Audience Member
I kept watching hoping something might happen. Mid-viewing I reviewed rotten tomatoes to see if I should continue wasting my time. I then learned that people who reviewed this probably spent more time trying to find ways to challenge themselves to make this sound somewhat interesting than actually watch it. It is boring, frustrating, dangerous, and a silly approach to some story about a stick some guy could have found near a bridge he was supposedly lost near. One thing it did emphasize, and I agree with the other reviewers, is that it does make you rethink your place in life. Don't waste your time. Life is short and it goes by fast. If anything, that was the strongest point of the film. Oh, so don't waste your time on this, just live life and do something (anything) else. Update: just watched the last scene. What?! NOT WORTH IT.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
Full Review
Audience Member
It's easy to make a documentary about a spectacular success - or failure. If it is a big thing, there's no need to get into the smallest details. The real challenge is to depict a topic neither thrilling nor dramatic, yet on a micro-scale beautiful and unique, without losing the audience's attention. But was this approach successful in "Garnet's Gold"?
At the first sight the main movie's character, Garnet, never achieved anything sensational. Being in his late 50s he says about himself, "I should try harder". Surrounded by close friends circle, with no liabilities or commitments, the man is still chasing his dreams. The unbearable lightness of being? Not quite: the existence becomes nagging for him eventually. Instead of taking care of his own mother getting sick (the old lady was dr Freud's neighbour in her youth), Garnet sets out on an expedition that is to finally ensure him the greatest success.
To have or to be? What's more important and more difficult to achieve: a carrier and wealthiness, or faithfulness to follow the dream? The humble, inconspicuous life of Garnet turns out to be a streak of adventures. Some of them are funny, the others intriguing or desperate. But even suffering from a lack of money Garnet doesn't seem to be upset. In a very conscious way, he accepts all consequences of his own decisions. Not like in many other cases, for his own defeat, he doesn't blame anyone.
Sometimes to find a hidden treasure you need to take a look from a peculiar perspective, and such a perspective you need to appreciate the hidden charm of "Garnet's Gold". Filmed in a minimalistic and intimate way, the documentary remains about the old truth: "all that glitters is not gold".
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/24/23
Full Review
Ethan T
Only saved by the runtime. Focuses too much on the personage, which ultimately fails to be remotely interesting. The juicier gold expedition is doomed to fail from the off, and any attempt to remedy this by meekly suggesting that "oooh! gold is actually metaphorical because it's inside us!", which has been done a million times before (and better). I do not think that people like this should be put on the screen, because it will encourage more daft and dangerous deeds than this by odder people. This is not to say that charm cannot be found in stories such as these, but in this case it comes across really poorly. Ultimately, 76 minutes of my life that will never be replenished, no matter how inspirational they were chalked up to be.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
03/09/21
Full Review
Audience Member
This beautifully filmed documentary, follows the travails of gentle romantic, Garnet Frost. A misfit and dreamer for whom the first 60 years of his suburban life,has been catologued by a series of quixotic quests under pinned by an as yet,unrequited positivity.
Living at home with his 90 year old mother, Garnet persuades a couple of long suffering but sympathetic friends, to join him in a quest to find Bonnie Prince Charlie's lost treasure which legend has it,is stashed on the shores of Loch Arkaig in the remote Scottish Highlands.
Twenty years previously, Garnet had literally fallen upon a mysterious staff lodged in the water side rock. A pointer perhaps,to the buried gold?
The film takes us from the subjects suburban comfort zone and into the wild. Each passage creatively filmed and at times,stunning to look at.
A future cult classic I would suggest..
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/09/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A fascinating character on a personal pilgrimage into the wilds of Scotland to find Gold and himself.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
Full Review
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