User reviews

A hit at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Crystal Fairy stars Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) as an uptight American drug-partaking lout backpacking parts of Chile with three friends (whom are native Chileans) in search of a rare cactus -- the San Pedro -- in hopes of experiencing its hallucinogenic effects on a northern beach.

At a random party before their trek is set to begin, a coked-out Jamie (Cera) spontaneously invites another American party-er to partake with them. She (Gaby Hoffman - remember the little girl from Field of Dreams and Sleepless in Seattle?) is a hairy (uh ... yep) free-spirit who channels the vibes of nature and goes by the name Crystal Fairy.

After their trip begins (it is a few hundred miles of a drive from the city to the beach), Jamie and Crystal discover that they have conflicting personalities and they clash many times before their group even comes across the cactus to imbibe as he is boorish and insensitive and she is unique and a deep-thinker. Jamie becomes increasingly annoyed with Crystal while his three Chilean friends tolerate her much better and actually respect her point of view and sensibility. Jamie is oftentimes unaware of his rude-ness but he is written well and believably portrays an American tourist expecting concessions and advantages. When they actually find a cactus (one she has spotted), Jamie and Crystal Fairy even disagree as to how to obtain it because Jamie likes things being his way and he is a stressful worry-wart.

While this portion of the journey is complicated, the real "adventure" begins on the beach when they make their drinkable concoction. The film becomes one about personal and inner understanding, acceptance and compassion. The first half comes across as rather annoying as Jamie's character is very self-centered and not too-likable and while I believed the drug-induced portion of the film would be the hardest part to endure ... I was wrong as this is when the true characters of each are actually revealed.

As for the film's acting: Cera fans know what to expect from him and he plays another slight variation of manic that he's shown audiences before. His character is high-strung and abrasive and some might want to reach through their screens and punch him a time or two; but this is a testament to Cera's acting talent. He plays his character very well. Hoffman hasn't been on many movie screens lately and it is nice seeing her play the titular (ahem) character. She bares more than just her soul in a few scenes ... and her final admission around a late-night campfire is moving and emotional. Welcome back to the big screen Gaby! This is a good little, independent film ... but it isn't one for everybody. It takes some patience and those who dislike grainy picture and plot-lite story lines won't appreciate or enjoy this. It is only those patient enough to make it to the end of this film and willing to take the entire trip who will be rewarded with the film's high.

Michael Cera is Jamie, an American traveler in Chile who plans a road trip with his friends to indulge in a legendary hallucinogen, the San Pedro cactus. While drunk at a party, Jamie invites an eccentric, radical spirit named Crystal Fairy, played by Gaby Hoffmann. When Jamie's insensitive, controlling, impatient, selfish nature is revealed it conflicts with Crystal Fairy, making what was suppose to be a care-free adventure into an uncomfortable journey for everyone.

Michael Cera and Gaby Hoffmann are both very brave for taking on these characters, who are in perfect contrast with one another. The result is excellent performances of well-written characters. Unfortunately the film is going to attract audiences looking for a drug-fueled adventure in the vein of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, not a character-driven comedy lacking any real laugh-out-loud moments. The film is played almost too serious to be any fun, though there is depth.

Writer/director Sebastián Silva proved his powers as a serious filmmaker with Magic Magic, which also starred Cera and was released earlier this year. Other than having Cera in lead roles, the only thing the two films share in common is an abrupt ending that will either leave you haunted or irritated. While Magic Magic is an effective psychological horror film, Crystal Fairy is a thought-provoking character study poorly marketed as an adventure comedy.

Crystal Fairy and The Magical Cactus isn't a bad film but it does fail as a comedy. As for the adventure, the credits begin to roll too soon after the film gets interesting. This will annoy more than it will amuse or enlighten.

Hiding behind masks that cover their vulnerability, two Americans in Chile, Jamie (Michael Cera) and Crystal Fairy, a young free-spirited woman (Gaby Hoffmann), spar off against each other in Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Silva's psychedelic comedy Crystal Fairy. The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize and won the Directing Award for World Cinema at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Jamie's act is one of controlling, overly-aggressive behavior but not quite the "Ugly American," while Crystal's is the opposite but equally phony, a caricature of a "hippie" filled with love for everyone who spouts clichés about chakras and mother earth, walks around her hotel room naked, engages in healing rituals, and chides the others for eating junk food.

