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Plot: The semi-autobiographical story centers on the complexities of love and commitment in a family torn apart when faced by an unexpected tragedy.
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Fireflies in the Garden Recent Reviews
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:July 10, 2008NOT INTERESTED
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MCT:December 2, 2008
A good story but it's kinda boring. I like the plot and it's so good to see Julia Roberts back again in acting. Willem Dafoe is always great playing antagonist.
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MCT:November 24, 2008despite the first-rate cast, this one bored me to hell. mainly because the script rarely delivers, and the strong moments take forever to build up. i don't recommend it unless you are a huge fan of Ryan Reynolds's beard...
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MCT:October 14, 2008Not nearly as powerful and thought-provoking as "Junebug" (See my review if interested), yet ambitious and honest, Dennis Lee's "Fireflies in the Garden" fails to satisfy its subject, which would be dysfunctionality of family. It's sad when someone wants to tell a tough story and at the same time wants to play it safe. Family picture should be a family picture as good drama should be a good drama, yet Lee mixes the two, making us constantly seeing everything what's on the surface, rarely giving a chance to go into the inner hell of regret and anger so we would care as much as he would want us to.
It all starts with an arrogant, self-centered prick, Charles Waechter, a frustrated writer and a father (Willem Dafoe) who, like many people, probably started a family to overcome social fear of being lonely in case his writing career didn't work out. His wife, Lisa (Julia Roberts) is a State of the Art of Patience for her husband, compassionate and easy-going, mainly focused on her son, Michael (Ryan Reynolds). The picture, sliced on two parts - the one in which Michael is a boy, and two in which he is a grown-up man - presents cause and effect of their relationship. Michael has a tough time with his father, seeing him almost as a irrational, demanding, grotesque creature with unexplainable need of authority. But, as he is sensitive and intelligent, he also needs fair share of understanding, which can't be given to him by his father. He gets it from his aunt, Jane. The death of his mother in a car accident followed by burial, slowly brings son and father to new, even though hidden through grudges, understanding.
Dennis Lee shows a lot of potential, especially for character's relations and dialogue, which can be seen, for instance, in wonderfully written and acted dinner scene. Secondly, just from the subject he picked up we can be sure we may expect some other serious work from him in the future. And probably better one, since photography is too steady, lacking necessary realism and therefore creating a distance between us and presented world. But the main problem with his debut would be that, although he clearly knows what the story he is telling and has actors who do excellent work (especially Emily Watson and Ryan Reynolds), in the end, he doesn't offer much to be left with, and its positive ending isn't much convincing, in a context of how it relates to reality. Of course, cinema may give us a hope that even the most complex relations can be eventually solved, but if you know what dysfunctional family really is, you take an ending like this with a sigh. It doesn't mean it makes it not worthwile to watch. It just that after "Junebug", the expectations are, naturally, pretty high. -
MCT:October 12, 2008
The problem with movies about dysfunctional families is the same one that spy movies have: they're a dime a dozen, and rarely offer anything new. Wes Anderson has made dysfunction his specialty. Noah Baumbach's Squid and the Whale was also a very good film about dysfunctional families, as is Jonathan Demme's new film Rachael Getting Married.
Dennis Lee's feature length debut, Fireflies in the Garden is a technically well made film. It looks good, it sounds good. Lee is a sound director. But good direction can't always save a flat script. That's the problem with the movie. It offers nothing new into an already crowded genre.
I suspect that the film's script must have looked quite good. After all, it netted a slew of stars - Ryan Reynolds, Emily Watson, Willem Defoe, Hayden Panettiere, Iaon Gruffud, and Julia Roberts.
Reynolds stars as as Michael Waechter, the son of a self absorbed intellectual jerk, Charles (Dafoe). His mother is Lisa (Roberts). The film goes back and forth in time, between Michael's childhood and present day. While on the way to Rhyne, the daughter's graduation party, Charles and Lisa get into a car accident while trying to avoid Christopher, Lisa's nephew. Lisa is killed.
This sets up situations and complications to bring everyone together so they can argue and bicker, and of course, eventually reconcile. As the family gathers at the old family home, where Jane (Watson in the present, Panattiere in the past) now lives, old feelings are drudged over, and while going through their mother's things, Michael discovers a secret about his mother.
Robert's and Watson play caring mothers. Lisa is passive, maybe too passive. Why she allows Charles to get away with some of the cruel things he does to the young Michael are confounding.
Meanwhile, the film also glosses over the relationship between Jane and Michael, who are roughly the same age. That relationship is almost incestuous, although Lee never dares to fully delve into it.
Everyone does solid work with their roles. Again a part of the technical solidity of the film. It's just that the story is too familiar, too flat. In the end, Dafoe has some moments of depth, and Reynolds gives a strong and layered performance. Otherwise, the script doesn't take enough time to flesh out its characters.
Sure Michael has every reason to hate his father. He's a jerk, unabashedly so. The story needs to be maybe flushed out more, or maybe way less. There are stories enough for about three movies here. The plot line regarding young Christopher, who feels tremendous guilt over Lisa's death is enough for a film of this length. But there are so many other stories going on that it gets only limited time.
There are some other small nitpicks that can be made. First, none of the kids look like their adult counterparts. That would be fine in a better movie, but here it's something you pick out. Second, although the film is set somewhere outside Chicago, it feels like somewhere in the south. Probably because it was shot in and around Texas.
Based on a script that floated around Hollywood for sometime before getting financed, Fireflies in the Garden has floated around looking for a release since its debut back at the Berlin Film Festival. It's reported that the film will get a release come November. I suspect it will be limited, and suspect that it won't stick around theaters for long. Robert's might attract a few patrons to the multiplexes, but I wouldn't count on this one to make a big splash with anyone. I'm sure Lee has better in him.
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