John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office

Name: John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office
Duration: 1 h 29 min

1hr 29m

3.4/5 (327)

1hr 29m
3.4/5 (327)

A visionary neuroscientist explores the limits of consciousness through isolation tanks, communication with dolphins, and psychedelic experiments, transforming… More Details »

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Release Date:

Apr 2, 2026

Runtime:

1hr 29m

Synopsis

A visionary neuroscientist explores the limits of consciousness through isolation tanks, communication with dolphins, and psychedelic experiments, transforming himself from researcher to mystical explorer.

Moviegoers are saying

This documentary about psychonaut John Lilly divides audiences between those fascinated by its exploration of LSD experiments, dolphin intelligence research, and 70s counterculture, and those deeply disturbed by its alleged glossing over of animal cruelty and unethical scientific practices. Reviewers consistently praise the film's compelling archival footage and Pynchonesque weirdness while criticizing its one-sided portrayal of a controversial figure who killed dolphins in pursuit of interspecies communication.

Top Mentions

Mind-Bending

Ethically-Disturbing

Psychedelic-Science

Counterculture-Deep-Dive

Animal-Controversy

Archival-Gold

Summary generated from the text of Atom User reviews

Letterboxd User Reviews

3.4

RATINGS 0 FANS

3.4

Apr 27, 2026

The legacy of 70s counterculture is mixed. On the one hand, these new wave types adopted a facade of vague, apolitical humanism to obscure how they were state-funded reactionaries redirecting and neutralizing the era's genuine radicalism while simultaneously setting the…

29 Likes

mdfmdf

Feb 25, 2025

“My body is my laboratory.” This documentary about John Lilly is really great. Lilly vouched for the intelligence of dolphins, but there were problematic things with his research (some are noted in the vegan alerts below). Please note that Lilly’s experimentations with LSD…

34 Likes

Allison M. 🌱

Feb 25, 2025

we got military funded experiments where freeloving hippies gave hand jobs to dolphins before GTA 6 😭

30 Likes

Mike Ordoñez
Apr 30, 2026

The platonic ideal of the kind of film I love to accidentally discover that turns out to be about a crucial Pynchonesque figure who I had previously heard of but had no real knowledge about, delving into MKUltra, incredibly risky LSD experiments, bad Hollywood movies, the…

9 Likes

Paul Duane

Mar 1, 2025

Courtney Stephens, co-director of “John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office” said she thinks that the film has created a nuanced portrait of a controversial figure. According to her, the film equally weighs both sides of the perspective on his work with drugs and…

17 Likes

boo 🧟‍♀️

Mar 2, 2025

turns out with copious amounts of lsd and ketamine you can discover anything

15 Likes

aberdevine
Feb 28, 2025

So long and thanks for all the LSD

15 Likes

Willy Evans

Jul 3, 2025

"If you could have dinner with 5 famous people alive or dead, who would you choose??"... but make it "if you could be reincarnated with 4 other people into the consciousnesses of a sperm whale who would you choose??"

13 Likes

ɱ α ɾ ყ ʝҽαɳ

Apr 13, 2026

Weird science and beautiful dolphins and LSD and Hollywood and a rich overconfident white guy being terrible at the center of it all, a really compelling American portrait.

8 Likes

Alex Kittle