[8] It premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 19,[9] and began a limited cinematic release and VOD play on September 14, 2018.
[11] The director admits a dislike for baby boomers' new age spiritual ideals, an issue he addresses in Beyond the Black Rainbow.
The use of psychedelic drugs for mind-expansion purposes is also explored,[12] although Cosmatos' take on it is "dark and disturbing", a "brand of psychedelia that stands in direct opposition to the flower child, magic mushroom peace trip" wrote a reviewer describing one of the characters who happened to be a boomer:[13] I look at Arboria as kind of naïve.
He had the best of intentions of wanting to expand human consciousness, but I think his ego got in the way of that and ultimately it turned into a poisonous, destructive thing.
There is a moment of truth in the film where the whole thing starts to disintegrate because it stops being about their humanity and becomes about an unattainable goal.