Master Gardener

Gardener’s entire premise hinges on this disquieting revelation, and unfortunately, the film falls short of enduring impressions...

Its pace may be too considered for some viewers — but as all true gardeners know, patience brings its own reward.

Paul Schrader’s portrait of an ex–white supremacist gang member is an unlikely feat of optimism.

Despite its starkly lucid surfaces, the film is elusive, quizzical, practically iridescent.

At times almost seems like a parody of a Paul Schrader film. At other times it bristles with the unholy strengths and moral paradoxes of this director’s best work. One way or the other, it’s a movie to be reckoned with.

Though this story of a stoic groundskeeper doesn't have the heft of Schrader's masterpiece First Reformed or his restless royal flush The Card Counter, it's still the sort of burrowing, brow-furrowing drama that forces you to reckon with big questions.

The latter plot-line once again echoes Taxi Driver, but this is also a weirder and more optimistic movie. As it builds towards its own violent showdown, something like hope also blossoms.

Master Gardener is worth watching on the strength of the ingredients.

A meditative study on shedding the skin of the past in an attempt at full-bodied metamorphosis.

Whilst Master Gardener falls short of the levels of quality set in Schrader's previous two offerings in terms of incisiveness, there's still plenty here to continue his winning streak.