GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL 2020 - The Garden Left Behind
GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL 2020
In the United States alone over 22 transgender individuals were victims of horrible violent murders leading to violence against the transgender community even being officially declared an epidemic by the American Medical Association. It is not only this extreme case of violence but the everyday struggle that those in the transgender community must face, which is the topic of The Garden Left Behind. The film follows a young trans immigrant named Tina (Carlie Guevara) at the very beginning of her journey to physically transition trying to find the money for the various medical expenses while also taking care of her grandmother.
There is no denying The Garden Left Behind is an important and powerful showcase of the trans experience. Specifically focusing on various struggles that can affect those in the trans community that normally are not discussed enough such as the continued violence against them, medical issues that could prevent someone from being able to make the physical transition they are seeking, and the effect of being an undocumented immigrant to name a few. Where The Garden Left Behind doesn't take the popular approach of focusing on the harassment against the trans community (though it definitely is in there), it instead focuses on more diverse and unique conversations that help make the film stand out compared to other films trying to capture the transgender experience as of recent such as Girl or A Fantastic Woman.
This unique voice is even more impressive when the inexperience of the filmmakers and cast are taken into perspective. Where director Flavio Alves has experience as a producer, The Garden Left Behind serves as his directorial debut and a wonderful showcase of the talent that is already there on his first attempt. The story Alves is trying to cover is not easy, not only is it deeply emotional and moving but the actual structure of the film is also challenging as it builds two separate narratives cutting back and forth between them. This is a style of storytelling that has hundreds of examples of being too difficult for the filmmakers to manage but at no point did it feel like it lost focus or direction. Alves has such a strong grasp on the story he is telling that he is able to craft an effective layout and pacing that is almost hard to notice considering Alves is doing such a good job.
Instead of being distracted by the pacing or structure, The Garden Left Behind allows the audience to focus on the emotions in the story which really shine through in the acting. Where the film does act as the directorial debut for Flavio Alves it also serves as the feature debut for lead actress Carlie Guevara who overall does a good job as Tina. Especially in the scenes requiring strong emotion, Guevara knocks it out of the park no matter if that strong emotion is shown through subtle gestures or large-scale crying. The only time where Guevara's lack of experience becomes notable would be in some of the casual dialogue. Across the board where the cast reaches the highs needed for the big emotional moments, it is in the smaller filler dialogue scenes where the acting starts to feel forced.
Despite the 88-minute runtime, the thing that is going to make or break this film for audiences is going to be the last couple minutes. Without getting into spoilers the way the film decides to wrap up its story is a clear attempt to make something that is going to stick with audiences. Where the general idea of it does feel relevant and impactful, how the film slowly builds to this point and how that build-up affects the ending is what holds it back from fully working how intended. Especially when it comes to certain characters motivations, it feels like the film is both trying to make a broad general point and wrap up a very specific story but due to the nature of the subject in question it doesn't feel like the film can truly have the best of both worlds. To fully stick as a conclusion to the film it needed to pick between being a defining statement for the larger overall message or the smaller story built by the film with the featured characters.
Still overall, especially for a debut film with inexperienced actors The Garden Left Behind demands respect. This is a compelling piece of film that brings a voice to conversations not voiced nearly enough. Sure, there are moments where the inexperience peaks through the powerful emotional core within this movie, but at the end of the day, it is going to be those emotions that stick with audiences and build the legacy this movie is going to leave behind.
