Master Gardener
Joel Edgerton plays a horticulturist with a murky past in Paul Schrader’s highly individual crime thriller.
Joel Edgerton
The reviews for Master Gardener have been mixed, but nevertheless Paul Schrader's recent work has restored respect for him as a serious artist following a period when he seemed to have lost the qualities found in his earlier work (that standard had been set by his screenplay for Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and by the success of his own first feature, 1978’s Blue Collar). The works that have brought him back into favour in this way are First Reformed (2017), The Card Counter (2021) and the present piece. They were not planned as a trilogy but many have seen them in that light and Schrader has no objection to that. Certainly, all three are centred on a man whose life has left him in need of redemption and that marks them as Schrader works. While many other directors can point to a filmmaker who inspired them to choose a career in cinema, in all probability only Schrader has been so affected in this way by a single film, that film being Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket of 1959, the greatest of all films dealing with redemption and one so expressed that it illustrates the mysterious workings of God. Schrader himself acknowledges that he keeps on remaking it.
Some critics regard First Reformed as the finest of the three but for me it was a pale shadow of Winter Light (1963), the Ingmar Bergman film which appeared to influence it even more than the work of Bresson. But with both The Card Counter and Master Gardener we have films which, regardless of their imperfections, are memorable and both of which find Schrader at the height of his powers on the technical level. Another shared characteristic is the quality of the acting. If Oscar Isaac was deeply impressive playing the key role in The Card Counter, Joel Edgerton is equally fine here. His role is that of Narvel Roth, whom we encounter when he has become the gardener in charge of the estate of the wealthy, imperious Norma Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver). The third significant figure here is Mrs Haverhill’s great niece, Maya (Quintessa Swindell). Maya is mixed-race and an orphan and because she is family, she is invited to Greenwood Gardens to become an apprentice who will learn from Narvel Roth.
Weaver and Swindell are well cast too, but unusually the way in which Master Gardener has been written makes it a work which is focused less on the narrative for its own sake than on the themes which it invites the viewer to contemplate and ponder. The horticultural element is given special emphasis at the very start as we observe the blossoming of flowers and hear voice overs which make us party to the writings of Narvel in his diary including his observations on plants. This is gardening used as metaphor as we are encouraged to consider the seasons, the growth from seeds, the cultivation and pruning and the notion that good gardening holds out promise for the future. Nature is full of transformations and, as the story progresses, we are asked to consider Narvel Roth in that same light. Partly through brief flashbacks, but also on account of the tattoos eventually revealed on Narvel's body, we realise that he has a horrifying past as a white supremacist and an assassin, albeit one who turned against all that and testified, thus becoming a protected witness (which had been how he was introduced to Mrs Haverhill and been taken on as a gardener). His post with her had led him to realise much to his surprise the intense satisfaction that he got from gardening. Almost a miracle, you could say, yet, as Egerton’s performance brings out so admirably, Narvel remains a man closed in on himself. It is only the bond that slowly develops between him and Maya that could bring meaningful human contact into his life but, although he seeks to help her on discovering that she is in danger from a young drug dealer (Jared Bankens), his past history as evidenced by those tattoos could prevent her from believing that he has changed.
If the miracles of nature seem to support the possibility of actual changes in people, Master Gardener also encourages reflections on history and on what doesn't change. The estate carries echoes of a plantation and Mrs. Haverhill is a contemporary figure whose position gives her power, someone whose outlook when it comes to Maya’s mixed blood is racist and a woman who has lorded it over Narvel even to the extent of a sexual connection akin to a droit de seigneur. Nevertheless, Narvel’s previous lifestyle consciously evokes thoughts of America today and of the Proud Boys. Is this a sign of change being impossible, a bar to Maya being able to accept Narvel as her lover?
Some critics have questioned the way in which Master Gardener adopts the film cliché of having a young woman fall for an older man, but the initial rapport between Narvel and Maya is convincingly handled. Less adroit are an over-stylised night drive featuring flowers and a few heavy-handed intercuts intended to carry symbolical weight. But these are brief moments and the main weakness lies in the writing of the later scenes. The tone set up at the start beginning with that effective gardening metaphor seems to promise a film that will develop into a worthy variation on Pickpocket, but the way in which it plays out falls short of that. The narrative does indeed reach a conclusion but you could feel that it includes some wishful thinking and it's also a bit skimmed and definitely lacks the sense of authority established earlier. Even so, this is a fascinating film and one that could only have been made by Paul Schrader.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, Quintessa Swindell, Esai Morales, Eduardo Losan, Victoria Hill, Jared Bankens, Matt Mercurio, Rick Cosnett, Amy Le, Erika Ashley, Timothy McKinney, Cade Burk.
Dir Paul Schrader, Pro David Gonzales, Amanda Crittenden and Scott La Staiti, Screenplay Paul Schrader, Ph Alexander Dynan, Pro Des Ashley Fenton, Ed Benjamin Rodriguez Jr., Music Devonté Hynes, Costumes Wendy Talley.
Curmudgeon Films/Kojo Studios/Ottocento Films-Vertigo Releasing.
110 mins. USA. 2022. US Rel: 19 May 2023. UK Rel: 26 May 2023. Cert. 15.
