What is consciousness? Is it in all living beings? How is it that “feelings” and “emotions” are produced from just 3 pounds of grey goop (AKA brain matter)? These questions and more are posed in the fascinating documentary Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness, a scientifically and spiritually dense film that gives its audience much to consider throughout the course of its 100-minute runtime.

Investigates life’s “big questions”

Constructed in a fairly standard doc structure, grounded by formal sit-down interviews, Aware follows six researchers who have devoted their lives to various aspects of answering life’s “Big Questions.” Scientists, environmentalists, spiritual leaders, and psilocybin advocates all provide their unique takes on why they believe consciousness is the essence of life, and the unspoken miracle it is that we’re even aware of our own consciousness in the first place.

A wealth of cerebral concepts

For those who like rhetorical questions, Aware is a goldmine of head-scratchers and cerebral concepts. How are we aware that we’re aware? If, at a micro level, all brains are similar, then who’s to say that dogs don’t have consciousness too? There are moments when we get pretty deep into the weeds (and literally, mushrooms) of interconnectedness, especially when talking about plant communication and its potential sentient nature. But directors Eric Black and Frauke Sandig keep the high brow concepts easily digestible for the average viewer.

Sure, thinking about these concepts all at once can probably provoke a mini existential crisis (so have some CBD on hand for the comedown). For those who are interested in this subject matter though, the new documentary Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness will leave you feeling like you’ve unlocked a cheat code for a new level of otherworldly understanding.

Distributed by Area 23A, ‘Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness’ is now playing at the Laemmle Monica Film Center.