My Psychedelic Love Story

He certainly still gets credit in the media . This documentary however is about Johanna and her perspective and experience. I find her to be a very credible reporter of her experience and it's refreshing and kept me watching. While the content is less interesting and the information is of course from her experience, her account is what what held my interest and was at times riveting as it unfurled.

This woman seems to be on LSD throughout the entire 15 minutes I was able to sit through.

If she could bottle her ego - she'd be the richest woman in the world.

I couldn't see one more photo of Timothy L.eary learing at the cameras with that strange smile.

And her dancing hither and thither and also wearing a strange smile and name dropping all over the place.

We get it - you were wonderful. Now I have a good book to read.

I was hoping for a little more Timothy Leary to be honest but was treated to the unrelenting self-obsession of this woman. To be fair, I think this filled in some of the blanks (in my mind) about Leary (This confirmed my memory - that he wasted his potential - he was simply a hedonist). You don't need this account to come to this conclusion, but her account is sometimes gripping - her wealth, access to famous people, etc. Always must be in on the action, must not be bored! One wishes for some humility, some wisdom - if just for the sake of the children/grandchildren she left behind. One also wishes there were some attempt to fact check. I don't believe a Freedom of information request was made - just a lame statement to the effect that the CIA was unable to verify any documents (something no agency would do, I don't believe).

Form Errol Morris comes another masterpiece Errol Morris, with a tell-all story of Johanna Harcourt-Smith, a once young, Swiis born, Paris-raised, jet-setting, aristocratic, Jewish woman who cavorted with the high priest of LSD, Timothy Leary. My Psychedelic Love Story is the story of Harcourt-Smith and O'Leary as they circumvent extradition and indulge themselves in daily acid trips for a two-month period before Leary is extradited back to the US, incarcerated, and eventually released. Harcourt-Smith is a compelling storyteller. During her two-month jet setting romance with Leary, she recalls her conversations with Keith Richards and how she encouraged him to go to America and make albums with the Rolling Stones. And, the spur-of-the-moment trips to Switzerland, Afghanistan, France, and back again. Listening to her tell her tale coupled with Morris' use of image inserts of colorful Tarot cards and hypnotic music, I felt captivated and often wondered how could Harcourt have such a vivid recollection of her and Leary's travels on the run from the law. Nevertheless, My Psychedelic Love Story is quite a tale of what seems to have become a largely forgotten part of the turbulent 1970s. Don't fret, however, as Showtime will be airing it soon. Highly recommended!

A major failure by the great documentarian Errol Morris about the recently deceased Joanna Harcourt-Smith. She was the girlfriend of Timothy Leary who, when he escaped prison, joined him on his globetrotting romp to keep ahead of the police. Morris makes a classic error, since he's talking a lot of about LSD, and other psychedelics, he thinks it adds to the experience to keep having "trippy" images constantly mixed into the the story. So photographs swirl and expand and displayed text also bubbles up and just gives you a headache. "Like I'm too high, man." I made it through about 12 minutes.