Sundance ’13: Magic Magic

And now Sebastián Silva presents the second part of Michael Cera’s Chilean vacation.  This was the film they intended to make all along, but when the financing temporarily bogged down, they whipped up Crystal Fairy to pass the time.  While Silva’s Magic Magic is a darker, more intriguing work, it was probably too art-house for genre patrons when it screened as part of the Park City at Midnight section of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Alicia has come to Chile so she can visit her cousin Sarah, who is just so gosh-darned thrilled to have her there.  Alicia seems a bit high maintenance, which is not what Sarah needs right now.  Having some private business to tend to, Sarah pushes Alicia off on her boyfriend Agustín and some friends leaving on a coastal vacation.  Something about Alicia brings out the absolute worst in the sexually confused expat Brink, but the shy and clumsy (perhaps deliberately so) Alicia gets on everyone’s last nerve.  It is mutual.  As Agustín’s friends mock and complain about Alicia behind her back, her mental state begins (or continues) to deteriorate.

Minor spoiler alert: By far the biggest disappointment of MM is the lack of a violent death for Cera’s Brink.  Considering how unpleasant he is (just as annoying as his character in Crystal Fairy, if not more so), he really has it coming.  In fact, Silva disregards most of the principles of EC Comics, avoiding genre scares in favor of slow brooding atmosphere.  Something is definitely off in MM, but Silva lets it all emerge slowly.

In a weird way, MM closely parallels Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills, right down to its ambiguous third act.  However, the climatic event makes logical sense in the Romanian film, whereas in MM it rather comes out of left field.

As Brink, Cera is bilingually irritating, which is sort of impressive, really.  As Alicia, Juno Temple is a perfect portrait of arrested development (if you will) and emotional neediness.  She is just all kinds of trouble.  She also takes the Sundance honors over Cera and Silva, having appeared in three films at this year’s festival (also including Lovelace and Afternoon Delight).  To her credit, Emily Browning brings some presence to the underdeveloped role of Sarah, whereas the Chilean characters are even more undistinguished, seemingly on hand just to rub Alicia the wrong way.

Silva masterfully creates a mood of profound unease, but it never really pays off.  Magic Magic is the sort of film that is more interesting to look back on than to watch in the moment.  Given the big name talent involved, it is a cinch to play fairly far and wide after its premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Sundance ’13: Crystal Fairy

Travel is broadening. You can discover exotic new ways to get high.  For an extraordinarily annoying American expat, Chile is all about one thing: San Pedro cactus.  Chile is welcome to keep him.  Still, he just might learn something from a hippy-dippy free spirit in Sebastián Silva’s Crystal Fairy, which screens during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City.

Did I mention how truly unpleasant it is to spend time with young Jamie?  Well, it is.  Nonetheless, three Chilean brothers befriend the self-centered, manic, immature drug-vacuum.  They are about to embark on a little Fear-and-Loathing road trip in search of some of that increasingly rare cactus to boil up and ingest on the beach.  However, Jamie complicates matters when he invites along wild child Crystal Fairy.  He will regret the overture as soon as he comes down from his coke bender.  While the brothers three try to make the best of it, Jamie acts like a complete jerkweed around his fellow American.  Yet somehow, there might be a thimble full of redemption lurking in the third act.

While Michael Cera still looks like a moppet, he is so convincingly irritating, it is rather amazing his management signed off on this Chilean escapade.  Were it not for the climatic emotional pay-off Silva handles with remarkable sensitivity, Crystal might sour viewers on Cera indefinitely.

Between Crystal Fairy and his class conscious The Maid, Silva is beginning to emerge as the maestro of the awkward situation.  He is also clearly willing to present his cast in a profoundly unflattering light.  Indeed, Jamie dubs Gaby Hoffman’s character “Crystal Hairy” for reasons that are vividly and repeatedly established.  The obvious exceptions are his three real life brothers, Agustín, José Miguel, and Juan Andrés, who all come across as decent chaps with sufficient hygiene.

Essentially, Crystal Fairy shows the dark side of the kooky, quirky characters that typically inhabit indie films.  Frankly, it is sort of a corrective to many other films that will play in Park City over the coming week, reminding viewers there are often rather unfortunate reasons behind eccentric behavior.  That is not nothing, but Silva forces the audience to sit through a lot of noise before it starts to get real.  Only recommended for viewers with little fondness for precious-sized indies or Cera, Crystal Fairy screens today (1/18), Wednesday (1/23), and Friday (1/25) in Park City, today (1/18) in Salt Lake, and tomorrow (1/19) in Ogden, as a World Cinema Dramatic Competition selection at this year’s Sundance.