The Hanging Garden

R

1997

1h 31m

Drama

LGBTQ+

List

94%

16 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Growing up as a gay teen in Nova Scotia was so hard for young William (Chris Leavins) that he ran away at the age of 15 and cut off nearly all contact with his dysfunctional family. With his sister (Kerry Fox) getting married, he returns home for the first time and is saddened to see that little has changed. The abusive nature of his family triggers old self-destructive tendencies in William as he starts to compulsively overeat to deal with the overwhelming pressure surrounding him.

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Audience Member

I was shocked to see very high scored reviews on IMDb for this dirge. I'm being generous giving it 5/10.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

So-so dysfunctional gay drama...

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This one is from the 1997 Toronto International Film Festival list I have. Not a bad film just a little hard to understand, maybe someone who smoke's a bag of refer might understand it better. This movie was from the Perspective Canada portion of the film festival which I take to mean was filmed in Canada. A young man returns home to his sisters wedding after being gone for 10 years, and talk about a dysfunctional family, no matter how f up your family may be these guys will beat them hands down. The wedding seemed like something out of Alabama and not Nova Scotia, didn't know they had rednecks up there. Anyway no one warned me in any review but I will warn you, Gay Theme throughout. Overall hard for me to understand. 2 stars.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A good film, if you can get past the "made for tv" feel. A very interesting concept that just doesnt feel like it was fully developed / executed.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is one dysfunctional family, and it's to writer/director Thom Fitzgerald's credit that "The Hanging Garden" manages to be as engaging as it is without become too annoying. There are moments that capture us, accompanied by others that just don't gel like they should. Overall, it's a decent effort marred by some overreaching.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I am usually a fan of films that take an indepth view of families, their dynamic, the emotions they stir up or which they cause us to stifle for the good of dear Aunt Edna's old world sensibilities, yet with this rather kafkaesque picture I found myself constantly waiting for the "indepth" part to take off. It seems constantly to start telling stories that it never manages to finish; the grandmother who catches her grandson fooling around with the boy from school does nothing else thereafter except buy a new Madonna for her bedroom and then proceed, over the next 10 years, to go slowly (and none too quietly) over the edge; the mother leaves her family practically without preamble and yet, despite a plethora of reasons for her actions, we are never given any clear explanation which was the impetus for her flight; the gay son returns after10 years away, yet here too we are left in the dark as to why he would return to a home as strained and dysfunctional as this one and just as left alone when he suddenly, seemingly at the drop of a hat, gets in his car and drives off again. The movie tries hard to tell a story yet never seems to get off the ground since it is never quite clear whose story it really wants to tell. Having heard good things about this movie, I was more than a little disappointed. Granted, life itself is often disappointing and not a little puzzling, so maybe that's the message: that not every event in life makes clear, concise sense or ends as we would like or even expect it to. Then again, if I wanted real life, I wouldn't turn on the DVD player, now would I?...

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

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Thom Fitzgerald

Director

Chris Leavins

Sweet William

Kerry Fox

Rosemary

Seana McKenna

Iris

Peter MacNeill

Whiskey Mac

Christine Dunsworth

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Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

It would be a lot easier to dismiss The Hanging Garden if its fetishized details weren't so naked and boldly autobiographical.

Jun 1, 2003

Full Review

Globe and Mail

Rated: 4/4

Jul 12, 2002

Full Review

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Rated: 3/4

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Brian Mckay

eFilmCritic.com

Rated: 5/5

Mar 11, 2006

Full Review

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

Rated: 3/5

Oct 10, 2005

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Jul 24, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

Growing up as a gay teen in Nova Scotia was so hard for young William (Chris Leavins) that he ran away at the age of 15 and cut off nearly all contact with his dysfunctional family. With his sister (Kerry Fox) getting married, he returns home for the first time and is saddened to see that little has changed. The abusive nature of his family triggers old self-destructive tendencies in William as he starts to compulsively overeat to deal with the overwhelming pressure surrounding him.

Director: Thom Fitzgerald
Screenwriter: Thom Fitzgerald
Production Co: Emotion Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 6, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $965.3K
Runtime: 1h 31m
Sound Mix: Dolby
Aspect Ratio: 35mm

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