If Spike Jonze and Werner Herzog got together and remade Robert Altman’s 1966 short Pot au Feu (which is about the joys of smoking weed), then the result would be pretty close to director Alexander Vorobyev and screenwriter Kenry Cruz’s Purple Haze.
Christon Andell portrays Niles, a nervous guy. Why is he in such a state? He needs a job and is sitting across from the one person willing to hire him as a security guard in a greenhouse that specializes in endangered plant species and experimental, chemically enhanced, and altered shrubbery. Everything in the greenhouse is visible on a closed network of security monitors, yet Niles must leave his post every hour on the hour to physically check on the nursery. After fervently stating that they can depend on him to fulfill his charge to protect the greenhouse, Niles gets the gig. And all is well, until the hour arrives, and one must venture into the garden.
“Niles decides not only to wander in the greenhouse but also to risk partaking in some of its peculiarities…”
This is where the road ends and the mind-altering state sets in. Niles decides not only to wander in the greenhouse but also to risk partaking in some of its peculiarities, like the blue strawberries. Nile’s consciousness erupts into the stratosphere. He is higher than a kite, tripping as he sees a janitor (Matthew James Fitzgerald) that may or may not be there. Sonia (Nea Somogyi), the weed tree woman, also appears to him in a haze. She may or may not be talking to him as he snaps off a bud, readying for the blaze.
Purple Haze is one trip I’d happily take again, so long as it’s being passed around. I’ve skipped my favorite bits because, like experiencing any good psychedelic, you have to be game enough to swallow it before you’ll find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.
"…one trip I'd happily take again..."
