Master Gardener

To be honest, I’m not particularly familiar with Paul Schrader’s work overall, as either a director or a writer. Taxi Driver and Raging Bull are blind spots, and I only came across films like Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters recently. What I have seen is First Reformed, which I loved, and The Card Counter, which I did not. Despite my split opinion on his works, I still find him a fascinating filmmaker. The Card Counter took an intriguing approach to a topic not often broached in modern movies, was unflinching in its flashback scenes, and used an incredibly distinct and bold style for them. Which is to say I find myself wanting to see more of his stuff.

So when I saw the trailer for Master Gardener, which quickly revealed itself to be another tale of attempted redemption, I was intrigued. I also raised my eyebrows: a white director who recently criticized the Oscars for “diversifying membership” and “the scramble to be woke” is telling the story of someone with SS and swastika tattoos, and the love interest is a young woman of color? That’s…something.

Master Gardener concerns Narvel Roth (Joel Edgarton), the head gardener at Gracewood, as he oversees his team preparing the grounds for a big upcoming competition and auction. Gracewood’s owner Norma (Sigourney Weaver) informs him that he is to take on her niece Maya (Quintessa Swindell) as an apprentice, to help keep her out of trouble. He clearly sees himself in some of her struggles, and so they take to each other fairly quickly, leading to a foreseeable escalation with similarly unexpected consequences.

(Quick note: Quintessa Swindell is nonbinary, but is playing a woman in this movie. So when referring to Maya, I’ll be using female pronouns, and they pronouns for Swindell, as seems to be their preference.)

This was always going to be a controversial story. Because it is a tale of redeeming a white nationalist, one who was active in some unnamed militia. One can fairly ask if that’s a responsible story to be telling in America in 2023, but my opinion (as a white man, to be clear) is that part of the function of art is to deal with upsetting topics, and to play out what that would look like. It can refuse to look away from someone’s humanity, even as they have denied it to others. It can make us incredibly uncomfortable. And that doesn’t mean it’s going to be good, or that you have to like it. Far from it! But I don’t see such as story as inherently impossible. I don’t know where “the culture” has landed on American History X, but I know that I still revere it as a fantastic (if oversimplified) study in how a person builds such an intense and disgusting hatred and violence towards other human beings, and the types of things which can begin to break that down. Which is to say a redemption story can land for any type of character; what matters is how you tell it.

Which is where this movie falls on its face.

Master Gardener does a great job with its storytelling and characters and such in the abstract. I was in for the first half or so. The characters are subtle and complex. They’re not particularly recognizable tropes, instead building that depth through the script and through each line and the costuming. For example, when Maya first arrives at Gracewood, she’s dressed in a very loud tydie shirt and shorts, which clashes with the muted colors favored by Narvel and Norma, and the uniform worn by the other employees. She’s not of this world, and it will take effort to bring her in.

The relationship between her and Narvel starts out kinda…odd. There’s just some strange tension there. It’s a little bit contentious, a little bit a parent dealing with a child who’s not super interested in being there. But as she learns gardening, it starts to soften. Maybe in part because he’s paying her special attention at Norma’s request (and his own reasons), but really seems to click when he offers to take care of some people out in the world who have been harassing her. Not that we see much of that. Truth is, we don’t get a lot of them interacting on a personal level until later in the story, probably around the midpoint. Until then, it’s primarily in a gardening context, which makes it harder for us to really feel their connection. It comes across as them getting close because the script calls for it. And around that midpoint, Narvel’s role in the relationship circles back to more harshly parental, and it’s unclear why Maya doesn’t take off. Maybe viewing him as protector, but I think we’re supposed to believe it has to do with the romantic aspect, which we never really see build, making her decision (and many for the rest of the film) frustrating.

Really, a lot of it ties into him seeing her as a project, as someone to mold and care for and nurture. As I mentioned, her introductory outfit is bright and colorful. Ya know, like a flower. I think this is the thing, which kicks into even higher gear after that midpoint: he’s trying to shape her into what he wants her to be, not giving her space to be her own person. And I’m not sure how cognizant the movie is of that. Maybe it is, and it just doesn’t think that’s a bad thing? Which says a lot about the filmmakers.

Of course, she eventually sees his tattoos, and sputters a bit in impotent rage about how he should be ashamed of them. It comes off like a strawman, especially as Narvel stays calm and collected. Which is emphasized as he basically refuses to engage with her about it, just saying that man is dead, and he decided it wasn’t worth it to cover up the tattoos. And then, a scene later, she completely forgives him, and then some. It’s a moment that is completely unearned and unmotivated and misguided. And that was the moment when my hopes for the plot fell away.

Which is too bad, because there’s so much good here. Even a number of scenes and events after that moment. But it’s all tainted by its attempted message.

This is a wonderfully well made film. I adored the slow, deliberate pacing. The writing is genuinely quite good, especially when it pertains to the characters. The score is excellent, and used sparingly. Narvel’s diary narration in VO really worked for me, as did Edgerton’s flat affect throughout. Sigourney Weaver is killing it as the intense and subtly aggressive owner of the garden. Quintessa Swindell is the real standout, though. They’re captivating, and incredible at performing the subtle shifts in demeanor and facial expressions to indicate what’s going on in their character’s head. It looks like they’re just getting started in film acting, and I really hope others take notice of the work they’re doing here.

Another observation, which I’m not sure where to put: is it just me, or did the garden feel like a Plantation? The main house came across like a Southern Big House, there were a bunch of smaller quarters for the workers, most of those doing the actual work were people of color, and going to the main house was seen as a status symbol. This is something I picked up on early, which made me think Schrader had something less regressive to say. But alas.

So overall, it’s fine. Schrader is still a master craftsman, even if his story doesn’t match.