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“Cliff is here to lend a hand in carrying the load.” Rick Dalton (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood” —Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood”
If Dalton, as portrayed by one of Hollywood’s most outspoken champions of environmental preservation, had served as the narrator of Louie Schwartzberg’s documentary, “Fantastic Fungi,” he would have described the film’s titular subject in exactly the same way as he does in the film. Much like DiCaprio’s aging actor is ensured by the efforts of his ever-present stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), the survival of mankind is entirely dependent on fungi’s capacity to carry our collective load through decomposing matter, redistributing nutrients, and even out carbon in our atmosphere.
However, while the film’s generic title might conjure up images of the archaic science videos that you watched while falling asleep in grade school, Schwartzberg’s film quickly establishes itself as one of the most mind-blowing, soul-cleansing and, yes, immensely entertaining triumphs of the year. Due to the ongoing fires in the Amazon rainforest and the lack of a clear endgame in sight for our reliance on fossil fuels, this photograph serves as a beacon of hope that is neither hollow nor forced. While affirming with matter-of-fact clarity that we, as a species, must evolve with nature in order to prevent our own extinction, the film’s illustration of fungi’s resilience is dazzling on both a visual and intellectual level.
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Yet it is mycologist Paul Stamets, the documentary’s most engaging human subject, who channels the very essence of mushrooms in a celestial voice reminiscent of Captain Marvel without the sarcasm. Although Brie Larson articulates the perspective of mushrooms, which are defined as fruiting bodies of fungi, it is the documentary’s most engaging human subject, mycologist Brie Larson. As a disclaimer, I should mention that Stamets’ brother, Bill, is a long-time colleague and contributor to RogerEbert.com who shares his sibling’s inquisitive spirit. He’ll frequently lean toward me at the conclusion of a screening and make an observation that is so far out of left field that it could have come from a completely different ballpark. Temple Grandin and Greta Thunberg, both of whom are on the autism spectrum, demonstrate how this innate gift of seeing the world from a wholly original and analytical perspective can lead to visionary, transformative change. Their placement on the spectrum has been referred to as their “superpower.”
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The epiphanies brought on by fungi inspired Stamets to pursue his research after he was forced to endure a conservative upbringing that resulted in his copy of Charles T. Tart’s Altered States of Consciousness being burned by a friend’s disgruntled father. It is a thrilling sequence where he describes how his initial experimentation with magic mushrooms cured his stuttering, allowing him to actually look a woman in the eyes and hold a conversation with her rather than simply averting his gaze. The following year, Stamets founded Fungi Perfecti, a family-owned company that specializes in mushroom products and whose employees, according to Stamets, are so unified on the same wavelength that they communicate primarily through gestures and body language.
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Following up on his series “Moving Art,” in which he illuminated the painterly designs of nature, director/cinematographer Schwartzberg seeks to remove the stigma that is often associated with the word “fungus” by filming it in a way that emphasizes its majesty without deviating from the realm of reality. Even the time-lapse footage of a dead rat decomposing isn’t as repulsive as one might expect, because it illustrates the cyclical transference of matter without lingering on any gore as one might expect. Using Schwartzberg’s lens, insects that we would normally dismiss as a source of ingenuity are transformed into wonders of ingenuity, inspiring empathy for the microcosm of life that exists just beneath our feet and thriving on our waste. The fact that the mushrooms exude an oddly erotic glow while growing in front of our eyes is also no coincidence, given that the mushrooms are defined as the fungi’s organ of sexual reproduction, and as such, they spew a colossal number of spores in a process that one young scientist refers to as a “spore-gasm.”
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Experts from all over the world discuss how penicillin molds have played a crucial role in everything from the creation of some world-renowned cheeses, such as gorgonzola, to the saving of thousands of American soldiers’ lives during World War II. Watch the trailer for more information. A study conducted on lab rats found that psilocybin mushrooms, the same ones that helped Stamets with his stutter, helped the animals overcome fear-conditioned responses by creating new neurological pathways in their brain. As suggested by Stamets’ “stoned ape theory,” this type of hallucinogenic plant may have had the same effect on early man as the monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” altering their minds in a way that allowed them to develop speech, build tools, and eventually become civilized beings.
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Although “Fantastic Fungi” does not have the same impact as Kubrick’s aforementioned sci-fi masterpiece, the tagline to that film—”The Ultimate Trip”—would have made for an excellent title for the film, in part because its replications of psychedelic visions expressing the infinite space of existence are breathtaking even when viewed on a small screen. However, the film is also a journey because the amount of information packed into a running time that barely exceeds 75 minutes excluding credits can be dizzying at times. While director Mark Monroe, whose previous writing credits include the Oscar-winning documentaries “The Cove” and “Icarus,” does an admirable job of compiling the multitudinous strands of facts and theories in a way that is coherent and compulsively watchable, it’s worth wondering how some of these concepts would hold up under scrutiny if the film were expanded into a miniseries instead.
One thing that cannot be argued about is the motivations of those in power when they attempt to censor the medical and spiritual breakthroughs that have been brought about by fungi. If adequate research is conducted into the ability of lion’s mane mushrooms to stimulate nerve regrowth, it is possible that they could one day be used as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. Her mother, who had been diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer, made a full recovery after taking turkey tail mushroom capsules, according to Stamets. We also meet patients who have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses and have been helped to find peace by psilocybin, a far less expensive alternative to Prozac. One such patient, a woman, recalls hearing the voice of God affirming her value and purpose while taking psilocybin. These divine encounters are just as legitimate as any that have taken place in a church, but they are free of the predatory pyramid schemes that plague organized religion. One of the film’s most euphoric images is a projection of towering mushrooms onto the Vatican in celebration of Pope Francis’ decision to support the Paris Agreement, which serves as a crucial example of how science and faith can indeed be in sync, according to the director.
For millennia, indigenous cultures have demonstrated that the closer one gets to understanding nature, the more adept that person becomes at tapping into the universal consciousness, which is similar to the Force in that it unites all living things. Mycelium, the fungi’s vegetative web of threadlike cells, serves as nature’s social network, allowing plants to recognize and communicate with one another while transporting carbon between them for storage in the soil. After being awestruck by this invisible web of communication, I couldn’t help but think of Jim Henson’s childhood memory of lying in the grass and studying the leaves and branches of a massive tree. According to his writing, “I remember feeling very much a part of everything and everyone.” It is comparable to the humanizing blend of plant and animal life found in Jim Henson’s 1982 classic “The Dark Crystal” and its masterful Netflix prequel series, “Age of Resistance.” Not only has the world never appeared more vibrantly alive than it does right now, but it has also never appeared more capable of providing solutions to our contemporary crises, if only we would take the time to listen.
For more personality quizzes check this: Inside Out Quiz.
