Fantastische Pilze (2019)

Fantastische Pilze: Directed by Louie Schwartzberg. With Brie Larson, Andrew Weil, Giuliana Furci, Paul Stamets. Fantastic Fungi is a descriptive time-lapse journey about the magical, mysterious and medicinal world of fungi and their power to heal, sustain and contribute to the regeneration of life on Earth that began 3.5 billion years ago.

“Love fungi, love the photographic work in this flick, and very much appreciate where the folks who directed the production want to u0026quot;mainstreamu0026quot; fungi.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMore folks *need* to understand how important fungi are. Itu0026#39;s also a wonderful ponder to reflect on how higher fungi grow and reproduce.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut… geez… did they *have to* inject specious pseudoscientific stuff about how a mycelial mass is like a brain, and trees use those masses to u0026quot;communicateu0026quot; with each other?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;m about 99% sure the stuff theyu0026#39;re implying is a weird romanticization of fungi… and thatu0026#39;s (pardon the mixed metaphor) u0026quot;gilding the lilyu0026quot;, seeing how the u0026quot;lilyu0026quot; (fungi) are deeply fascinating, without the added speculation.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFolks are also chiming in to deride the infomercial-ish 2nd half of the flick… but the stuff I describe just above–the stuff that rubs me so wrong–kicks in only about 12% into the production.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThey could have kept it more grounded and scientific, and STILL been able to convey a scientifically grounded awe about fungi.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo… as much as I wished this flick could be the audio-visual poster-boy intro to that amazing world for the newbie… these affronts leave me unable to recommend it to those newbies.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd thatu0026#39;s a shame.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt only gets as many stars as I give it because 1) the complementary payload of honest, scientific info is nice, and 2) Geez, but those visuals are amazing!”