Venice 2022: Master Gardener Review

Can the criticism of Paul Schrader and his similar pastiche of late be justified? From First Reformed all the way to Master Gardener, there is a sincere claim to be made that he has found some routine to his craft. A mundane job held by a middle-aged man with secrets to hide and a conscience to clear. At least with Master Gardener, the Joel Edgerton-led feature from Schrader, there is an element of disgust and confusion at the core. A layer of shock associated with the lowest ebbs of society and how they are viewed by the general population. Redemption for the irredeemable presents a new line of argument for Schrader to pursue, and in turn elevates his latest work above that of similar, recent narrative charms.

What sets Master Gardener out from the rest of Schrader’s recent works is its wry charm. Some may call it self-parody, but there is a difference between mocking the previous craft and being aware of its impact. Schrader continues to experiment and perfect the troubles of a dark heart, and he gets closer than ever with Master Gardener. A career-best effort from Edgerton marks a touching and often uncomfortable portrayal of Narvel Roth, a seemingly reformed neo-Nazi with a surprising penchant for gardening. It is there, the gardening, that Edgerton and Schrader note the controversial discussion underlining not just second chances, but rebirth. Disgusting sinners allowed self-redemption while working the grounds of a garden owned by Mrs Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver), a matriarch for the damned.

That is the unique tone Schrader grasps, Haverhill presides over the garden of misfit creatures, with former years in the dark alluded to. Roth the white supremacist tending to his crops and intercut with shocking displays of tattooed chests and mementoes that cling to his past, from his hair and glasses down to the more scattered displays of routine and embodiment of fear. Alongside him is newcomer Quintessa Swindell, whose performance as Maya processes not just the shame of family ties (she is the grandniece of Haverhill after all) but the shock of seeing the vindication of the damned. Through the eyes of Maya, audiences are given the outsider looking in. The reactionary shock and disgust of a man attempting to reform himself of unforgivable crimes, and the eventual acceptance of his apparent commitment to living a good, quiet life.

Their romance is an awkward blossom and not at all justified by Schrader, who is far too busy focusing on the visual beauty he creates out of a garden full of life, as opposed to the shifty characters that tend it. There are times when Edgerton and Weaver appear lucid together, their dynamic and relationship played off to breaking point and thankfully well preserved. They are fractured but fulfilled characters who play off the morality of their former actions. Knowing that they can recede at any time is what keeps Schrader’s work on alert because as touching and intimate as the scenes between Edgerton and Swindell are, there is no way of forgetting what they are capable of. What Roth did and what Maya escaped could all come flowing back to them if the fractures of their new lives begin to show as a consequence of their former way of living. That is the terrifying nature Schrader holds out on, against a tide of disgust at the second wind given to irredeemable men.