Flower & Garnet

This film is another nice canadian movie. It doesn't offend or really do anything much at all. It just drifts along nicely. The acting is good and solid. Technically it is sound. It just doesn't take any chances or make any real comment on anything. It is another movie about the human condition (yawn!).

This film is getting a lot of press in Vancouver. This is not only because it is locally made, but also because it is very well executed. I was tempted to dismiss it as just another Canadian slice-of-life film. It is that, but it is a superb example of the genre. The characters grew on me and a lot is communicated from the looks on their faces. This film is worth seeing, even if you're not Canadian.

A beautifully observed film. Elegant, calm, composed and real. I hope this guy gets to make more movies.

The performances in this film are so complete. The young Callum Keith Rennie is quite outstanding as the son of a man unable to connect, unable to reach out and touch his son. Jane McGegor deserves to have a fabulous career and I have no doubt she will find her way to big things. She is a beautiful young actress with real range. I found this movie way after the event, and I hope many other people discover it to. It is well worth it. I have to have ten lines I've said enough No wonder people write so much rubbish on these notice boards I have to make it up to ten line I have tried all ways of getting to the end with flashes lines and stars. I've said enough already but have to keep going so that the bloody computer will take what I thought would be a simple line review.

Ed (Callum Keith Rennie) has trouble dealing with the death of his wife from childbirth and accepting the baby boy Garnet. The older sister Flower becomes his mother figure. Eight years later, Carl (Craig Olejnik) gets 16 year old Flower (Jane McGregor) pregnant. Ed doesn't take the news well and neither does Carl.

It's a quiet little Canadian indie. It's a little too quiet. Ed's emotional detachment permeates the entire movie. It's written and directed by Keith Behrman. It needs a more imaginative cinematic style. It also needs more energy. Callum Keith Rennie is a very good actor. The kid is fine but he's just a kid and not really an actor. Jane McGregor puts in a reasonable performance. There is a compelling family within this quiet little movie. However the movie doesn't have enough energy.

Flower and Garnet, the first feature-length film by B.C. director Keith Behrman, is the powerful story of a broken family that is forced to confront problems that have gone on for too many years. The film shows the effect of a father's unexpressed grief on his eight-year old son, Garnet (Colin Roberts), whose mother died giving him birth. Set in the rural Cache Creek area in British Columbia, Canada, it is a subtle and deeply moving portrait of a family that lives in an emotional no-man's land. The father Ed (Callum Keith Rennie) is uncommunicative with both his family and his ladyfriend Barb (Kristen Thomson). Constantly downing cans of beer, he only relates to the boy with silence, self-hatred, and sudden explosions of violence. He tries to school him in typical macho activities, taking him fishing, driving, and shooting on an improvised pistol range, but is unable to provide any real love or understanding.

The years have turned Garnet into a sullen withdrawn child. Vancouver actor Colin Roberts, who received a Genie nomination for Best Actor for his first acting performance, is so natural as Garnet that you can literally hear his thoughts and feel his feelings above the long, awkward silences. Ed tries to right things by giving Garnet a BB gun for his birthday but he uses it to take out his aggression on animals. When his beautiful 16-year old sister Flower (Jane McGregor) has an affair with local teen Carl (Craig Olejnik) and becomes pregnant, Ed compounds the problem by forcing her out of the house. The loss of his sister plus an anticipated rival for his sister's affections pushes Garnet close to the edge. The final breakthrough is so unsuspected that it comes with a sudden jolt.