Donald Glover says he and his two siblings saw a “clear man” when they were kids. He states this so plainly that I feel a bit stupid for not knowing what a “clear man” is. “It looked kinda like if a ripple went through something,” explains the actor, calling the Straight from L.A. and struggling to stifle a chuckle. “Like, if it was in the water but the shape of it was like a person.” No, that doesn’t help. “It sounds majorly creepy but it’s true,” he continues. “It looked like a person and it just walked by, and we were like, ‘What was that?’ It was weird. But I think when you’re a kid you’re accepting of a lot of things. You’re like, ‘Okay, Clear Man, just let me ask my parents.’ So it wasn’t a big deal.”

We’re talking about his sole paranormal experience because Glover, the wildly talented performer who gave us Troy in Community before establishing his hip-hop career as Childish Gambino, arrives on the big screen on Friday in The Lazarus Effect, a thriller set somewhere in the liminal space between life and death. Or, if you like, a thriller set in a lab where a bunch of scientists attempt to revive the dead. Because it’s an American film made in the early 21st century, The Lazarus Effect populates its pulpy sci-fi story with characters debating faith over reason. Glover reckons they’re the same thing. “God can be a supercomputer,” he suggests. “There’s nothing wrong with that. To me, that makes perfect sense. Math is magical. Pi goes on forever. I think it is reconcilable in my head.”

The Lazarus Effect announces its currency in other ways, principally by introducing this season’s sexiest psychedelic, DMT, into the brew. As one character explains, science isn’t even remotely sure why the “Spirit Molecule” exists. Neither is Donald Glover, but he’s obviously au fait with some of the theories. “I think it’s either a portal or it’s some sort of way we deal with things,” he offers. “Coming into this world is hard, going out of it’s gotta be hard too. So I’m guessing that it’s gotta be something that helps on some level, whether to ease something or to transfer. It’s gotta be some sort of facilitator.”

In The Lazarus Effect, DMT ends up facilitating something best left unfacilitated, but that’s the movies for you. Back here in real life, it’s to the film’s credit that a low-budget horror flick can keep the gorehounds satisfied and still lead to a thoughtful interview. Seems like Glover’s something of a clear man himself. “I think everyone’s trying to figure out what’s going on,” he muses. “That’s always happening in the world, but we’re living in a time when everyone’s supposed to be so enlightened, we have so much information, but you still have women being stoned. The progress seems to be very painful. I think it’s a debate on: are we supposed to save ourselves or are we waiting for someone? Maybe the magical part is, you know—we got here. That we got to this point. Maybe this quarter will land on tails, but for 13 billion years it didn’t. It’s kind of up to us at this point to do something.” 

Georgia Straight, February 2015