The Alchemist CookbookAll experiments carry risks, and no risks promise reward. The Alchemist Cookbook is about a young man named Sean (Ty Hickson) who has been living in a trailer deep in the woods, performing chemical experiments with household items (like batteries), presumably intending to transmute objects (like teeth) into gold. Sean conducts his spurious rituals with only his cat, Kaspar, to keep him company, and with occasional visits by his cousin, Cortez (Amari Cheatom), who brings him supplies. But as Cortez observes, Sean is showing signs of a mental breakdown, even before he runs out of his medication.
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Virtually all of The Alchemist Cookbook is set in the remote woods of Michigan--coincidentally, horror classic The Evil Dead was also predominantly set in a similar locale--and the world outside of this rustic wasteland hardly seems to exist at all. Little is known about Sean and what drove him to the woods, save for some incidental dialogue between him and Cortez about all of the bills he has left behind in civilization, suggesting that his pursuit of alchemy is an elaborate "get rich quick" scheme. For example, his leg is in a brace for the entirety of The Alchemist Cookbook, but the reasons for it remain a mystery. Sean's grasp on reality is weak from the start, evidenced by the weird rituals he performs, even those which seem to have little to nothing to do with alchemy or chemistry. He chugs bottles of Gatorade and force feeds himself Doritos; although he later intimates that these are some of his favorite foods, these scenes do not suggest he's getting any enjoyment out of it. He spends his days listening to a mix of gangsta rap and punk rock while extracting the contents of batteries and heating test tubes over a flame. Yet Sean also goes out into a dingy on the lake and hurls large rocks into the water while screaming out that he will invite "the demon" into his body, or wraps himself up in Christmas lights while opening various gifts covered in tin foil. Sean turns to a battered tome with a strange occult symbol on the cover for guidance, which ostensibly has him call upon the demon Belial to facilitate his dark arts. Wrapped partially in duct tape, the book also includes an image of a screaming mouth with golden teeth within its pages. (One wonders if Sean picked up the supposed grimoire from a mysterious and wizened oracle or in the bargain section of a library book sale.) The Alchemist Cookbook initially teases that Sean may have stumbled across a genuine magic treatise, largely because of the seriousness with which he commits himself to his mission. But too many details challenge this interpretation as the film progresses, from Sean's compulsive arrangement of logs in the woods to the fact that he never changes his clothes; he does at least shower at one point. Sean's behavior supports that Sean may be schizophrenic, making his extended stretch without medication all the more terrible. He becomes convinced that only by summoning the devil can he realize his ambitions of wealth and leisure. When Sean is confronted by his first vision of the evil one--who taunts him and demands a sacrifice for gold--Sean has second thoughts, bringing his paranoid mania to a boil.
The Alchemist Cookbook recalls other films with protagonists trapped in a claustrophobic setting while their sanity unravels, ranging from Repulsion to The Shining. Sean's breakdown takes him into increasingly dark territory, reflected in the overly bleak woodlands surrounding his trailer, which are always a muddy shade of brown. Sean struggles to maintain coherence, evidenced by the film's numerous cutaways, which do not always follow a logical connection. (Even the sequencing of the film's chapter breaks starts to degrade toward the end.) Sean appears to be a reasonably intelligent man, but it becomes increasingly clear that whatever mental illness afflicts him has brought him to this desperate state. His remaining family--including Cortez--fail to adequately understand how to help him in a meaningful way, and instead enable his downward spiral by playing along with his fantasy. Cortez tries to spend time with Sean after bringing him his assorted supplies, offering to stay and watch Arnold Schwarzenegger movies on the TV and VCR he brought; Sean all but ignores him on his first visit and does worse on the second. Sean is not an evil man--despite his intentions to conjure Belial to do his bidding--but is very sick, and should have been diagnosed as such before the start of The Alchemist Cookbook. After several tragedies, Sean begins to believe that he is being stalked by a shadowy figure--alluded to be the devil--who attacks him in the woods one night. Afterwards, Sean's face twists into a bestial visage, appearing far worse than if he simply suffered some severe swelling after being assaulted. Yet the final shot in The Alchemist Cookbook asks the audience to consider whether all of the seemingly supernatural events Sean experienced were real or only in his head. That the audience witnesses some of these late-film events suggests that our perspective is deliberately molded to mirror that of the unfortunate Sean, who is crazy, haunted, or perhaps both.
Recommended for: Fans of an experimental thriller that puts the audience in the mind of an unreliable protagonist through sly camera tricks and editing, begging the question whether the thriller is a psychological one or supernatural. At just around eighty minutes, The Alchemist Cookbook tells a compelling story through simple but effective set design and emphasizes the faltering sanity and isolation of its protagonist through its two-man cast.
The Alchemist Cookbook recalls other films with protagonists trapped in a claustrophobic setting while their sanity unravels, ranging from Repulsion to The Shining. Sean's breakdown takes him into increasingly dark territory, reflected in the overly bleak woodlands surrounding his trailer, which are always a muddy shade of brown. Sean struggles to maintain coherence, evidenced by the film's numerous cutaways, which do not always follow a logical connection. (Even the sequencing of the film's chapter breaks starts to degrade toward the end.) Sean appears to be a reasonably intelligent man, but it becomes increasingly clear that whatever mental illness afflicts him has brought him to this desperate state. His remaining family--including Cortez--fail to adequately understand how to help him in a meaningful way, and instead enable his downward spiral by playing along with his fantasy. Cortez tries to spend time with Sean after bringing him his assorted supplies, offering to stay and watch Arnold Schwarzenegger movies on the TV and VCR he brought; Sean all but ignores him on his first visit and does worse on the second. Sean is not an evil man--despite his intentions to conjure Belial to do his bidding--but is very sick, and should have been diagnosed as such before the start of The Alchemist Cookbook. After several tragedies, Sean begins to believe that he is being stalked by a shadowy figure--alluded to be the devil--who attacks him in the woods one night. Afterwards, Sean's face twists into a bestial visage, appearing far worse than if he simply suffered some severe swelling after being assaulted. Yet the final shot in The Alchemist Cookbook asks the audience to consider whether all of the seemingly supernatural events Sean experienced were real or only in his head. That the audience witnesses some of these late-film events suggests that our perspective is deliberately molded to mirror that of the unfortunate Sean, who is crazy, haunted, or perhaps both.
Recommended for: Fans of an experimental thriller that puts the audience in the mind of an unreliable protagonist through sly camera tricks and editing, begging the question whether the thriller is a psychological one or supernatural. At just around eighty minutes, The Alchemist Cookbook tells a compelling story through simple but effective set design and emphasizes the faltering sanity and isolation of its protagonist through its two-man cast.