It's hard to tell if the director is using her persona as a means of ridiculing these ideas or just showing how inauthentic she is. In any event, Crystal and Jamie's way of being, while it fills a need for them, has costs in sacrificing who they really are. On the surface, the film is a road trip to find a psychedelic substance in the San Pedro cactus plant which, when boiled for twelve hours and ingested, has the properties of mescaline (it has been said that the actors used mescaline while shooting the film). In essence, however, the film is not really about mescaline but about releasing rigid patterns of behavior and discovering new ways of interacting that are more fulfilling.

The film begins at a party where Silva's hand-held camera-work and improvised conversation is established. On a cocaine high, the caustic Jamie invites a partygoer, a girl who calls herself Crystal Fairy to accompany him and his friends on a quest to repeat the spiritual high described in Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception. When Crystal takes him up on the offer the next day (which he has forgotten that he even made), he is dismayed by her annoying behavior, even though his Chilean friends, Champa (Juan Andres Silva) and his two brothers Lel (Jose Miguel Silva) and Pilo (Augustin Silva), seem more tolerant, perhaps because at least one does not understand English. Their trip to the ocean to locate and purchase a piece of the San Pedro cactus from reluctant residents is one of the comic highlights of the film, even though Jamie has to eventually use surreptitious means to acquire it.

Crystal Fairy ends up in a good place even though it is more than a little irritating in getting there. During the trip, Jamie and Crystal talk to each other, but at cross purposes. The results are unpredictable but, suffice it to say, their longing for a spiritual experience does not take the form that Huxley described. Michael Cera's role is out of character from the lovable, nerdy self he has played in earlier movies, but he is terrific in this film, totally natural and very real, as is Hoffmann in her role, both continuing to reveal a new dimension to their character. Ultimately, the group's sharing about their fears and their discovery of how their act no longer serves their purpose in life is more open and honest than anything I've seen in films recently and stays in the memory.

Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus and 2012 follows a group of Caucasian backpackers as they rummage the lands of Chile in search of a sought-after cactus that apparently holds the power to give you an incredible high. The leader of the pack is Jamie (Michael Cera), who is assisted by several friends and the spirit named "Crystal Fairy" (Gaby Hoffmann) in order to find the renowned hallucinogen.

I was not under any chemical reinforcement while watching Crystal Fairy, and thankfully, neither was the film. I question how its quality is affected if a curious soul does decide to use any drugs while watching the film. From my viewpoint, stone-cold sober at 7pm, this was a pretty stale film affair. It's a film that lacks a compelling narrative, interesting characters, and finds itself consistently unfunny and unmoving in terms of attempting to get us invested in this situation.

Films like this irritate me because what unfolds is an almost unfairly subjective review talking about the lack of anything interesting about the film and relying heavily but unintentionally on generalities. The film features a lot of talking, a lot of drugging, some instances of nudity, and a lot of characters racing back and forth trying to enjoy their not high. I suppose if you've hung with a group of friends - or have friends - like this, your interest in the film will skyrocket past mine. Films like this seem more enjoyable when relatability with characters is brought up on the scene or experience in similar situations within the film. Frankly, I have neither, so the film is like watching a stranger's home movies during last weekend's house party.

This is the exact same way I felt while watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas several months back. The constant depiction of drug hallucinations and acid/mescaline-induced trips wore me down to no end. At least with that film I had the benefit of director Terry Gilliam's eclectic, cluttered visual style, along with the benefits of Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro's character acting skills. With Crystal Fairy, I have only the charming blandness of Michael Cera's performance and one laugh every half-hour to keep me marginally in-tune with the picture. Director Sebastián Silva doesn't infuse any particular visual-flare to give us any kind of connection to these witless gringos. It's so cold it almost makes Chile's climate seem like the arctic.

On a final note, I kept pondering what exactly Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus and 2012 could've been for me to enjoy it. For one, it could've invited more character personality into the mix. Two, it could've had some slick visual-hallucinations capitalizing off the talents of a young visual effects artist. And finally, perhaps the little things such as cinematographical and musical touches would've provided a pleasant look at Chile's culture. Instead, we get a forgettable piece of of cinema that seems to prefer catering to the viewing habits of the few instead of many others'.

