4.5/10 🌠🌠🌠🌠🌌
This B&W independent film has a few key moments but they appear very lackluster due to the absence of any visual special effects and I mean any. No gun shots with exploding dye packs, No computer generated nuclear explosions, No car crashes or heavily choreographed fight scenes, They don't even go as far as someone being physically hit at all. They cut camera or it pans out to something far less interesting and once the altercations complete we get a gander of the aftermath. Outside of a muffled radio correspondence which makes no sense because it's being carried out by using a gigantic oldschool radio that's doubling as a walkie talkie. There's also a few scenes with billowing clouds of smoke in the background but that pretty much sums up the post production Sfx. My schedule was clear so I had an hour and half to burn but otherwise I wouldn't of made it through the entirety of this film. The acting is OK and the storyline of an apocalyptic era has been overly saturated to put it nicely but this scenario is still very interesting and appealing to our imagination when pondering on what if's. Ultimately I wouldn't recommend this feature but their still may be a small fraction of indie movie lovers who would enjoy "Black Garden"
17 Reviews
1.5 hours to I'll never get back
realteamsandi15 November 2020
Slow, boring, heavy handed and dull
johnkenerson13 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I tried to get into this movie but it moved at a snails pace, it's uninteresting and just rehashes tired old tropes...
Even manages to throw in another veiled dig at Trump, "he promised us he was gonna build a wall a d we got this (nuclear Holocaust)... we get it, no one in the entertainment business likes Trump.
Don't waste your time with this snooze fest. Getting a root canal is more entertaining and far more gratifying.
Even manages to throw in another veiled dig at Trump, "he promised us he was gonna build a wall a d we got this (nuclear Holocaust)... we get it, no one in the entertainment business likes Trump.
Don't waste your time with this snooze fest. Getting a root canal is more entertaining and far more gratifying.
Don't waste your time.
eman06776 January 2021
This is like many other bad movies, it has potential to be a good movie, but at no time do they seem to care about character or plot development.
It seems as if someone with a go pro just walked up to a complete stranger in a bar and asked them to write a movie, did everything in one take, and somehow got it in the system.
Furthermore, like many bad b movies, whoever did write it clearly had no ideas on how to end it. Nothing is worse than comming to the end of the movie and wonder what the heck was the writer thinking.
Unfortunately, If you think the movie might make a point or have a coherent end, or be cathartic in any way, you will be extremely disappointed.
Do yourself a HUGE favor and don't waste your time with this one.
It seems as if someone with a go pro just walked up to a complete stranger in a bar and asked them to write a movie, did everything in one take, and somehow got it in the system.
Furthermore, like many bad b movies, whoever did write it clearly had no ideas on how to end it. Nothing is worse than comming to the end of the movie and wonder what the heck was the writer thinking.
Unfortunately, If you think the movie might make a point or have a coherent end, or be cathartic in any way, you will be extremely disappointed.
Do yourself a HUGE favor and don't waste your time with this one.
Sucks so bad
pandagq14 January 2021
Let me just say that I hate everyone that rated this movie higher than a 2. I like apocalypse movies and indie movies. This is more like a Cinema major's finals project. Reading the reviews I thought people gave it low ratings because they were Trump supporters but that's not it. The movie is just really bad. My favorite part is the man with no hair on his hair saying to the woman "how do you have hair after being out there?" Dude do you not see your face. You have a full beard. You should have shaved your face a little to make the scene more realistic but then I guess it would be hard to direct this trash as well.
Please stop
jhr20127 March 2021
The juice is worth the squeeze
spikestrat6 November 2020
This is not your common apocalypse shlock fest, but an art house film that makes itself more accessible to a wider audience with it's dreary atmosphere. Normally dreary would be a bad thing, but, in this case, that is what we came for. The hopelessness and despair just rolls off the screen like a fog, enveloping the viewer and putting them deep in the story. The director made a brilliant move filming in B/W, it adds to the oppressive feel that the subject matter demands, other creators in this genre should take note. Gamers will know what i'm talking about by comparing the bright, blue, sunny skies of Fallout 4 with the constant overcast, gloomy, greenish hued Fallout 3. You feel like you are seeing a realistic aftermath of a disastrous war.( without a single scene of gratuitous destruction to boot). Make no mistake, this is not a film where you can put your brain in neutral and coast through it, it makes you work, you have to actively watch it.
The lead character Kate is wonderfully portrayed, she easily wins you over.
The villain is used sparingly, we only gain brief glimpses of him and that sets the perfect tone.
Now for the not so good, We don't need to see an actor taking a dump and wiping, stop this immediately. If it doesn't serve the story, it's just cringe.
The movie starts with several characters and they are swiftly disappeared with almost undo haste, in a film as long as this one, these characters could have been developed more and their fates more clearly portrayed.
Is this for everyone? no. If you are the type who feels most "end of the world" movies give short shrift to the more human aspects in favor of leather clad goons shooting everything up, like the title says, the juice is worth the squeeze.
A solid art film thats a good fit for indie watchers
alexadriansmith14 April 2020
Glad that I saw this movie but its a hard watch. It's bleak and slow but that's exactly what would happen after a nuclear war when no one is left. It reminded me a bit of On the Beach but less kitsch. Performances were good and cinematography was superb. Don't recommend this to anyone who wants an action movie. Its more film festival indie art film rather than a movie if that says anything. If that's what you want out of 90 mins then you'll rate it high but if you want a film that's pure veg out entertainment, don't watch it. I'd like to see it again because its been on my mind after I saw it the first time.
