Perhaps more interesting as an example of the power of storytelling than as an in-depth historical examination, Errol Morris’ “My Psychedelic Love Story” — which closes out the AFI 2020 festival on its way to Showtime — marks another case of the documentarian finding a fascinating figure and then allowing that person to tell their own side of the story, leaving it to audiences to decide how much is truth and how much is self-aggrandizing rationalization.
That’s not to say that Morris’ subject, Timothy Leary’s longtime companion Joanna Harcourt-Smith, is any more duplicitous or cagey than any of us; most people, asked to recount their life in front of a camera, will of course tell the most glowing and self-serving version of events — particularly after being publicly accused of skullduggery and bad faith.