A hospital floor being polished by an unseen cleaner. A clock. A near-empty nursery seen through a glass divide. A baby in its cot.
Cold, clinical and somehow quintessentially Canadian, it's little surprise when the montage continues with a funeral.
Ed's wife has just died giving birth to a son, Garnet, one of those "10,000 to one" occurrences that, alas, happen with disproportionate frequency in the cinema.
Distraught, Ed (Callum Keith Rennie) is unable to accept the child, such that it is up to his eight-year-old daughter Flower (Jane McGregor / Alisha Penev) to bring the infant home.
Eight years later and the situation has scarcely improved. Deprived of paternal affection and brought up largely by his sibling, Garnet (Colin Roberts) has grown into a confused young boy.
Flower tries to persuade her father to take more of an interest in Garnet, but the combination of an uncommunicative hypersensitive boy and an emotionally crippled, straightforwardly macho father trying to overcompensate in making up for lost time is hardly an auspicious one – especially when Flower herself falls pregnant by local teen Carl (Craig Olejnik) and no longer has the capacity to care for and mediate between them as she has hitherto done.
Flower and Garnet combines the beauty and fragility of a flower with the fine craftsmanship of a cut and polished gemstone. Writer-director Keith Behrman's care and attention to detail are evident throughout, letting small details and gestures accumulate and speak volumes, drawing finely nuanced and believable performances from his cast and managing to engage on both intellectual and emotional levels.
If the film has a flaw it's that it may be almost too subtle for some, its approach also making moments of comic relief from resident stoner Ronnie (Dov Tiefenbach – admittedly a nice self-deprecating performance) feel a touch forced and bolted on.
But, overall this is a quietly confident piece of film-making that accomplishes what it sets out to do and which augurs well for the futures of all involved.
Copyright © K H Brown 2002-2005
Rating:
4.7 / 5
(3 votes)
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