Michael (Ulrik Munther) is a sound engineer exploring the Swedish woods with microphones and recording equipment, holed up in a shack with computers and tapes mixing interesting ambient sounds. While exploring, he discovers both psychedelic mushrooms and an isolated, abandoned sensory deprivation chamber–hence the title, Autoscopy.

In case you’re curious, Wikipedia says: Autoscopy is the experience in which an individual perceives the surrounding environment from a different perspective, from a position outside of their own body. Autoscopy comes from the ancient Greek αὐτός (“self”) and σκοπός (“watcher”).

There is no language at all in this short, and Michael doesn’t even mutter to himself. All the sound is forest foley and his own compositions. The setup might make you think of Altered States, but there is really no similarity. Michael’s trip is mostly just cutaways of him back in the forest. The editing makes it unclear what parts are flashbacks, imaginings, hallucinations, and at one part it suggests he might be dead a la Incident at Owl Creek Bridge.

This is neither plot nor character driven, it’s essentially just portraying a single idea. Interestingly, the trip is not particularly psychedelic in the traditional sense, no graphics, no bright colors, no swirling distortions. Just over and over again back in the woods. It’s fun to watch, but ultimately meaningless.

The cinematography is lovely, though, and the long opening helicopter shot looks like an homage to the road trip in The Shining. I’m a sucker for a forest setting.

Autoscopy is currently playing at Slamdance 2021.

7 out of 10 Magic Mushrooms