Perhaps amiable maverick documentarian Ron Mann (“Comic Book Confidential”) is in the midst of a grass trilogy. His current movie, “Go Further,” is an amusingly laid back, sometimes rousingly idealistic record of actor/activist Woody Harrelson’s pro-ecology, pro-hemp Simple Organic Living bicycle tour in the summer of 2001. It seems an obvious follow-up to Mann’s 1999 pro-pot historical chronicle “Grass.” Both are gently propagandistic odes to a currently illegal plant, with “Grass” touting the pleasures of marijuana, illegal smiles and the hypocrisy of the current drug laws, and “Go Further” extolling simpler ecological lifestyles and the benefits of hemp.
In fact, the participants in the 2001 bike ride call themselves the Merry Hempsters, in emulation of Ken Kesey’s LSD-fueled Merry Pranksters. (Kesey himself, who died in 2001, appears briefly to grant his merry benediction.) And watching “Go Further,” perhaps inevitably, suggests a ’60s college bull session in which the air is thick with smoke and the arguments thick with historical examples and political sarcasm.
The difference is that most of “Go Further” is conducted in the sunlight and fresh air of an oceanside bicycle tour from L.A. to Seattle. The music includes songs and participation by (natch) the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir. And what’s fun about it all are the characters we meet, who include Steve Clark, a smiley guy battling his junk food addiction; Jessica Chung, a lithe yoga instructor; and Renee Loux Underkoffler, a resourceful raw food chef.
And Harrelson, who suggests the ultra-laid-back hippie philosopher-activists of the ’60s and ’70s, is also fun. Close your eyes and you can almost imagine Abbie Hoffman and the Beatles lining up alongside him and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers bogarting joints and flashing some “V’s.”
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“Go Further” ((star)(star)1/2) plays Fri.-Thu. at Facets Cinematheque, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. Call 312-222-4114 or visit www.facets.org/cinematheque. No MPAA rating. Adult (parents cautioned for language and drug use). Running time: 1:20.
