Slime mold may be the oddest documentary topic ever, but happily, the stuff isn’t nearly as disgusting as its name. As filmed under a microscope by Tim Grabham and Jasper Sharp, slime mold turns out to be rather beautiful.

It’s also interesting. Slime mold can shift at a rate of about one-twentieth of an inch per hour, hibernate, and while it has no brain, it can figure out where the food is. That is underlined in a scene where slightly drunk science-museum patrons are roped together and encouraged to cooperate like slime mold.

The film slows to a crawl when the topic turns to computer science. The deadpan humor carries it, though, as with the German composer who records the mold’s vibrations and says, “Slime mold is very happy. This is happy melody.”