Directed By: Ryan Stevens Harris
Starring: Haven Lee Harris, Augie Duke, Brionne Davis, and Maria Olsen
Plot Summary: After a fight between her parents, Emma has a terrible accident and slips into a coma. She finds herself in a dark and surreal industrial dreamworld. Haunted by a nightmarish specter that feeds off her tears, she must follow her mother’s radio-static voice to find her way back to consciousness.
Okay, deep breath. After we are done collecting ourselves emotionally, hopefully we can do justice to this epic experience known as Moon Garden. This feature film debut of Ryan Stevens Harris is a brilliant lovechild of Tim Burton, Phil Tippett and Jan Svankmajer. This movie has been labeled as horror, which is a bit reductive and not totally accurate. Whilst the movie has nightmarish sequences, it is difficult to really call it a horror movie. Moon Garden is a deep meditation on childhood innocence, tragedy and the human spirit. It also tackles a toxic marriage through the lens of a child. The latter part is really powerful stuff and Harris really handles it with an interesting nuance.
All of this may sound very artsy-fartsy, and to a degree it is. Yet, there is a level of craftsmanship and sincerity that cuts through any pretentiousness. Emma (Haven Lee Harris) makes for a compelling central figure, and going on this journey with her is truly one of the most powerful experiences we have felt in cinema in a long time, a statement that is not delivered lightly. Parents especially will no doubt find this a difficult but ultimately rewarding watch. Even in the grips of this dark and twisted nightmare factory, there is glimmers of light that get brighter as the film reaches its finale. If this movie doesn’t touch you on some level, then you might be completely dead inside. This feels like a modern Alice in Wonderland, with none of the dark and sharp edges sanded down.
This is the most beautiful and grotesque film this side of Mad God. Harris reaches deep inside his demented toy box of cinematic tricks to bring something truly stunning. Stop-motion animation, animation, and a heaping helping of filth and gorgeousness that completely coats every single frame of this labyrinth. Every time you think you have seen the wildest thing, you are blindsided with something that feels like it came straight out of a Shinya Tsukamoto fever dream. It also plays like a loving monument to kinder-trauma, yet it has a real beating heart that pumps life into this sublime machine.
Haven Harris, daughter of the director who has starred in Ryan’s previous shorts, is tasked with being our guide into this wild, frightening and dazzling world. The young actress does a great job and seems to have a natural ease in front of the camera. The behind-the-scenes credits of Haven seemingly having a ball during filming thankfully takes the sting out of the previous 90 minutes, assuming you can see after all the crying. Augie Duke and Brionne Davis play Haven’s parents, and both have a wonderful range of acting, as well as a perfect chemistry with the tiny Harris. The supporting cast is likewise really fantastic, and filling this nightmare world is a lovely array of creatures and humans played by Morgana Ignis, Maria Olsen, Philip E. Walker just to name a few.
Moon Garden is tough to sum up in a standard review. Not because there isn’t a lot to say about it – you could go on and on about the symbolism, subtext, and emotional weight that makes up this tapestry. It is more that it is hard to really do justice to a movie that is more of a bleeding poem that ends in hope, than it is a traditional narrative. It’s the kind of movie that you take out of it what you bring, and those willing to take the long and winding fall down the rabbit hole will find a rewarding end. This movie is just simply beautiful and everyone should consider a must-watch.
Moon Garden will debut in theaters on May 19, 2023 courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories.
Moon Garden is just simply beautiful and everyone should consider a must-watch.
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GVN Rating 10
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Big film nerd and TCM Obsessed. Author of The Ultimate Guide to Strange Cinema from Schiffer Publishing. Resume includes: AMC’s The Bite, Scream Magazine etc. Love all kinds of movies and television and have interviewed a wide range of actors, writers, producers and directors. I currently am a regular co-host on the podcast The Humanoids from the Deep Dive and have a second book in the works from Bear Manor.