From the legendary Paul Schrader who brought us Taxi Driver in 1976 comes yet another allegorical film centered around a white male protagonist struggling to face the violent and rather elusive terrain of his past. Schrader’s new independent film entitled Master Gardner is rumored to conclude the so-called trilogy (the trilogy being unintended by Schrader) that consists of the earlier films The Card Counter and First Reformed.
The plot follows Narvel Roth, played by Joel Edgerton, a solemn gardener in charge of Gracewood Gardens, a horticultural estate that eerily resembles a Southern plantation. The estate is owned by the widowed Mrs. Haverhill, bitterly embodied by Sigourney Weaver, who has no problem projecting her racist biases when her great-niece Maya, played by Quintessa Swindell, is taken in as an apprentice to remedy her drug problems and troubled family life.
Stirring controversies surrounding race and white supremacy, this film was disturbing and mind-boggling to watch. It was met with awkward laughter from an audience who didn’t know how else to interact with a back filled with Neo-Nazi tattoos projected on the big screens at Lincoln Center.
With unexplained flashbacks of Narvel’s past and stiff dialogue that paints lifeless characters with the exceptional thrusts of unanticipated anger, the plot had a stagnant unfolding. First, Narvel dances around a romantic power struggle with Mrs. Haverhill, but then he ends up making love to the great-niece that Mrs. Haverhill despises because of her race, securing him the role of the problematic white savior. It proved difficult to follow without background knowledge of Schrader’s metaphorical approach to screenplays.
Looking back on his repertoire, and this particular interview between Schrader and The Hollywood Reporter, it is clarified that Schrader usually uses a “metaphorical occupation,” in this case Narvel as the gardener, to capture his themes. In this film in particular he revels in the systemic racism of America by portraying the garden as a biblical safe haven where all sins can be repented. The happy ending of Narvel and Maya swaying in a loving embrace on the porch of Narvel’s home in the garden utters an even more unsettling narrative. After revealing the racist violence of his past, Maya still forgives Narvel once they return to the garden, reflecting on the idea that America is able to turn a blind eye to its horrific unethical, and dehumanizing history and assume a “happy ending” of sorts.
Schrader took extreme artistic risks in this film by nestling these themes between uncomfortable performances and unnaturally formal language. Each line seemed to be delivered a few seconds too late and the awkward pauses undermined the acting talents of Edgerton (known famously for his role as Tom Buchanan in The Great Gabsty) and Swindell (included in the teen phenomenon, Euphoria, as Anna, an ephemeral lover to Jules) especially. There were also certain subplots that were unfinished or wrongly obscured. For instance, Maya was allegedly a “drug addict” but the film completely brushed over any complexities of addiction and instead relied on her being cured by Narvel, the racist white supremacist turned heroine.
While this film is problematic on many fronts and not particularly entertaining or enjoyable to watch, it does speak to the social and political issues America faces in a way that might leave the audience thinking. Watch at your own risk because after this review, recommend might not be the word to use.