Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 14
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 7
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 5/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 1,234
Abducted by two men and forced into child prostitution when she was just eight years old, a homeless San Diego street teen is finally reunited with her family only to find that the traumas of the past may have scarred her for life. Leslie (Ryan Simpkins) was walking to school when her neighbors Alex (Tom Arnold) and Frank (Kevin Zegers) pulled up alongside her and asked for help finding their missing dog. After scouring the neighborhood with the young girl to no avail, the men offer Leslie a
Nov 7, 2008 Wide
Mar 24, 2009
City Lights
All Critics (14) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (7) | DVD (1)
Do these heartbreaking stories exist in the real world? Yes, yes, they do. Does dramatizing these stories with nothing to add except a certain cruel wallowing in the existence of unspeakable human depravity serve any real purpose? No, no, it does not.
Writer-director Jared Harris (and actor and son of the late Richard Harris) claims to have spent 10 years researching this sordid milieu, yet, for all the detail, it ends up playing like an especially lurid '80s TV movie.
Gardens of the Night is a harrowing story of kidnapping and forced child prostitution that conjures a world entirely populated by predators and prey.
Good acting and sincere direction by Damian Harris act as beacons to light the haunting corridors of an underworld spook house.
The film never quite recovers from writer-director Damian Harris's dithering way of shooting things.
Gardens doesn't always hit its desired mark of profundity. It's a wobbly plunge into grotesque acts of inhuman violation, with the patchy acting often blocking the true horror on display.
A haunting tale which very convincingly conveys the overwhelming sense of helplessness and dread which undoubtedly afflicts impressionable souls unfortunate enough to be sexually exploited while still in the bloom of youth.
"Gardens of the Night" is a powerful and provoking film about a disturbing and all too real subject. There's a bitterness here that will not go away.
The tendency to exploit lurid material for dramatic purposes is something [director Harris] can't avoid.
Ferociously queasy-making for its first half before flatlining into banality.
A haunting tale which very convincingly conveys the overwhelming sense of helplessness and dread which undoubtedly afflicts impressionable souls unfortunate enough to be sexually exploited while still in the bloom of youth.
Tom Arnold turns in a solid performance as a "nice guy" who abducts children.
An impressive directorial debut.
Gardens of the Night leaves me wondering if it is finally possible to make a non-exploitative portrait of sexual abuse.
Abducted by two pedophiles at the age of 8, Leslie is led into a life of prostitution, drug addiction and self destruction. If you have children, and even if you don't, this is a hard watch. Gardens of the Night is a good film about some very, very bad stuff.
January 31, 2009
Super Reviewer
MIFF '08: I liked the characters, and it had some pretty strong themes about family, but I left the cinema feeling unsatisfied. The first half kept me interested because it was ambiguous as to what was going to happen to the children, but then it skipped ahead to when they were older, and I was thinking, "Well, how did
July 22, 2008Super Reviewer
| 35% | The Hangover Part II |
| 25% | Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par... |
| 81% | Kung Fu Panda 2 |
| 44% | Cowboys & Aliens |
| 83% | Rise of the Planet of the Apes |
| 25% | Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par... |
| 88% | Lady and the Tramp |
| 69% | A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas |
| 21% | Fireflies in the Garden |
| 45% | The Rebound |
Journey 2 Not Worth the Trip
What are his 10 best movies ever?
See the all-new action-packed trailer!
Five new Marvelous pictures