An important film
kimcollmer12 April 2020
Not everyone will get the weight of this film, but it has that rare ability to stick with you, to shape your perception of your "reality" and leaves you feeling that you're already living in a post-apocalyptic state (especially in these strange times). Yes, it's low budget, but does not suffer because of this. The lonely figure with her radio wandering lost through empty spaces will always haunt with you. An underground success worthy of your time.
On the Beach Again
fionaroberts-3576815 April 2020
Black Garden is a great movie to watch in a Covid-19 lock-down when all you have late at night is a bottle of vodka and a sense that we're actually at the start of the end in the real world. I love dark movies, and being a big fan of Dogs in Space, this had the same thread. Its certainly the slowest movie I've ever seen but that worked for me because of the subject matter and the music and sound effects create a dull constant nagging to remind me and maybe others too that this could happen at any second. I love the acting from the lead Kate and the older guy made me really hate him. I guess that what a good performance is in movies. Getting to the end was like a psychological endurance test and the last shot gutted me. Its super depressing but I guess that's the point of the movie? Don't watch this film without understanding what its going to do to you afterwards when you start to think about movies as a beacon of what its talking about is a little too real in reality. It's like On the Beach with a baseball bat to the head from slowness and the understanding we're in this situation now.
Slow Burn Thought Provoker
a-5502114 April 2020
This is a real anti-establishment film, gutsy, fatalistic, and properly indie. It has everything and nothing to do with politics, in life, and film, and yet, because it could very well happen to you, the everyday becomes sinister, the mundane even threatening. If the horror is in not seeing, and not knowing, the story that we all know how it ends anyway, then the bits in between are where it tries to survive, almost like the story itself is dying.
It really makes you conscious of the whole experience of watching a film, when all you have are these moments to yourself where nothing is happening, and you can feel that nothing is something, that nothing means something, in a helpless kind of way. There is a slowness here which is deliberate, and articulate, and that forces you to be uncomfortable with being uncomfortable.
The execution of the film is just that. It drags you along, it traps you inside, and then it takes its time. In this sense, time is doubled, dilated, makes my feet ache with an acute boredom that is also nothing short of privilege in comparison to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl, Fukushima. The need to remember these things.
It really makes you conscious of the whole experience of watching a film, when all you have are these moments to yourself where nothing is happening, and you can feel that nothing is something, that nothing means something, in a helpless kind of way. There is a slowness here which is deliberate, and articulate, and that forces you to be uncomfortable with being uncomfortable.
The execution of the film is just that. It drags you along, it traps you inside, and then it takes its time. In this sense, time is doubled, dilated, makes my feet ache with an acute boredom that is also nothing short of privilege in comparison to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl, Fukushima. The need to remember these things.
Very timely for 2020
corina-4694916 April 2020
Good watch, sound design needs work
emmamargaret-484723 October 2020
Overall, really liked the cinematography, thought it really captured the dark and dystopian themes of the concept. Lead actor brought a lot of feeling and depth to the story.
The concept itself is quite haunting, and I think Shaun Wilson did an exceptional job within the spheres of plot and character development.
The only thing that urked me was that the sound design and music did not mirror the feeling of isolation, anxiety and desperation that the characters were feeling throughout the film. Little things like not capturing the room tone, footsteps, etc. Those are the little things that would have put me on the edge of my seat, and made me feel the suspense that the scenes were attempting to convey.
A bleak masterpiece
karencave-627631 March 2021
Good horrors ask difficult questions. This one asks: is it better to be completely alone, or not quite alone but unsafe? I loved this, in terms of its a horror and it's supposed to make you uneasy.
The acting was very natural, and I really felt empathy and discomfort for the main character, in a lonely world gone mad. Everything added to this : unsettling music, the muted feel to it all. The horror of not knowing what she would experience next. I thought it was beautifully shot and very haunting. Certainly not a date movie!
Dogma cinema revival
johnreifter14 April 2020
I must say that I was in the audience at the North Bellarine Film Festival in November last year and had the pleasure of watching the premiere of Black Garden. Its worth pointing out at this stage that the movie is dogma although not related to Dogma 95, but its an art film nonetheless and if you're not into that kind of genre then its not something you should watch to expect a cookie cutter VFX bonanza Hollywood film, which it is definitely not. But if cinema studies and especially fine arts films are your cup of tea, then you absolutely must see this movie simply because its one of the best dogma films that Ive watched in a very long time. I love a bit of Lars T in my watching habituals and this one is no exception although I'd say that a Bela Tarr movie and Black Garden would sit well against each other. Its a film that is a must watch if you like a Tarr movie, and a conversation starter in the current political climate. Its a bleak and miserable film but I found it very well done and rather meaningful in the way it deals with nothingness as a point of Nietzschean crisis. Admirably, I watched it straight after seeing A Clockwork Orange so maybe it set the scene for me a bit more than say something else less enduring. This film makes you think about betrayal in a whole new light but so refreshing to see such a slow film achieve a lot in what it gives you from an intellectual basis.
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