Maybe Potrykus makes it so obvious that we know this bag exists so we will second-guess our own notions of reality. This tiniest of details ripped me from the film and it might have been intentional. But what happens five minutes later? The characters talk about this bag’s contents, make a half-hearted effort to find it, and agree it never made the trip. We’re forced to look at this bag: it’s color drawing our eyes in as its transition from car to Sean’s hand serves as the first real motion of the scene.
We linger at the start upon a yellow bag of eggs, statically at the frame’s center until Cortez wakes Sean from his trance with a yell. The camera takes us outside the trailer to Cortez’s car as they procure the groceries he so generously transported into the middle of nowhere. My breaking point occurred twenty minutes in when a newcomer named Cortez ( Amari Cheatom) interrupts the supposed one-man show. I unfortunately was never able to fully buy into it. The beauty of this quote is that it’s pretty much exactly what I thought of Potrykus’ film, a project wearing its micro-budget on its sleeve with oftentimes funnily-read dramatics on behalf of a character so lost inside his own mind as to be certifiably insane. The FBI went on record calling it “one of the crudest, low-brow, paranoiac writing efforts ever attempted” within a memo dated sometime between 19. It contained step-by-step instructions for explosive manufacturing, manipulating telecommunication systems, and literally “cooking” up drugs such as LSD. The film’s title card mimics the cover of William Powell’s The Anarchist Cookbook, a publication brought to fruition as a way of protesting the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. Paranoia, anger, and fear arrive quickly the only transmutation occurring is his. What his journey reveals is the slippery slope of sanity caused by isolation from humanity.
Why Sean plays with forces that push him beyond the boundaries of chemistry is ultimately beside the point. It might be for an elixir of immortality, his ritualistic incantations recalling satanic verse in search of dealing with a demonic presence that only pentagrams and dead animals hope to conjure. He doesn’t seem to care about money while living as a hermit inside a hidden trailer deep within the woods-bill collectors “no longer owning him”-so gold is out of the question.
Open to all, programming will run from September 21–24 at the historic Ladies’ Literary Club located at 61 Sheldon Blvd SE, next door to the ArtPrize HUB/HQ.įind the full ArtPrize On-Screen lineup on our blog.I have no clue why Sean ( Ty Hickson) messes with the titular book in Joel Potrykus‘ The Alchemist Cookbook. Celebration! Cinema will bring screenings of new and independent cinema, each to be preceded by a Michigan-made short film curated by the UICA’s Open Projector Night Series. About ArtPrize On-ScreenĪrtPrize On-Screen, presented by the Michigan Film & Digital Media Office and produced by Celebration! Cinema, is back for another year with 10 new narrative, documentary, and short films. 15 minutes prior to showtime, any unfilled seats will be released to the Rush Line. We expect a high demand for tickets and appreciate your commitment to using all tickets requested.ĭon’t Have a Ticket? “Rush” the Film. Rush Lines will form outside the venue 45 minutes before showtime. While these events are general admission, each ticket represents a “reserved” seat in the auditorium. Reserve tickets for any of the above screenings at /artprizeonscreen. Please note that although tickets are free, they are not simply passes good for admission to these screenings. This screening will be preceded by the short film, "Free Pie," a dark comedy about loss in live action.
But when he turns from chemistry to black magic to crack nature’s secret, things go awry and he awakens something far more sinister and dangerous. Filled with disdain for authority, he’s fled the daily grind and holed up in the wilderness, escaping a society that has no place for him.
The story revolves around a young outcast named Sean who has isolated himself in a trailer in the woods, setting out on alchemic pursuits, with his cat Kaspar as his sole companion.
"The Alchemist Cookbook"-produced and shot in Michigan by Grand Rapids-native Joel Potrykus, and a breakout sensation at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival-for its Grand Rapids premiere.