Jake Myers, the director of the new comedy-horror movie, Kombucha, visited San Francisco this weekend. He had flown in from Chicago (where the film was shot) to host a screening at the Balboa Theater’s ‘Another Hole in the Head‘ horror-fest.

He sat down with Booch News to discuss his film and explain why he chose to make a horror movie about everyone’s favorite drink. I then attended the screening and formed my own opinion of what some kombucha lovers see as a gross misrepresentation of the beverage.

Let me say now: this is a GREAT MOVIE, and anyone offended by this tongue-in-cheek satirical portrayal of kombucha should lighten up. After all, the dairy industry wasn’t offended when Wallace and Gromit picnicked on a moon made of cheese. No one took that seriously.

Likewise, the movie portrays kombucha in an extreme, but humorous, manner, maybe not quite as unbelievably as a cartoon character and his dog slicing off a bit of cheese on the moon, but not that different in terms of kombucha in reality compared to its role as a plot device in this fantasy.

The film has been described in reviews re-posted to Booch News in October, so check there if you want the details. Briefly, kombucha alters the behavior of hapless office workers forced to drink it with cult-like intensity by a corporation that wrings every ounce of energy, and eventually the life, out of their employees. Office screen savers read “Serve the job and the job serves you.” There’s no work-life balance. Sexually predatory female managers seduce their direct reports (“I want to have your baby! Give me your sperm!”). Cringe-worthy platitudes (“I’ll circle back to you on that”) are spouted in clinically spotless meeting rooms. This environment will be familiar to anyone who has worked in tech. It’s the world described by Dave Eggers in his 2013 novel, The Circle.

Those of us familiar with kombucha will spot the ways in which the ‘booch onscreen is not true to life.

• While many tech companies provide their employees with free kombucha, most do so on tap, rather than stocking refrigerators with dozens of bottles. To be fair, this is apparently how GT Dave’s personal refrigerator is stocked.
• Anyone who brews kombucha knows that if the ferment is not covered with a cloth you’ll get an infestation of fruit flies. Not so in the lobby of Simbio Corporation.
• Likewise, real SCOBYs look nothing like the opaque, backlit, yellow glass in the company lobby. The irony is, they often look more repulsive than the one in the film. Was the reality just too gross for a horror movie?
• Portraying kombucha as a tool of control and conformity, where people are forced to drink it, suffer unspeakable side-effects and withdrawal symptoms worthy of crack, OxyContin, or heroin, is a distortion of the free-wheeling, slightly ‘woke’ reputation most ‘booch lovers embody.

There are, however, a number of places in the movie where the director totally nails the appeal of kombucha.

• The initial reluctance of an overweight coffee addict to even consider drinking it, and their surprise when they discover how pleasant it actually tastes. Their obvious pleasure in the first sip.
• The subsequent purification as bodily toxins are eliminated, although not usually in as colorful a manner as shown in the toilet bowl in the movie.
• The slightly addictive nature of ‘booch. Most of us who enjoy kombucha have occasional jonesing for another bottle. But not to the extent of having withdrawal symptoms that need us to be tied to a bed.
• A certain cult-like tendency among some true-believers (we know who we are!) who love a drink that is a minority interest and is still an object of disdain for some.

I’m no fan of horror movies. Indeed, I was uncomfortable with one of the short films shown before Kombucha. It was a ‘slasher’ flick, and I had to look away when the ax split open the girl’s head. The Kombucha movie is nothing like that. There is some of what fans apparently refer to as ‘body horror’ – bacteria and yeast infestations in previously healthy people. Lesser versions of the infected zombies in The Last of Us.

The main message is the dystopian exaggeration of the Silicon Valley office start-up culture where the office is a ‘family,’ and you are encouraged to burn the midnight oil to deliver the PowerPoint presentation next day. Think McKinsey consultants on steroids, or designer ‘booch. (Incidentally, and an absolute coincidence, are the parallels between the use of ‘personally customized’ kombucha in the film and a possible future described in Episode 2 of my ‘Fermented Future’ Sci-Fi series. Great minds, eh, Jake?)

The film chose the brand name “Mother’s Secret” for the company brand of kombucha, which makes absolute sense given the ‘secret’ revealed at the end of the film. However, any brands with ‘Mother’ in their name should expect to become famous by association. Here’s looking at you:

• Mother Kombucha, Saint Petersburg, FL
• Mother Kombucha, Berlin, Germany
• Mother Love Kombucha, Kelowna, BC, Canada
• Mother Lode Kombucha, Cincinnati, OH
• Mothership Hard Kombucha, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
• Back to the Mother, Missoula, MT
• Strong Mother Kombucha, Queensland, Australia

Jake is planning a sequel focused on kombucha’s potential to be misused as a ‘woo-woo alternative health cure all’. Filming starts next summer.

Kombucha the movie won’t be shown in theaters. The SF screening was the final time on the big screen. However, it’s now available for rent on Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Google Play, and other on-demand services. It’s also available on Blu-ray and DVD.

I highly recommend this entertaining movie that anyone who loves kombucha will enjoy seeing. Just don’t take it too seriously. Oh, and *don’t* work for a company that sucks the life out of you, whether or not they provide free kombucha.

Listen to the podcast to hear my exclusive one-on-one interview with director Jake Myers and a sample of the discussion following the screening at the Balboa.

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