Crystal Fairy Information

Crystal Fairy is a 2013 Chilean film written and directed by Sebastin Silva. The movie's full title is Crystal Fairy & The Magic Cactus and 2012. At the film's Sundance premiere, Silva said that his movie, which is based on a real-life encounter, is "about the birth of compassion in someone's life."

Plot

As Jamie travels in Chile, he invites an eccentric woman to join his group's quest to score a fabled hallucinogen, a move that finds him at odds with his new companion, until they drink the magic brew on a beach at the edge of the desert.

Cast

• Michael Cera, as Jamie
• Gaby Hoffmann, as Crystal Fairy, a radical spirit
• Juan Andrs Silva (brother of the director)
• Jos Miguel Silva (another brother)
• Agustn Silva (brother)
• Sol Squire, as whale expert

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. Sebastin 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 Sebastin's parents' house"?where he had filmed The Maid in 2009. The boys would sit out back playing guitar and singing songs. Hoffmann recalls hearing the music steaming through the open doors while Sebastin and Hoffmann would sit at a desk where she created all Crystal Fairy's drawings in the sketchbook she has in the movie.

The titular character is based on a real person who was an influence on the director. 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. 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, Sebastin, 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."

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

Reception

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

Writing for The Village Voice, Alan Scherstul praises Michael 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."