Film Review - Psychedelia

A new documentary focusing on the history and science behind psychedelics titled Psychedelia is on the verge of being released soon. Sporting a compact 58-minute run-time, this film clocks in at just under an hour and it provides an easily-digestible, high-level overview of psychedelics for a wide audience, from the uninitiated square all the way to the most seasoned psychonaut.

The film opens with a moving quote that properly sets the tone:

The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science.

-Albert Einstein

The introduction consists of a series of beautiful scenes featuring natural landscapes and voice-overs from people who healed themselves by working with psychedelics. It’s only about a minute long but it’s just enough to give the viewer a glimpse of how transformational these medicines can be when used wisely.

Following the introduction, the documentary launches into the history of psychedelics, from Albert Hofmann’s first intentional acid trip all the way up to the new wave of psychedelic research being conducted in respectable institutions like NYU and Johns Hopkins. Along the way it touches on several monumental psychedelic events, including the coining of the term “psychedelic,” R. Gordon Wasson’s encounters with Maria Sabina, the CIA’s MKUltra experiments, Tim Leary’s impact on the scene, LSD leaking out of the lab and onto the streets, and the re-emergence of psychedelic research with Rick Strassman’s DMT study.

Several experts are featured in the film, including Charles Grob, Julie Holland, Rick Doblin, Katherine MacLean, Matthew Johnson, and Ingmar Gorman. Together, their interviews help paint a complete picture of psychedelics for the audience.

In addition to talking about the psychedelics themselves, the film also gives the viewer a chance to learn more about the people working in the psychedelic field, which often turns out to be both entertaining and enlightening. One good example is Charles Grob’s story about calling his father in the middle of the night to tell him he finally knew what he wanted to do for a career—he wanted to study psychedelics. His father was supportive of Charles’ decision but also cautioned that no one would take him seriously unless he got his credentials. So he did.

Psychedelia also features interviews with a handful of participants from a psilocybin for end-of-life anxiety study that was conducted at NYU. Their personal anecdotes about how psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy helped them are moving and inspirational, and if you’re anything like me then you might shed a tear or two while listening to their stories.

Several threads are sewed together to form a coherent film: a narrative detailing the history and science of psychedelics, explanations and insights from the experts, and the moving stories from the study participants. Like any good documentary, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and during the final credits an epilogue provides updates on what happened to some of the people in the film, which ties things up quite nicely.

After watching the whole thing, it’s crystal clear that Psychedelia was created by an adept filmmaker—someone who has obviously put in their 10,000 hours in order to learn the skills needed to create a masterpiece of this magnitude.

That man is Pat Murphy. He started working on the documentary in 2011, when he first heard about the psilocybin for end-of-life anxiety research study at NYU. At the time he was a student at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and so, coupled with an interest in the Grateful Dead (shoutout to all the fellow Deadheads out there!), Timothy Leary, and the 1960s, he decided to begin working on the film.

I liked Psychedelia quite a bit. For one thing, it features a ton of new footage that I hadn’t seen before—and I’ve seen a lot of movies about psychedelics.

Somehow Pat was able to make grainy old footage from way back in the day (for example: scenes from a 1955 CIA film) look fresh and new. And some of the audio recordings are a delight, featuring psychedelic elders like Albert Hofmann, Allen Ginsberg, and Ralph Metzner.

One of the funniest moments in the film (which will likely be overlooked by most viewers, as it is very subtle) occurs when Rick Doblin walks upstairs to a room with lots of paperwork strewn about on a desk where a big green bong is sitting upright, ready for a nice toke.

The documentary is so well-done that it comes across as incredibly professional, which goes a long way if you’re trying to convince a skeptic in your life about the value of psychedelics. In fact, I think this is the best film to introduce people to psychedelics that will give them solid overview of psychedelic history and science. It’s a perfect documentary to show your parents, your friends, or even your therapist if you’d like them to learn more about psychedelics without inundating them with too much information all at once. It’s nicely-paced, covering a lot of ground without rushing through. All in all, it’s a solid film.

