Love will tear us apart

This auspicious debut feature by Vancouver-based Keith Behrman is a finely detailed, beautiful meditation on emotional isolation and the wonder of life. Set in rural B.C., FLOWER AND GARNET – which was presented at the Toronto International Film Festival – offers a subtly powerful meditation on the state of a family weighed down by years of unspoken grief and resentment. The story is unveiled through the eyes of Garnet (Colin Roberts), a sad and isolated eight-year-old boy who has been raised by his sister Flower (Jane McGregor) after their mother died giving birth to him, leaving their father Ed (Callum Keith Rennie, MEMENTO, HARD CORE LOGO) in a distant, depressive shell. Garnet moves through his childhood explorations with the weight of the world upon him, painfully aware of the burden his mere presence has placed upon his family. Things start to fall apart further when the teenaged Flower, chafing at the parental responsibility she has been saddled with since childhood, begins to rebel sexually, assert her independence and challenge Ed to be more of a parent than he is seemingly capable of. Behrman, who has a knack for nuance and culls emotionally precise performances from his cast, has crafted a quietly thoughtful film that offers a captivating exploration of the painful cycles of life. A remarkably understated Callum Keith Rennie imbues his misguided and remote Ed with a painful humanity, while Jane McGregor plays Flower with the perfect combination of world-weary experience and typical teenage impetuousness. Young Colin Roberts is simply mesmerizing and heartbreaking as the neglected Garnet.

"If you pay attention to this movie the way this movie pays attention to the details of human experience, you start to see things like Garnet does: Even in the smallest things, there's drama." - Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star