Starring: Michael Cera and Gaby Hoffmann. Directed by: Sebastián Silva.

Crystal Fairy is one of the most pointless films I think I've ever watched. It's not trying to be avant-garde and it's not trying to be mainstream, it lingers somewhere inbetween without reason. It has little story, with no plot and hence, goes nowhere from the start. Michael Cera is somewhat fun to watch, but the film as a whole has no motive to make you enjoy it. I can see where the film wanted to go, this exotic road trip, but it fails so many times that it feels like you are watching an idea that could have been unfold into this series of pointless images.

Crystal Fairy and The Magic Cactus is one of those boring films with no substance to give you anything to keep you watching. Michael Cera is possibly the only reason for you to pick this movie up with no other big names.

CRYSTAL FAIRY is a comedy of sorts set in Chile, made in Chile by Chileans but starring American actors. It is pretty unique in that aspect. It feels at times like a foreign film but mostly like one of the many American dramedies of the style that emerged in the last decade and a half. It's hard to shake the whole Michael Cera vibe.

Not that I don't like Michael Cera. He's fun to watch sometimes and a good actor. But this film is what it is and it's not exactly what I wanted it to be. That said, it's still kind of fun and there are some good laughs in here. It's not too long. It's got a sort of thrown-together feel, but in a good way. Looks like they had fun making it. I read that it's based on a true story. Recommend for those looking for something different but not too different.

This DVD was on Fast Reads because other users of the library are queued up to read it. I am quite puzzled why. This is a story about how four boys and a girl steal a chunk of psychedelic cactus and go to the beach. Nothing happens. They don't even have soulful conversation. They tease that some group sex might happen, but it never materialises. The sexiest thing that happens is finding some naughty photos. (In this dull movie, that might count as a spoiler). The sound is what you might expect from a surveillance bug. The lighting is often over or under exposed. I don't know why they made this movie. Even the settings are barren and dusty. I kept wanting to give up on the movie, but I soldiered on, hoping it would eventually do something of interest. The girl wanders around naked a lot. By movie standards of beauty, she should not do that. The boys keep their swim trunks on.

This is a movie about 2 annoying self centered assholes and their dumb-ass 'friends' who put up with their crap for some unknown reason. The only interesting thing is that they are both complete self centered assholes in totally opposing ways. The supposed story line is almost forgotten half way through and it just becomes a pointless rambling dribble of nothing. It goes on and on for 98mins, and when it finishes you will think to yourself what the f was that. Honestly I cant believe how bad this movie is, its like its made by film students without any talent, money or ideas. Very badly edited too I might add, but that is the least of this stinker's problems. Avoid like the plague.

This is my opinion. I think this movie is incredibly deep but in a light kind of way, in a way that the viewer learns from it what applies and relevant for him. I think it's honest, a rare thing in movies these days. No clichés, no bullshit. I think it makes you think, makes you feel. It makes you connect with the characters, almost as if you are traveling with them. And what I liked most about this movie is the "twist", when who you think is the main character turns out to be just the scenery for the real deal.

I recommend this a lot to people who are done with the Hollywood industry, who are looking for something real and worth watching, and especially to people who are about to travel, especially to travel alone. I think in some way you will learn a lot.

Gaby Hoffman makes this film. She parades around naked, seemingly in a permanent state of euphoria, extolling the most hippy dippy claptrap philosophies about inner peace and finding yourself since the Swingin' Sixties. When she isn't behaving like a Looney Toon, she can be discovered doodling away in her sketchbook, which is full of oblique drawings. And her armpit hair! I hope that forest of follicles is fake... Otherwise Hoffman must have had to use fertiliser to grow it that thick. I bet the second the movie was complete, those shears were out and moving at a record speed.

She is accompanying Michael Cera and his three rather underdrawn Mexican friends on a quest to find a rare cacti plant, which when liquidised and drunk. is supposed to give you the ultimate high. They plan to imbibe this miracle brew on the beach, under the stars... the setting is everything, right? Cera himself has shades of being a public school boy twit... you can tell by his put-on mannerisms and his laboured talk about drugs he's completely out of his depth. He reminds me of the kid in the video for 'Pretty Fly For A White Guy', in that every scene of him trying to be 'cool' is Cringe City.