Psychedelia is definitely worth a watch whether you are completely psychedelically-naïve or you’re a highly-experienced psychonaut, and while it’s not publicly available for streaming at the time that this blog post is going live, you can sign up for the film’s newsletter to find out how to attend a virtual screening event in the near future.

Pat is partnering up with psychedelic organizations and universities to hold these online events, which include Q&A sessions with the director after the film is screened. There are two events currently on the schedule—one on February 6th with the Psychedelic Society of Minnesota and another on February 11th with the Psychedelia Integration Community that will include Katherine MacLean on the Q&A panel. There’s also an option for universities and colleges to license the film for use in the classroom.

Regardless of when you are able to get a chance to watch Psychedelia, you should definitely put it on your radar and check it out as soon as you have the opportunity. It’s rare to find a documentary that encapsulates the history and science of psychedelics this well.

Disclaimer: I received a free screening copy of this film in exchange for an honest review. However, this is not a sponsored post—all thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

Film Review - Debbie and Doug Drop Acid in the Desert

A new psychedelic short film called Debbie and Doug Drop Acid in the Desert came out last week. It’s an extremely wild ride that tells a fictional tale about a married couple venturing out into the desert and taking LSD in an effort to save their failing relationship. And you can watch it today for free at TripIntoLove.com.

The opening scene features Debbie and Doug just a moment before taking their doses. Right as they are about to pop the colorful blotters of acid into their mouths, the narrative abruptly flashes back in time and the audience gets its first glimpse into some of their underlying relationship issues.

Doug is sitting in the kitchen, working on a graphic design project for a client, when Debbie strolls up to him. She is obviously in the mood and tries to get Doug interested, but he is stressed out and tries to push her away so that he can focus on his work.

After pulling Doug out of his chair, Debbie holds up her phone, where a family planning app reads “You’re Ovulating! Time to fuck!” They are trying to start a family, and it’s time for baby making.

Unfortunately there isn’t much passion in the bedroom, and they realize that they need to seek professional help because their relationship is about to hit rock bottom.

So the couple goes to a new age therapy center where healing herbs are growing in every nook and cranny and employees take “spiritual selfies” with patients. While waiting for their appointment, Debbie and Doug read through a pamphlet that suggests “tripping into a stronger marriage”. After a brief consultation, a quirky alternative therapist named Ariel advises them to take LSD together in order to save their relationship from impending death.

Doug is awfully apprehensive, mentioning a former friend who took acid at a Dave Matthews Band concert one time before becoming some sort of delusional shaman. But the couple is desperate to save their marriage so they reluctantly agree to give the desert acid trip a go.

However, there is a calamitous mix-up at the center and the couple ends up taking “way, way, way too much” acid, which transports them to a trippy world made up of strange and hilarious characters who help them understand the core problems within their relationship.

Some of the wacky characters that Debbie and Doug meet along the way aren’t really people at all. Instead, they are mental constructs like the Universe, Truth, and Fear.

Debbie and Doug are forced to face their own fears, which include no longer being attractive and a nagging sense that one of them is turning into their father. The LSD helps them come clean about some difficult truths that each of them have been keeping from each other.

The narrative culminates in a powerful sequence where Debbie and Doug each encounter their shadow sides in an unexpected way that might just bring you to tears.

The film features an impressive cast, especially for a psychedelic flick. Paul Scheer (of The League) and iconic American television and radio host Larry King are some of the more well-known actors; Debbie and Doug are played by Angela Gulner and Zack Gold. The alternative therapist known as Ariel is played by Maria Bamford and the Universe and Truth are played by Peres Owino and Al Thompson.

Musically speaking, the soundtrack is evocative and helps to keep the film moving. And the filmography and special effects are really well done too. Experienced psychonauts will undoubtedly recognize some of the visual and auditory effects from some of their own previous psychedelic journeys replicated expertly on screen.

Debbie and Doug Drop Acid in the Desert is certainly a unique film. It’s a short ride (only 25 minutes) that goes by pretty quickly but there is so much packed in that it rewards multiple viewings. More information can be found at the film’s website, which features quotes from the Grateful Dead, Hunter S. Thompson, and The Beatles.

