Movie Review: ‘A Trip Elsewhere’ – A Psychedelic Dive Into Grief, Connection, and Everything In Between.

The year is 2025, and just when I thought we were finally done seeing COVID-19-themed films, along comes ‘A Trip Elsewhere‘. And to be honest, I didn’t expect it to feel as fresh or well-made as it turned out to be. Most pandemic-era films I’ve seen lean more into themes like isolation, the emotional toll of being apart, or sometimes the creepy spread of something infectious.

But this film, directed by J.R. Sawyers and co-written with Jay Gutierrez, offers something much more imaginative and surprisingly introspective. It doesn’t just show how the pandemic boxed us in, it captures what is the shared inner worlds of four strangers searching for healing.

‘A Trip Elsewhere‘ is a drama fantasy that follows the story of four anxious individuals who, during the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns, take a high dose of LSD and find themselves immersed in a collective psychedelic dream. But this isn’t a mindless trip full of bright colours and strange creatures, it is a deeply personal, emotionally loaded experience that forces each of them to confront their fears, losses, and regrets before they can make it back to the real world.

Maura Mannle and Andrea Geones in A Trip Elsewhere (2024)

The pandemic serves as more than a backdrop here. It acts as a pressure cooker that reveals the cracks in each character’s life. There’s Sorina (played by Andrea Geones), a single mother grappling with the recent death of both her parents while trying to raise her baby on her own. She’s clearly burnt out and overwhelmed, though trying hard not to let it show. Her friend Amy (played by Maura Mannle) is equally drowning in a never-ending pile of work, drained by this new world of Zoom meetings she finds completely meaningless. While cleaning out her place, Amy stumbles upon a forgotten stash of LSD she once planned to take with her partner. She invites Sorina over to trip with her as a form of escape or maybe even healing.

On her way to Amy’s, Sorina runs into Lenny (played by Hayes Dunlap), an old high school boyfriend who is now quite a successful filmmaker. But now, thanks to Hollywood’s shutdown and the pressures of mounting debts, he is doing food delivery gigs. He’s actually making a delivery to Amy’s neighbour, Dale (played by J.R. Sawyers himself), a weary paramedic who’s just about done with life and everyone else in it.

Somehow, Amy manages to rope them all in. Maybe out of curiosity. Maybe out of sheer exhaustion. Dale, it turns out, has experience with psychedelics and helps divide the dose. They expect a mild escape, maybe a few laughs. But things get far more intense as they all end up having a shared trippy high into the deepest corners of their subconscious.

Hayes Dunlap in A Trip Elsewhere (2024)

In this dream space, each of them is forced to relive their most painful memories and traumas. Sorina finds herself face to face with her recently deceased parents. Amy meets her ex and is forced to confront unresolved emotional knots. Lenny discovers he is actually dead in the dream which feels like the most existential arc among the group. And Dale spends the trip chasing after the ghost of his deceased wife.

Interestingly the film had me wondering what my psychedelic trip would entail or reveal about myself to me. I’ve never taken psychedelics and probably never will, but there’s a lingering curiosity now. That says something about the film’s emotional impact. It sticks with you and has you reflecting on your unspoken battles and regrets.

Over the film’s tight 93-minute runtime, we’re pulled through an emotional trip, at times surreal, and deeply human. Each character’s hallucination feels rooted in grief, guilt, fear, and the need for connection. They all think they’re managing, but in this dream world, the truth breaks through. And by facing it, they start rediscovering themselves and their ability to connect with others.

Visually, the film is restrained but effective. It doesn’t overwhelm with visual effects or go full-on kaleidoscopic chaos. Instead, it is mostly carefully constructed effects and a blend of visuals and clever sound design to make the trip feel both immersive and believable. You can almost feel the high. Well not in a literal sense, but you can experience the emotional confusion, the vulnerability as well as the peace and beauty that such a trip might induce.

J.R. Sawyers in A Trip Elsewhere (2024)

J.R. Sawyers gives the film a tone that’s grounded in emotion but still open to fantasy. It’s not overly experimental or abstract. Instead, it’s dreamlike in the best way remaining clear haunting, and reflective. The acting is also key in grounding that tone. Andrea Geones, in particular, is a standout. Her performance as Sorina is filled with layers of vulnerability and strength. Her scenes with her late parents during the trip are among the film’s most moving. You can see how the reality of the loss and the hope that they are alive hits her.

Fortunately, also, the narrative doesn’t stray into comedic waters. It feels serious with very poignant underlying themes that sit with you long after the credits have rolled. It’s about grief, about rediscovering connection, and about the uncomfortable but necessary journey toward healing.

I will score this film a well-deserved 7.5/10. It takes a setting that’s already been overused by many other films and still finds something original, something deeply human and emotionally resonant.

In many ways, this is a film about the importance of human connection. Something we all often take for granted but genuinely need. It sometimes takes a shared experience whether literal or metaphorical, to remind us of that truth.