It truly is remarkable what Ryan Stevens Harris has brought to the film world with “Moon Garden.” In a year packed with big films, “Moon Garden” will definitely sneak up on audiences. It deserves a massive crowd of film goers as it’s one of the finest fantasy films I’ve seen in years. A surefire mix of Neil Gaiman, Guillermo Del Toro, and Mike Mignola, “Moon Garden” is an absolute masterpiece about the loss of innocence and a little girl’s quest to make it back home. I knew “Moon Garden” was something special going in, but I never thought it’d end up being such an emotional, heart wrenching, and inventive fantasy gem from beginning to end.
When five year old Emma has a terrible accident and slips into a coma, she finds herself thrust into a darkly surreal industrial dream world. Haunted by a nightmarish spectre that feeds off her tears, she must follow her mother’s radio-static voice to find her way back to consciousness. Along the way she travails weird landscapes and meets unusual characters, all of whom help her fight her way back home.
Shot on expired 35mm film stock with vintage rehoused lenses, “Moon Garden” is such an emotional odyssey that takes our heroine Emma and drops her in to a world teeming with dangers lurking about. The world that Emma is plunged in to is of course an allegory for her entire life thus far, as every obstacle, and every character symbolizes an aspect of her life. Like most children she has no control over the chaos, but can only marvel at it, and be left with patching it up as much as possible. One scene in particular finds her meeting “The Groom” who romanticizes a young version of Emma’s mother. Their romantic dance transforms in to a pure parade of broken dishes and destroyed furniture. Emma is then whisked away to a decrepit bathroom where the groom proclaims “You have to clean it up.”
It’s sequences like these that just drip in sadness but explore how far too often children lose their sense of wonder and innocence before they can even learn to properly verbally express themselves. Harris’ direction is so good it’s absurd, really. The world Emma envisions is mesmerizing and awe inducing, but also mysterious and harrowing all at the same time. There are so many memorable moments where Emma is exploring and venturing in to the inner recesses of her own mind. All the while she’s chased by a horrifying monster known as “Teeth,” a cloaked entity with nefarious plans for her. Through and through while there are definite elements of horror here, “Moon Garden” is about the horror of childhood and the pain of familial dysfunction.
Every bit of terrain Emma scours is her mind and the more she ventures in to it, the more she finds the amazement is gradually overtaken by industrial, dark, cynical back drops offering zero consolation or escape. The direction of five year old star Haven Lee Harris is wonderful as director Ryan Stevens Harris manages to derive some genuine turns of horror and grief from her. Haven Lee Harris is perfect in the role, a beautiful and imaginative child who is always on the verge of losing her way to her mom. And I promise, the use of Harry Nilson’s “Without You” will leave you sobbing. “Moon Garden” is just an incredible work of art, a thoughtful examination of a child on the edge of being swallowed up by the misery and pain of her world.
Now in select cinemas, beginning at the IFC Center in New York City and expanding to the Alamo Drafthouse Los Angeles, the following week. Opening weekend screenings at both venues will be in glorious 35mm.