Garden Party is the tale of five adventurous souls attempting to navigate the treacherous urban landscape of contemporary Los Angeles.
The Scoop
April is an ambitious beauty in search of success, but she may not know how to reach her goals with her clothes on. Sally St. Clair is a sexy realtor with a secret past. She’s got a great eye for spotting adventurous souls and thrives on giving them direction in life.
One of those adventurous souls is Nathan, her new assistant. Nathan moved to Los Angeles from Nebraska seeking success as a dancer, but now most of his time is spent making photocopies for Sally and her clients.
One of those clients is Todd, a porn-addicted artist who agrees to help Sally get revenge for a past indiscretion in exchange for her helping him realize his greatest fantasy. Meanwhile, a starry-eyed street musician Sammy moves in with Nathan, and they soon find they have very different ideas of their relationship status.
Soon, everyone becomes hopelessly ensnared in Sally’s kinky entanglements.
The Truth
Garden Party is an emotionally charged Drama, with a closer look at the troubled lives of five individuals. Willa Holland and Vinessa Shaw are wonderful at portraying the typcial lost female soul and you feel a real connection to them. Willa’s portrayal of April is wonderful, if not sexy and dangerous and you want to reach through the screen and save her from destroying herself and her future.
The film touches on every bad element you can fall into, and many trapped young adults endure on their search for independence and a future. How they go about it is a wonderful, if at times frightening and realisting journey well worth the wait.
Release Date
Street Date: 11/18/08
Starring
Vinessa Shaw , Willa Holland , Richard Gunn, Fiona Dourif and Erik Smith
Reminds me of
This may sound like an unusual comparison, but if you could take St. Elmos Fire and remake it for 2008, it would be something like this film. Sure, the romance isn’t the same, but the idea behind the film is remarkably similar.
The Verdict
A very enjoyable Drama with a very talented group of actors. The subject matter is sometimes harsh and dark, but thats why I enjoyed it so much. Garden Party is a really good film, I recommend it!
Tags: Drama 2008, Vinessa Shaw, Willa Holland