Greenhouse (The)

A grieving family drama that veers from a perceived predictability into some very strange waters indeed. As to its success...well, that is wholly dependent on your own interpretation and acceptance of the events!

We saw this as a portrait of collective grief, pansexual siblings grieve [in different ways] over the loss of one of their mothers...their differences are/is what brings them together. Along with their mother...do they represent the 5 stages of grief? Perhaps, they do...then again...perhaps, they don't. Perplexing to say the least...but, The Greenhouse does, at times, intentionally perplex!

Truly...this is an ambitious, genre-bending debut. Thomas Wilson-White manages to create and sustain a viable atmosphere throughout...it's a little spooky, with an ounce of the supernatural and a few grams of sci-fi...all rolled into one. The only hiccup was the Time-Bandits-like entrance into the parallel universe...through a car boot! A bamboozling stretch of the imagination!

There is much to admire...performances, cinematography and score. What it lacks...and, this is just a mere opinion...is the immense well of emotion normally associated with the loss of a parent. Yes...emotions do fly all over the place and when they do all come together, the director preferred to keep them more under control than allow them and the obvious sentimentality to run riot. This was the director's prerogative...the audience...well, this audience member, just wanted to bawl their eyes out...the opportunity was there! It would have left a far more lingering impression.

Anyway...an assured debut nonetheless.

Trailer...