Flower & Garnet

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The years have turned Garnet into a sullen withdrawn child.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.

Flower and Garnet are siblings. Flower is 16, and Garnet us 8 years old, and very different. Their mother died giving birth to Garnet, something their father has never come over. So Garnet has never gotten the love he should from either a mother nor a father. If it hadn't been for the affection from his sister, he had experienced being loved at all. Still he has feelings even towards ants, which he can imagine have feelings too. If no emotionally detached, he is still a quite, strange little kid.

This is a strong, emotional story and beautifully woven drama about a dysfunctional family. Not only is the mother gone, but so is in fact th father. A father which is disconnected from his son, maybe not able to love the son, maybe in some way blaming him for being the reason for the pregnancy death. He is told by his new girlfriend that he is too selfish to love any other. When he finally gets around to give his son a gift on his birthday, not picked out by the sister, he buys Garnet a BB-gun.

The film is realistically told, in a slow manner. Still this doesn't more than add to the situation which is following the thoughts of Garnet. Well played by all, and therefore well instructed by the director, this being the first feature film by Keith Behrmann after a few shorts.

Tension rides high in this film. There's a certain bad feel of what's going to happen here. If that kind of a film. Still this makes out an important nerve of the film. Well worth watching if you're not expecting an action flick.

If you want a little background information on this film, read the other users' comments. I am just going to explain my view on this movie :)

Overall, it has spectacular cinematography. It deals with grippingly real issues. You are able to connect with and understand the characters. The actors are really perfect for their roles - individually and as a family (played by Callum Keith Rennie, Jane McGregor, and Colin Roberts).

All in all, I appreciate that I got to see the film. It is definitely an improvement from mainstream media that is constantly coming out. (Not to say there isn't any good mainstream movies, I'm just saying this in a general sense).

Beware for those of you with short attention spans! (I blame the fast-paced mainstream media, he he). I mean, I am also a little impatient but I didn't find myself squirming even once! It had my full focus and attention. You will feel for the story.

I recommend it for just about anyone (more so those who are in their mid-teens and up).

If you are into the art of film, you will appreciate seeing "Flower & Garnet".

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.

Vancouver writer/director Keith Behrman has a feel for small town life. It's there in every frame of this finely crafted drama about a dysfunctional family living in Cache Creek, in the British Columbia interior. That's right, dysfunctional, it's a five dollar word meaning these folks have a lot of problems. The father, Ed (Callum Keith Rennie) has been having an empty affair with a local woman (Kristin Thomsen) who deserves better. The man has kept his emotions in cold storage since his wife died eight years ago while giving birth to Garnet (Colin Roberts). Deep down inside he blames his son for the tragedy. That's a heavy burden for a kid to bear and it shows in his sad eyes. Garnet may not talk much but he's thinking all the time. He's especially curious about nature, the whole cycle of birth and death going on around him. (Reminds me of young Brian in W.O. Mitchell's classic Canadian novel "Who Has Seen the Wind") Garnet's sister, Flower (Jane McGregor), who is eight years older, has been like a mom to him. Now, after a fling with an irresponsible local Romeo, she's about to have a child of her own. Naturally, Ed flips out, afraid history is gonna repeat itself. There's a bitter argument. Flower moves out. Left to his own devices Garnet begins to "act out" in increasingly creepy ways. I could picture this kid showing up at school with a rifle in a few years. The movie shows the circumstances that can lead up to it. I'm not saying he will. In fact, the people in this film rarely do what you expect them to do. The movie takes its time about revealing its mysteries. The clues come in looks and gestures, bits of dialogue, an accumulation of seemingly unremarkable details. (This movie is not for short attention spans.) It's like being in a strange town. It takes awhile to get the lay of the land and meet the neighbours. Behrman proves to be an astute observer of human behaviour and he has pulled some wonderfully restrained performances from his cast. This may be Rennie's best work to date. And that's saying a lot. If you've seen Hard Core Logo or Suspicious River you already know his range. Roberts is a real find and based on her work here McGregor should really stop wasting her talent in piffle like 2002's Slap Her … She's French.

Behrman makes good use of landscape to define character and sustain mood. The remoteness of the rural BC locations echoes the emotional isolation of the central characters. Growing up in the small Saskatchewan farming community of Shaunavon has obviously given him a special appreciation for the stark visual poetry in those wide open spaces. Judging from his feature film debut the sky is the limit.