Having already staked his claim on the Sundance Film Festival back in 2009 with his debut feature The Maid, it should come as no surprise that director Sebastián Silva is back, this time opening the festival with his quirky and unusual drug-infested character study Crystal Fairy.
The film focuses on Jamie, a self-indulgent twenty-something American who is traveling through Chile. At a party and after a few hits of cocaine, Jamie invites a free-spirited female to join him and some friends on a journey north where they are looking to cook and hallucinate to the legendary San Pedro cactus. But personalities prove to be a major obstacle as Jamie finds himself battling for attention and control with his new traveling partner.
Unsure of what it truly wants to be, Crystal Fairy is unable to pick a side, offering up a complex and exhausting mix of drama and comedy. Just when you feel the lightheartedness shine through, Silva fires back with an unexpected and entirely unexpected dramatic turn.
I will admit that I laughed out loud on a few occasions, and Michael Cera delivers his usual awkward performance just right at times. But each positive moment is counteracted by something that is both unneeded and unsupported in the context of the story. Whether it be extraneous full frontal nudity, a story about rape, or an uncomfortable and entirely random dominatrix segment, there is something fishy about Crystal Fairy...or as we soon learn, "Hairy" Fairy.
There was potential for Silva's Crystal Fairy, but the end result is nothing more than a desperate cry of desperation to appear indy. The chaotic plotline and underdeveloped characters ultimately made the film too much of a mess to follow or, more importantly, like.
