A lot of people think insects, not humans, are the true pilots of this wacky spaceship we call Earth. They are wrong. Fantastic Fungi makes a compelling case that both we and our six-legged cousins are mere passengers aboard the good ship Mushroom.
Neither animal nor vegetable, fungi are the oldest living things on Earth. Mushrooms are the fruiting body that some fungi produce. Fungi play a critical role in the cycle of life, breaking down dead things into nutrients usable by living things. They communicate via vast underground networks called mycelium, threadlike networks that function a little like the neurons inside your own skull. Fungi are everywhere — under the forest, inside your body and atop your pizza.
Fantastic Fungi, running through Feb. 20 at Marcus Point Cinema, is a visually stunning documentary that covers every aspect of these mysterious beings: scientific, historical, commercial, medical and spiritual. The first part of the film focuses on the astonishing role mycelium play in choreographing the planet’s beautiful ecological dance. It goes on to explore the emergence of exciting new fungus-based technologies, many of them spearheaded by amateur mycologist and fungo-entrepreneur Paul Stamets. If our planet is to survive the destructive interference of humans, it’s entirely possible that fungi will play a big role in saving it.
But for a lot of viewers, the film’s big draw will be its exploration of the spiritual uses of “magic” mushrooms over the centuries, and the resurgence of serious research into therapeutic uses of psilocybin, the psychoactive chemical some types of mushrooms contain. Half a century ago, studies were yielding promising results about the effectiveness of psychedelic drugs in treating depression and anxiety. But that work fell victim to the anti-drug hysteria of the times, and research came to an abrupt end in the 1970s. Now it’s back on track, and once again psilocybin may be on the brink of mainstream acceptance as medicine.
Movie star Brie Larson gets the honor of speaking for the fungi as the film’s first-person plural quasi-narrator, but it’s Stamets’ show, with assists from a few well-known experts like Dr. Andrew Weil and author Michael Pollan, whose 2018 book How to Change Your Mind covers some of the same ground as Fantastic Fungi. Stamets is a passionate and articulate advocate for all fungi. One of the film’s highlights is his story of curing his severe stutter by riding out a thunderstorm high up a tree while tripping on psilocybin. He also shares how turkey tail mushrooms helped his mother survive stage IV breast cancer.
The film’s other star is the camera work of director Louie Schwartzberg, well known for his pioneering use of time-lapse cinematography. Beautiful sequences of mycelium sprouting, mushrooms blooming and spores spraying abound. Few filmmakers can coax such beauty out of a decomposing rat. And you don’t even have to be tripping to appreciate it.