{"id":7608,"date":"2019-07-15T10:41:04","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T14:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=7608"},"modified":"2019-07-15T10:41:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T14:41:10","slug":"review-the-garden-left-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=7608","title":{"rendered":"Review: THE GARDEN LEFT BEHIND"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Filmmaker Flavio Alves gives us a unique perspective with transgender drama.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Viewers enchanted by the Oscar-winning \u201cA Fantastic Woman\u201d should take a look at \u201cThe Garden Left Behind.\u201d Co-writer and director Flavio Alves explores the struggles of Tina (Carlie Guevara), as she finds her identity and battles the pressures associated with undocumented status. What\u2019s different about this transgender story is the interplay between a psychiatrist named Dr. Cleary (Edward Asner) and Tina. I\u2019m not sure that I\u2019ve seen this conversation captured in a narrative film before, and the nature of the doctor\/patient discussions are revealing of society\u2019s on-going problem with gender dystopia.

We meet Tina as she drives her cab, a large black sedan, through the streets of New York City. She\u2019s appears to be a happy and thoughtful young person\u2014attentive and curious, as she navigates without issue. But later, sitting on the hood of her car and silently eating her lunch between stops, we can tell that something is bothering her. These low-key, contemplative moments convey longing for something more than she has and more than she currently is.

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Miriam Cruz is excellent as a concerned grandmother.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a small, cozy apartment, Tina lives with her doting grandmother, Eliana (a very good Miriam Cruz). While it is hard to tell, Tina\u2019s biological gender is that of a male, although she presents herself as a female. Her boyfriend, Jason (Alex Kruz), enjoys having fun behind closed doors with Tina, but he is uncomfortable going out in public with her. This awkward relationship might not have a future.

Tina is in the process of transitioning from male to female. And to do this, she has to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Through a series of doctor visits, we learn that her transition depends on the opinion of Dr. Cleary. And Tina finds this laughable at first. After all, how can a straight, old, white man make such a weighty decision? To further frustrate her, Cleary isn\u2019t one to rubber stamp things; he asks questions, lots of them, and the answers are telling.

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Alex Kruz plays the boyfriend struggling to commit to Tina.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Well shot and acted, \u201cThe Garden Left Behind\u201d features a fine lead performance introducing us to a Guevara, in her feature debut. The mature nature of the role, gives Guevara a chance to shine. She\u2019s a really likable, subdued scene presence, giving us a character who hides behind thick-framed glasses, but whose small expressions let us into her predicament. The scenes between Tina and Eliana are really wonderful, as the two converse in Spanish about mundane topics, like \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d or the operation of a modern vacuum cleaner. But as they laugh and study one another, they are always avoiding the elephant in the room\u2014whether it be their immigration status or Tina\u2019s sexual identity. And these two actors nail a familial relationship.

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Edward Asner plays the doctor asking all the right questions.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Alves, who creatively funded part of this production by selling donated items on eBay, assembles a very interesting cast. Asner is a good choice for Dr. Cleary. It\u2019s important that a movie like this show the broad support for the trans community, as in one scene, the aged but experienced Cleary tells Tina what makes him happy. His happiness, while ordinary in a traditional way, mirrors Tina\u2019s inner desires, because we all have common wants and needs underneath\u2014chief of which is being able to be ourselves. And by casting the veteran Asner, Alves subtly tells us that gender dysphoria is not new.

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Michael Madsen gets to play a nice guy.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Michael Madsen shows up as a kind bar owner named Kevin, who befriends Tina. Kevin looks at Tina with that Madsen tilt and wry semi-smile, but this is not the brutal, sarcastic side of the actor, but he delivers a brotherly or fatherly expression, as if to say, \u201cit\u2019s okay to be yourself here in my place of business.\u201d He casually touches her shoulder, not in a way that is meant to harass, but in kindness, I think. Like so much in \u201cGarden,\u201d Madsen\u2019s performance is subtle and nuanced without becoming too obvious and derivative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A revealing look at transgender issues facing families today, \u201cThe Garden Left Behind\u201d is another film that helps us understand.

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Sensitive transgender drama asks the right questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[74,1647,1645,1644,1643,1641,1648,1646,1640,1642],"class_list":["post-7608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-a-fantastic-woman","tag-alex-kruz","tag-carlie-guevara","tag-edward-asner","tag-flavio-alves","tag-gender-dysphoria","tag-michael-madsen","tag-miriam-cruz","tag-the-garden-left-behind","tag-transgender","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7615,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7608\/revisions\/7615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}