Blair Loveday
Master Gardener is one of the weirdest movies I have seen this year.
With the case and name making it seem like it could be some weird slow drama, but the genre being a crime thriller, I was too curious. So I decided to go into it blind and see whatever came my way. It turns out going in blind rewarded me immensely.
The movie kicks off with Narvel, who is played by Joel Edgerton, writing about horticulture in his journal. It turns out he is incredibly meticulous about his craft which makes him perfect to be the lead gardener for Gracewood Gardens. Gracewood Gardens is a massive garden estate owned by the older Mrs. Haverhill who is played by Sigourney Weaver.
Mrs. Haverhill instructs Narvel to take on her grand-niece Maya as an apprentice as she lost the last of her family. We see her come in and try her hardest to succeed and we see some family tension as Mrs. Haverhill has a very formal way of living while Maya comes from a mother that was a druggie.
So far so drama right? Well we quickly discover that Narvel is an ex-white supremacist, and he has a sexual relationship with Mrs. Haverhill. When Mia is assaulted by her drug dealer, Narvel comes and comforts her.
Mia, who is black, makes a move on Narvel, but he rebuffs it as if she takes his shirt of she will see all his Nazi tats. Mrs. Harverhill decides they had sex and sacks both of them. Nice slice of family drama there.
Anyway, they leave, and shit kicks off, in a big way.
I won’t touch the story more than that, but violence does happen. The movie has a weird pacing that starts with a slow plodding drama, increases into a more interesting drama, then goes full crime thriller. It’s absolutely bizarre in the best possible way.
The good thing here is that the weirdness could have struggled, except it is landed by the excellent lead actors. All of them hold their roles well, even as they jump through different tones and moments in their chaotic lives. The whole movie initially being in these beautiful gardens, and later switching the scenes really help add to the tone of any given scene in the movie.
Master Gardener is a very oddly designed movie, in the best possible ways. Some of the scenes are a little too slow, and I was chomping at the bit to know more about how Narvel got to where he was. Though sometimes less is more, and in the movie the slight flashbacks do add to Narvel’s intrigue. It’s not perfect, but it’s well worth checking out if this at all intrigued you.
