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Producer-actors Brent Lydic and Tip Scarry prove the key to happiness is not in the destination, but indeed the journey: a days-long wild ride through the unabashed depths of self-discovery.
By Lianna Albrizio
See the World Premiere of feature film Spirit Quest on Monday September 27 @ 8:30 PM at Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street) as part of New York City’s 10th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival. Tickets now on sale!
Tip Scarry wasn’t looking for the answers to his life’s problems which ate away at him like acid; he was looking to drop some. And, as he puts it bluntly, “trip balls and forget about the bullshit in my life.”
Scarry, of The Fosters fame, co-wrote, produced and starred in microbudget comedy-drama Spirit Quest with fellow actor/director Brent Lydic, star of Hansel vs. Gretel. He plays the role of a lost young person weathering the directionless agony of a quarter-life crisis (in Tip’s case, unemployment and reeling from a romantic prospect gone awry).
Escapism is the only vehicle he felt could plough him through the hellish season he’s in. The excursion upon which he embarks with his good friend, however, isn’t your average joyride hotboxing through the barren, purgatory-like environs of the California desert (there’s plenty of that too). It’s a soul-searching mission orchestrated by Brent who takes on the role of Tip’s own personal spirit guide to exhume his deeply-buried insecurities and confront the “crushing weight of life and all its purposelessness.”
Shot near one of the filming locations of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the writer-producer tag-team who keep their actual names in the film, prove the key to happiness is not in the destination, but indeed the journey: a days-long wild ride through the unabashed depths of self-discovery. A chance, Lydic says, to “release all the negativity from your brain and embrace the unknown.”
Riding shotgun inside Brent’s jeep, the film opens with Tip having a lucid dream of himself as a fang-toothed vampire crooning about his life’s purpose (in real life, he is what psychologists call an “energy vampire” who wears out his loved ones with his constant negativity). Brent, meanwhile, is on drums as an astronaut symbolic of the spaciness tied to their high and going places he’s never been. After awaking from his bizarre reverie, Tip throws back a baggie of hallucinogenic mushrooms while a Franciscan monk’s inspirational monologue plays softly on the radio. The recurring phrase “the end is now” seems to follow Tip everywhere. It’s even graffitied on the wall of a gas station bathroom stall.
While on this quest through the desert, the two friends morph into good and bad spirits (trashing-talking bandits and preaching robed friars) and their adventures challenge them to confront the question: if their lives were to end now, would they be spiritually satisfied with the legacy they leave behind? While the two buds are comedically portrayed as mustached, ‘70s era law breakers meant to represent their devilish sides, Tip learns of the dangerous game his mind plays while assuming the worst and making deadly accusations with little evidence to the contrary – in this case, that his pregnant wife is cheating on him with his friend and the mayhem that ensues. As friars, the friends are spiritually enlightened and learn maturity and to ignore unpleasant situations that they will inevitably encounter in everyday life.
“Both of those characters are in all of us, and we’re trying to choose which ones will have the most influence,” explains Lydic. “The film is an absurd way to show that.”
In Spirit Quest, whose target audience is Millennials and others currently enmeshed in a quarter-life crisis, the directors – who grew up in the 1990s – satirize modern-day YouTubers, one of whom interviews the guys as they poke fun at themselves as popular ‘90s playthings. Lydic is the intrepid, brawny action figure; Scarry, the spineless Raggedy Ann doll.
As with any therapeutic mission, the spirit quest has the friends at odds in heated arguments, but quickly resolves when their brotherhood finds a way. A breakthrough presents in a poignant moment shared while engaged in a poetic hilltop conversation overlooking the City of Angels following a rigorous, early-morning bike ride to the heart of Los Angeles. The scene brings to mind a famous quote by 19th century luminary Oscar Wilde, “Yes, I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”
Lianna Albrizio: Why did you want to make this film and why in the desert of all places?
Brent Lydic: It’s a melting pot of different experiences we’ve both had and friends we’ve grown up with who have experienced this as adults. The desert is a metaphor for the unknown and going in and trying to find whatever you’re looking for. In Native American culture, the desert is a place to go into in their quest to become an adult. The first chapter is loosely inspired by my Evangelical upbringing. I’m in my 30s and going through the deconstruction process of different beliefs I was given as a child.
Lianna : Why did you want to infuse drug use in helping Trip find his way?
Brent: There is a huge renaissance with plant medicines and psychedelics and their power to do pretty wild things. People with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression go on these journeys to experience oneness with nature and an opening of that third eye, experiencing something you can’t explain. Everyone’s experiences are different but similar. I think they can show you things.
Lianna: There is a juxtaposition between your characters and action figures. What are you trying to show the viewer with that analogy?
Brent: We, throughout our lives, play different characters. Parts we’re ashamed of and feel good about. Showing the friars and the bandits was us trying to show we’re all of these things at once. We’re playing these parts and having grace and loving those different parts, and seeing those parts in people and loving them.
Lianna: The film is peppered with biblical references. What is the significance of playing the Franciscan monk’s motivational speech on the radio?
Brent: Franciscan Friar Richard Rohr talks about how it is scientifically proven that thoughts are like Velcro sticking to your brain. Entertaining them creates negative responses and thoughts. We just get caught up in negative thinking, distractions, our phones. We have expectations of what we think will make us happy. If we choose to be in the moment right now, we will find what God is doing in our lives.
Lianna: You use the concept of ‘90s children’s toys a lot in this film. Was it because you willed to take the characters back to their childhood?
Brent: With some of those things we’re trying to explore – with taking drugs – that inner journey facing your faults, fears, doubts and perceptions of how you see yourself. And what better way to do that than satirize this YouTube-obsessed, everyone’s-a-star generation. I can do my own review show and have fun with that and instead critique the characters and face fears, especially after this past year [with Covid-19]. It is so important for all of us to know that we’re all going through this together.
Lianna: What do you hope viewers will take away from Spirit Quest?
Brent: That they see themselves or their friends that are in this and being able to relate. We’re all searching and looking to be the best friends we can be. Hopefully, they walk away with the feeling that friendship is one of those things that can get you into the present moment and share life with people.
Lianna Albrizio
Lianna Albrizio is a seasoned journalist and editor passionate about covering all facets of the arts from film to books, music and food. She loves interviewing people and spreading the word about their amazing work for all to enjoy.
About Winter Film Awards
New York City’s 10th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs September 23-October 2 2021. Check out a jam-packed lineup of 91 fantastic films in all genres from 28 countries, including shorts, features, Animation, Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Horror, Documentary and Music Video. Hollywood might ignore women and people of color, but Winter Film Awards celebrates everyone!
Winter Film Awards is an all volunteer, minority- and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2011 in New York City by a group of filmmakers and enthusiasts. The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the NY State Council on the Arts.