If you’re interested in psychedelics and are in the mood for a work of fiction rather than a non-fictional documentary focusing on psychedelic history, culture, or research, then you won’t be disappointed by this film. I’m interested to see more psychedelic films like this one come out in the future, because while it’s always satisfying to watch an educational movie, it’s also good to change things up from time to time too.

Film Review - DOSED

DOSED is a new documentary from director Tyler Chandler that follows his friend Adrianne, a suicidal woman who has struggled with depression, anxiety, and opioid addiction for decades, as she goes on a healing journey with magic mushrooms and iboga that is both beautiful and difficult. After spending years unsuccessfully trying to quit using street drugs by following a medication-assisted treatment program involving prescription medications, she at last turns to the psychedelic underground in a last-ditch attempt to heal herself once and for all.

The film opens with a dire update from the World Health Organization:

1.6 billion people suffer from anxiety, depression, and addiction.
Last year the opioid and fentanyl crisis claimed 118,000 lives.
While you watch this film 127 people will commit suicide.

After absorbing that depressing information the viewer is introduced to Adrianne, the film’s protagonist. She appears to be under the influence of opioids and is asked what she thinks the end of the documentary should be. After pondering the question for a long, drawn-out moment, she says she’d like to be sober by the end of the documentary. You’ll have to wait to find out if that actually ends up happening.

The film features an impressive cast of well-known folks in the psychedelic community including Rick Doblin, Paul Stamets, Gabor Maté, Mark Haden, Rosalind Watts, and Trevor Millar. It somehow achieves a rarely seen well-balanced vibe, being both professional and casual at the same time. That’s because it is shot and edited incredibly well but thankfully doesn’t come across as overproduced or mainstream.

One thing’s for sure—DOSED is unapologetically anecdotal in nature, which didn’t please reviewers at Variety and the Los Angeles Times. While they were hoping for a more scientific documentary that would shed light on existing research involving psilocybin mushrooms and iboga, the film is deliberately about one woman’s psychedelic-assisted journey to recovery, not scientific studies. And there’s nothing wrong with that. The reviewers are simply asking it to be something it wasn’t intending to be in the first place.

With all that said, I actually really enjoyed DOSED. At this point I’ve seen plenty of documentaries that do a good job of covering the history, research, and culture of psychedelics. So it is refreshing to watch a new sort of film, one that takes the viewer along for a wild ride to find out if magic mushrooms and iboga are capable of treating drug addiction.

While it doesn’t rely on scientific research to make its point, the film demonstrates that psychedelics may have the potential to interrupt opioid addiction. Peer-reviewed data may be table stakes when attempting to convince a scientific audience that a novel treatment is effective, but personal anecdotes are often exactly what is needed when trying to introduce a new idea to the general public. And DOSED has that in spades. At a time when many Americans are struggling with opioids, this film demonstrates that plant medicines like magic mushrooms and iboga might be able to help bring an end to the overdose crisis.

DOSED was released globally on Vimeo last Friday and the filmmakers have pledged 10% of each purchase of the film to be donated and matched by Facebook (for a total of 20%) towards coronavirus disaster relief.

One more thing—and this might seem random to mention in a film review—if you’re looking for some funky jewelry, DOSED is also selling necklaces that were cast from a real magic mushroom. Every order includes a free digital copy of the film and helps fund its marketing and distribution.

If you want to learn about how psychedelics can help treat drug addiction, DOSED is a great place to start. And if you know someone who might benefit from watching this film, consider buying a copy for them. It might just save their life.

Disclaimer: I received a free screening copy of this film in exchange for an honest review. However, this is not a sponsored post—all thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

Film Review - Psychonautics: A Comic's Exploration of Psychedelics

The documentary Psychonautics: A Comic’s Exploration of Psychedelics, featuring stand-up comedian Shane Mauss delving into the fascinating world of psychedelic drugs, debuted at the Dances With Films festival last June but wasn’t released to the general public until just last month. I was waiting with eager anticipation to watch this film from the moment I first heard about it, and now that I’ve watched it a few times since its release, I figured I’d share my thoughts on it.