The story is simple in structure, has no big surprises along the way and probably could be told in half the length. Yet, there is something oddly endearing about these five young wash-outs... (Not Cera though, he's just annoying) their friendship and journey is enough to keep all but the most impatient viewer glued to the screen. And when Crystal Fairy's tragic past is exposed towards the end, it is a highly effective moment which, in hindsight, explains an awful lot. Can you say 'coping mechanism'? You could, and I suspect you'd be correct. 6/10

I am late seeing this flick and I must disagree with a few other reviewers and their take on this very simple yet complex movie.

Once again Sebastián Silva is offering up questions on youth and how youth sees the world around them. Jamie is obviously a self centered person with a limited experience in communicating with others (sort of like the US) (as Jamie is an American) and we can see this in his 'attitude' throughout the story. The other three boys have had to share with others and they try to make the best of their trip to the beach. Jamie, on the other hand insist they do it as planed.

Enter Crystal Fairy into this mix and you already have an altered perception of exactly what they want to do - she is like the drug reduced from the cactus later in the story (she has an altered view of reality). She wants to share everything the three other boys don't seem to mind. Jamie can't tolerate it - he wants none of her.

Crystal mothers them, she wants to know them, the boys are like children to her - yet she is very childlike herself. Jamie suddenly wants to be friends with her but only when he's 'high', after he comes down he's back to his original self. Crystal leaves quietly, Jamie sees her leave and calls her name, Crystal disappears behind a rock.

What is Silva showing us here? Crystal is the personality of many different people, she's giving, caring, willing to accept life on her own and take risks - and being alone isn't easy, she is alone throughout the movie and Jamie thinks she's a phony. Jamie cannot see that he is the phony because in the end Crystal is what Jamie was seeking in the brewed Cactus they drink and even when high he could not accept it.

I haven't seen many Chilean movies. With Michael Cera in the cast i really wanted to watch Crystal Fairy, in particular because it was described as adventure/comedy and had no ambition of being a blockbuster.

Now, i enjoy "small" movies, because they present stories, characters and feelings that are mostly ignored by Hollywood big productions. However, Crystal Fairy was less interesting that most of reality TV shows. It guided us through a couple of days in a life of Chilean youth and their American guests trying to score and consume a hallucinogenic cactus. So far, so good.

The protagonists are those people that use their aura of being "different" to justify whatever they are doing. Michael Cera's character and his unlikely sidekick Crystal Fairy were leading in behaving like idiots. The locals were much more likable, yet i wouldn't want to spend more time than necessary with this motley crew.

Overall, i'm not sure why i should be interested in a rather long search for a hallucinogen that would be consumed by the group and observe their less than memorable experience.

Jamie (Michael Cera) is an American traveling in Chile. At a drug filled party with his friend Champa, he meets a spirited Crystal Fairy (Gaby Hoffmann). Jamie and Champa go on a road trip with 2 friends to take mescaline from the San Pedro cactus. They find Crystal trying to pay some women with 2 drawings of fairies. Crystal is a real hippie. Champa takes her on the trip. Jamie would rather leave her behind while he obsessively searches for the new high.

Jamie is selfish and a little bit annoying. Crystal is a flighty hippie. The two actors are likable personalities which keeps the unlikeability of the characters to a minimal. This is a hazy unstructured road trip hell bent on getting a specific high. Jamie is an obsessive character. It's interesting to see Michael Cera in this role. The story is a bit light weight until the serious ending.

I'd rather lick dirt from the bottom of a muddy welly that had been used to tread through a field of cows suffering from delly belly, after eating a truck full of out of date vindaloo's that fell of a passing lorry, than be forced to carry on watching this film!!

It's utterly boring, the dialog would be similar to a group of your mates hanging out pretending to make a film at a party. It's uncomfortable viewing to say the least.

I'm sorry for anyone that has wasted their earth minutes watching this film, you are now closer to death than you were before you decided to settle down on the sofa with your lady to watch this film. Your optimistic expectations that this film would surprise and delight you has been punched out of you like a heavy weight world boxer sucker punching an eight year old boy.