![the alchemist cookbook joel potrykus the alchemist cookbook joel potrykus](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/3/1/6/0/3/8/316038-the-alchemist-cookbook-0-460-0-690-crop.jpg)
At worst, alchemists were accused of being in league with the devil.
![the alchemist cookbook joel potrykus the alchemist cookbook joel potrykus](https://popcultureocd.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/alchemist.jpg)
If you’ve ever read the Faust story (the most famous versions are by playwrights Christopher Marlowe and Johann Goethe), then you have a good sense of how people viewed alchemists. They were accused of consorting with the devil to achieve strange powers and worldly possessions. Then, alchemists were often persecuted as magicians and witches by Church officials. While the Greeks and Romans attempted to apply a theoretical framework to alchemy, most people are more familiar with the form that arose in Medieval Europe.
![the alchemist cookbook joel potrykus the alchemist cookbook joel potrykus](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzI3NWNjYzYtZDA5OS00NmQyLWJmZDgtZjQ3MjRlNTQ0YTQ3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDg2MjgwNw@@._V1_.jpg)
A lady visiting an alchemist in his laboratory.Ĭredit: Wellcome Library, London. Some of the greatest medieval and modern minds were interested in the art, including Roger Bacon and Sir Isaac Newton. However, alchemy provided some of the earliest methods and equipment that would grow into the field of chemistry. Try to find a modern scientist that takes any of this seriously. Ancient Egyptians, for example, were said to have painted materials with yellow paint in order to call it “gold”. In its earliest days, alchemy could hardly be considered a rigorous science. Combining elements of philosophy and science, alchemy likely began with the earliest human civilizations in Egypt and Babylon (now Iraq). Need a little background on what Sean is doing in his lonely trailer? While we can’t tell you exactly what happens in the movie, we do know that alchemy is a real historic practice. The most satisfied reviewers seem to go into this film looking for a character study of a strange man struggling to hold on to his humanity. Reviewers have praised the depth and complexity he brings to the role, despite minimal lines and a frankly strange plot and unusual structure. Ty Hickson has been singled out for for his role as the isolated and increasingly unstable Sean. Still from The Alchemist Cookbook (photo via Oscilloscope Laboratories) Be ready for some intense scenes that may or may not involve body horror. Reviewers have also called it “bizarre”, “gross” and “dark”. It’s not even clear what Sean is encountering in his sojourn.Īs far as we can tell, The Alchemist Cookbook sits somewhere between dark comedy and horror, with a healthy dose of absurdism thrown in.
#The alchemist cookbook joel potrykus series#
The story presents itself piecemeal, in a series of related “chapters”. Fair warning: though it’s been getting good early reviews, most watchers have described The Alchemist Cookbook as “near-plotless” and “indefinable”.