

Plot summary

Jamie, a footloose and self-absorbed young American, is traveling in Chile and is keen to experience the mysteries of a local hallucinogen — the mescaline-bearing San Pedro cactus. In a moment of indiscretion, he invites another young American, the eccentric "Crystal Fairy", to join him and his three Chilean companions, brothers who — with varying degrees of enthusiasm — also seek the magical herb. To the dismay of all four men, the New Age-addled young woman — now dubbed "Crystal Hairy" — joins them on their road trip, and soon everyone's patience is stretched thin. The desired plant is acquired through a hasty theft and the heartfelt experiences that they all undergo under its psychotropic influence on a remote desert beach bring them closer together. By the end they are all more sympathetic and tolerant of their individual personality differences.[6]

Cast

Production

Michael Cera was in Chile learning Spanish for Magic Magic and had been living with the Silva boys for months when Gaby Hoffmann arrived. Sebastián Silva had given her a brief character description during a phone call about a week before she left for Chile. Hoffmann says, "And all he did was say, 'Go buy some books about 2012 and get on the plane.'" The actors spent a week in Santiago in pre-production living together at Sebastián's parents' house—where he had shot The Maid in 2009. The boys would sit out back playing guitar and singing songs. Hoffmann recalls hearing the music streaming through the open doors while Sebastián and Hoffmann would sit at a desk where she created all Crystal Fairy's drawings in the sketchbook she has in the film.[5]

The titular character is based on a real person who was an influence on the director.[5] The script was an outline with every scene including a moment that leads the actors to the next place. They didn't do any rehearsals in character, but since the boys had already been living together when Hoffmann arrived, her character's role as the outsider was easier to slip into.[5] While shooting the scene of Crystal Fairy tripping, Hoffmann was too. "...I just knew it would be okay. My dose was weak, so I had to take a second one even though it was so revolting, but I really loved it. I was totally present in the experience of the making of the movie, and I felt like it was subtle enough that I could step in and out of it," Hoffmann said. "I never felt like, 'Oh my God, I’m tripping and I have to make a movie.' I felt like I could totally step out of it and be like, 'Okay, Sebastián, what’s going on? What do we need to do?' And then I could step back into it and just go with it. And, you know, there’s like hours and hours of footage that you don’t see because it was like a 10-hour trip and we were in that desert the whole time. It was great, but it was subtle."[5]

Silva told the audience after the world premiere in Park City that Crystal Fairy was largely improvised.[7] IFC Films will distribute the film in North America.[3] Crystal Fairy was released on 12 July 2013.[8]

Reception

Crystal Fairy received the Directing Award (World Cinema Dramatic) at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.[3]

The film received generally positive reviews, currently holding an 81% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus reads: "Slight and unpolished, The Crystal Fairy is held together with Sebastian Silva's assured direction and a pair of strong, committed performances from Michael Cera and Gaby Hoffman."[9] On Metacritic, the film has a 67/100 rating, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[10]

Writing for The Village Voice, Alan Scherstul praises Cera's performance, writing, "Cera's a pleasure... There's a tender radiance to him here, and some string-bean clowning; at times, especially when he's playing a beatific high, he looks for all the world like Harpo Marx."[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/crystal-fairy-and-magical-cactus-film
  2. ↑ Crystal Fairy at Box Office Mojo Retrieved 3 December 2014
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "IFC Films Acquires Michael Cera Sundance Winner ‘Crystal Fairy’". Deadline.com. 4 February 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  4. ↑ "Crystal Fairy & the Magic Cactus and 2012: Sundance Review". hollywoodreporter.com. 18 January 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "INTERVIEW: Gaby Hoffmann's 'Crystal (Fairy') Method". movieline.com. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  6. ↑ "Crystal Fairy". IMDb.com. 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  7. ↑ "Crystal Fairy – first look review", The Guardian, 18 January 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  8. ↑ Metacritic, Crystal Fairy (Access date 10 April 2013)
  9. ↑ Crystal Fairy at Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved 20 December 2013
  10. ↑ Crystal Fairy at Metacritic Retrieved 20 December 2013
  11. ↑ "In Crystal Fairy, Michael Cera Delivers a Great, Dickish Performance", The Village Voice, 10 July 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2013.

External links