I want to constantly view this film!
Marcus Borncaller
According to Wikipedia, “Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.” I suggest we get rid of that tripe and replace it with the words The Constant Gardner. THAT IS FILM. This masterpiece needs little introduction after grossing $230 million worldwide with legendary film maker Roger Christian at the helm.
The film opens set in the 1940’s in rural Alabama. We are immediately introduced to a dying Tessa Quayle, (Gwenth Paltrow) in the arms of her loving yet flawed husband Justin Quayle (Russell Crowe). More on him later. With no explanation, Tessa is dead and Justin is forced to raise his 4 young boys on his own. To make matters worse, Justin has lost his job as assistant to the Alabama postmaster general due to the Great Mail Shortage of 1944. The cause of this great shortage has still remained a mystery to this day. But that is neither here nor there.
Anyway, in brilliant Roger Christian fashion, Justin stumbles upon his great grandfather’s book of gardening in the attic while moving Tessa’s personal belongings up there due to the fact that the sight of these things causes much too much “Russell Crowe” emotion (As I love to refer to it). Without giving too much away about this scene, if you don’t run out of Kleenex here, you are not human.
Moving right along, Justin decides to take up gardening to make a living for his family. This is followed by 3 or so heartrending yet restrained montages regarding his advancement in his new found career. All set to a soundtrack by Randy Newman with masterpieces including ‘Am I right?’, ‘Short people got no reason to live’ and ‘Little Criminals’. I was so moved, I sat in my chair frozen like I just had a blind date with Medusa.
Marcus Borncaller
According to Wikipedia, “Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.” I suggest we get rid of that tripe and replace it with the words The Constant Gardner. THAT IS FILM. This masterpiece needs little introduction after grossing $230 million worldwide with legendary film maker Roger Christian at the helm.
The film opens set in the 1940’s in rural Alabama. We are immediately introduced to a dying Tessa Quayle, (Gwenth Paltrow) in the arms of her loving yet flawed husband Justin Quayle (Russell Crowe). More on him later. With no explanation, Tessa is dead and Justin is forced to raise his 4 young boys on his own. To make matters worse, Justin has lost his job as assistant to the Alabama postmaster general due to the Great Mail Shortage of 1944. The cause of this great shortage has still remained a mystery to this day. But that is neither here nor there.
Anyway, in brilliant Roger Christian fashion, Justin stumbles upon his great grandfather’s book of gardening in the attic while moving Tessa’s personal belongings up there due to the fact that the sight of these things causes much too much “Russell Crowe” emotion (As I love to refer to it). Without giving too much away about this scene, if you don’t run out of Kleenex here, you are not human.
Moving right along, Justin decides to take up gardening to make a living for his family. This is followed by 3 or so heartrending yet restrained montages regarding his advancement in his new found career. All set to a soundtrack by Randy Newman with masterpieces including ‘Am I right?’, ‘Short people got no reason to live’ and ‘Little Criminals’. I was so moved, I sat in my chair frozen like I just had a blind date with Medusa.
Like any brilliant story, fortune and success soon turned to disaster and remorse. Justin became so obsessed with his craft he soon began to lose sight of why he set out to do this in the first place. His boys were growing more and more distant, getting into all sorts of trouble with the law and a paranoid obsessive compulsive schizophrenic Crowe was forever corrupted by the evils of gardening. I won’t ruin the ending, but it makes the Superman ride at Six Flags Great Adventure look like a merry-go-round.
Everything about the production is top notch from the lighting to the camera work. At one point in one of the montages, Justin looks up in the sky while gardening and sees his deceased wife in the clouds. Beautiful or just plain genius? We may never know.
I just can not say enough about this film. Move over Frankie-Ford, Roger Christian is the new King of Town. And that town is my heart, population: me.
I give this Film 4 and a half thumbs up out of 5.
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