Venice 2022: Joel Edgerton is a master gardener in 'Master Gardener'

I fully admit that before watching this I thought to myself "this can't really be a gardener movie, so I wonder what it's actually about?" Alas, I was wrong, and it is indeed a film about a gardener. Ha! Much like Paul Schrader's latest film, The Card Counter, is indeed about a card counter/player. Master Gardener tells the story of a gardener, played by Joel Edgerton, but as with all Schrader films, the story goes to intriguing places and he is not just a gardener. There's a lot more to it and we all find out as we watch the story unfold. That said, most of this film is beautiful because it involves Edgerton's character, Narvel Roth, gushing around his dairy about the flowers and tending to the gardens. I learned a lot about flowers, soil, horticulture, food plants and garden culture by watching this film. And even if the rest isn't great, at least I really enjoyed all the talk about flowers and gardens.

Master Gardener is the latest from American writer/director Paul Schrader, who also premiered a film in Venice last year. The story introduces us to a peculiar man known as Narvel Roth (referred to as "Sweet Pea" by the owner), who is unlike any gardener you would expect because he has a troubled past, but he certainly knows what he is doing. he does and stays focused on caring for the plants. The owner of the gardens enjoys working with him and asks him to look after and help train a young woman who needs a change in her life - Maya played by Quintessa Swindell. Once they start working together and he grows closer while helping her, his past finally catches up with him and that's when this movie's darkest underbelly is revealed. Overall, while similar in many ways, I found Master Gardener to be a much more engaging and fulfilling film than The Card Counter. Maybe because I love flowers and gardens, and maybe because Joel Edgerton seriously impressed me. The movies are so similar that it's likely everyone will prefer one over the other.

Schrader's films have become stereotypical copies of themselves, and they still have three specific attributes that represent his pattern of storytelling: 1) they are about redemption and forgiveness, with various characters overcoming the atrocities of their passed through a story that allows viewers to empathize with them and understand their path to redemption. 2) There is always a moment of intimate connection, which changes two of the characters forever. Usually it is a psychic/sexual connection, as it is very powerful. Even when Schrader's attempts at romance are sloppy and awkward, they're important in the second half to keep the story developing. And 3) in the end, there's a big moment where something bad could happen and the bad guys could "have it happen to them", but Schrader never lets that happen and always backs off right before something bad happens not happen. There's also Schrader's shot of a "man writing at a desk in a dark room with a lamp on". It's all good, it just gets a little repetitive to see; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Your mileage will vary depending on the setting and how it is treated in each film.

Let's just say that Schrader's master gardener reuses this model again without offering much new or different. I was constantly amused by the many jokes and witty dialogue throughout, proving that Schrader is a much better writer than director. He is much more attentive to what is on the page and to the words of the script. Its visual language is okay, but it's by no means impressive or memorable. All of his shots of flowers, the garden, and driving are immemorial and have no distinct style or look. It doesn't hinder the storytelling, but it doesn't specifically enhance it either. Some viewers may find themselves more moved by the story than the visuals, while others will find the story boring and without any visuals to give it something extra, the movie won't be that impressive. As for me, even though I didn't like The Card Counter, this one had me hooked and I was smiling most of the time. Sometimes this redemption is deserved and these characters deserve our forgiveness and compassion.

My favorite part of Master Gardener is the performance by Joel Edgerton. He is Al...