Jardim dos Desejos

"Narvel" (Joel Edgerton) is the head gardener on the estate of the wealthy, slightly eccentric, "Norma" (Sigourney Weaver) with both being enormously proud of their horticultural expertise and creations. One afternoon, she entertains him to tea and explains that her great-neice "Maya" (Quintessa Swindell) will be joining his team as an apprentice. The women have never met, nor does "Norma" know much about her - but he agrees and she duly arrives. Initially, we think she's a typically recalcitrant teenager with ripped jeans and permanently glued to her earphones. It becomes quite clear, though, that she is interested and the two begin to bond. There are some extra-curricular elements to the plot that gradually draw the story away from the simplicity and precision of the gardening theme and immerse us in the hatred of white supremacy and the violence of drug dealing and the film becomes more predictable. The first twenty minutes or so have an intriguing intensity to them but as the story develops, the (romantic) melodrama creeps in and the story starts to lose it's originality. By the last half hour I found the whole thing had become really quite mediocre and Edgerton, who starts off as something of an enigma ends up rather banal. That said, his performance is quite effective, menacing even, at times and Swindell is competent enough - it's just all a bit seen it before. Worth a watch, but it could have delivered better.

The concept of Master Gardener wasn't new at all, "a man with a troubled past tries to restart his life and so on". I still wanted to give it a try, since the cast and the director ensured some potential.

After the credits hit there was only one question left, what was it all about? There wasn't even that much dramatic stuff happening in the film, to be hoest, and since the characters are barely transofrmed by the situations they find themselves in - there was no noticeable arcs or transformations. In the end everything stayed almost exaclty the same, including the characters.

It felt like just a recollection of a couple of weeks from these peoples lives, including long, stretched scenes of driving around, eating, narrating diaries and so on. Almost like a basic pointless re-enacted documentary.

Scenes just dragged and dragged, slowing it down as much as possible. So when it felt like the movie is going to end, I wasn't sure what story is left to wrap up, since nothing really happened. The main character changed slightly in terms of coping with his past, but didn't really change that much.

Besides some basic people-flower metaphors, there was nothing of interest in this film, so in the end, indeed, this was a waste of my time.

I had just watched 'You Hurt My Feelings' before this one, a very poor effort at trying to make some emotions for its story, but then I stumbled upon this movie accidentally. Wow. What a difference it makes. Not only had it top-class acting in every department, but also a story so well told, I was constantly wondering where it was going. Will it be bloody as hell (what I expected), or something completely different? Real emotions ran deep in this movie, never over-explained any of them at all. The direction is spot-on, obviously, as so the score and editing. It has been simply the best effort about human emotions since I saw 'Fathers and Daughters' back in 2015.

I didn't expect much and sat for a typical plot for a typical genre. The movie started slow but went to a climax quicker than I though. The core of the film impressed me the most when you realised the garden is a symbol of life and your choice in life will nourish what comes of it. It's not too late for anythingand there's always achance to have a garden full of colours and energy.

I guess we all had to make choices in life and there and that's why there is something for everyone in this movie.

You're in it for a treat. Good writing and a better cast is something that you don't see these days.

Sometimes, it seems, a gardener is not a simple man who just takes care flowers and herbs. Sometimes he takes form of Joel Edgerton and with an enigmatic and stoic look he riddles his audience a riddle regarding his true identity.

Narvel Roth is a well talented gardener, who works for a snob, rich and unpleasant land owner. It is not known what secret identity he has, but over the surface their relationship doesn't tell what else is there except very rich woman and her beloved employee, which prepares her garden for a flowers auction sale.

Once her grandniece enters their lives things rapidly change and the outer coating of Narvel starts to dry out and masks start to crack and fall down.

It is a classic enigmatic tale from Paul Schrader's line of creations. Though the movie is almost two hours of well-crafted tale and script, the movie maintains its relationship with the viewer and connects easily to the main characters.

It is sometimes weary but almost at all times this slow burner manages to compensate its audience and keep them involved with plot changing, while revealing small details, that will keep the tension and the viewer intriguing, regarding the following steps of the movie.

It is a movie for small festivals audiences, but it is well written, directed, shot and well performed by the main characters and another interesting creation from Schrader.