Unless you’re already familiar with him, you might be asking yourself, “Who is Shane Mauss?” Well, as I mentioned earlier, Shane is a stand-up comedian with a wacky sense of humor. He’s also the host of the comedy science podcast Here We Are and a fellow psychonaut. After spending the last few years exploring psychedelics in a lot of his work, Shane was inspired to make a documentary about the topic in order to show the world that these drugs aren’t necessarily as scary as someone who is psychedelically-naïve might expect.

Psychonautics starts off mighty strong—and fast. The film opens up with a shot of Shane painted from head to toe in glow-in-the-dark body paint made from the MAOI Peganum harmala (also known as Syrian rue), right as he’s about to smoke DMT on camera. He looks at the camera in a slightly creepy way, ignites his lighter, and then leans in to take a hit.

Before he has a chance to inhale the DMT vapor, the film cuts to a stand-up comedy routine where Shane is telling the crowd that he was just let out of a psych ward two weeks earlier because he overdid it with psychedelic drugs. So much for trying to show the world the psychedelics are completely harmless!

A proper introduction follows these two opening scenes, and Shane shares a few stories about his upbringing in Wisconsin, his relationship to drugs, and his career as a comedian, Next, some of his fellow comics talk about him for a little while. Then the movie starts to talk about some of the scientific research concerning psychedelics before launching into the first section of the film: psilocybin mushrooms.

During the mushrooms portion, Shane accompanies Eric Osborne (the founder of a legal psilocybin retreat center in Jamaica at MycoMeditations) as they go hunting for mushrooms in an undisclosed location somewhere in Kentucky and talk shop about everything related to psilocybin mushrooms. This is a pretty laid back part of the movie and it’s chock-full of humor and silliness, just like the rest of the film.

After the mushrooms section, the film goes over a few other classic psychedelics: MDMA, LSD, ketamine, DMT, and ayahuasca. As Shane progresses through the various drugs, things start to get more and more intense until he reaches the mental breakdown that was foreshadowed in the beginning of the film.

So what were my overall impressions of the film? Well, first off I should mention that I’m a pretty big fan of Shane’s work. I saw his psychedelic-themed comedy routine called A Good Trip a few years ago when he came to Raleigh, NC and laughed my ass off for two hours straight. That’s where I found out his podcast Here We Are, which blends together the odd bedfellows comedy and science, two things that I definitely enjoy. After going home, I started listening to his podcast, and have kept up with it ever since.

Psychonautics is engaging and well-polished. The narrative arc is tight and easy to follow, it keeps the viewer’s attention the whole way through, and it supplies a fairly thorough overview of everything related to psychedelics, including the relevant scientific research, the history of the drug war, and the harms of prohibition. If you’re a hardcore psychonaut like me, a lot of the material might be familiar, but reviewing what you have learned over and over again is a tried and true method that can help you really internalize the information, so it’s still well worth a watch. And if you’re brand-new to psychedelics or want to introduce someone else to them in a lighthearted (and somehow serious) way, this is a solid option for those purposes too. Mixing science with humor can make new information a bit easier for some people to swallow, after all.

A bunch of well-known leaders in the psychedelic movement are featured in the film, including Rick Doblin, Dennis McKenna, James Fadiman, David Nichols, Emanuel Sferios, and some of the world’s top psychedelic researchers and comedians. No psychedelic documentary would be complete without a few super trippy visual representations of psychedelic experiences that can be had with the different drugs discussed in the film, and fortunately Psychonautics doesn’t disappoint. Each psychedelic drug has a unique visualization style that is similar to what you could expect from taking said drug, which certainly helps keep things interesting.

Shane is currently on a stand-up tour across America (dates can be found on his website, linked above) so he might come somewhere near you soon, and you should go see him if you get the opportunity. But if that’s not an option, then you can at least watch Psychonautics to get a feel for what he’s all about.

Bottom line: if you’re into psychedelics and have a sense of humor, you should definitely check out this documentary.