Moon Garden at its core is a movie about a girl fighting for her life. The main character falls into a coma, and the rest of the film follows her journey back to consciousness through a series of bizarre, mystical worlds. It is a simple conceit, but it pays off.
Emma (Haven Lee Harris) has a rich imagination that she uses to contend with her mentally unstable mother and workaholic father. One night, escaping a tiff between her parents, she knocks herself out on the stairs of her home. She wakes up in a forest with some reminders of her past. A vintage radio allows her parents, waiting for her to wake up in a hospital, to communicate with her. She must make it to higher ground to communicate back to them.
Hot on her trail is a monster that feeds on children’s tears. On her journey, her memories become part of her world (most notably her favorite plush rhino becomes an immense mechanical being). The film reads as a fairy tale, but with some darker elements. The film, which began first as a photo shoot, then a music video, and then a short film, is all the creation of director Ryan Stevens Harris, Haven’s real-life father.
Knowing this relationship may make the film seem more personal to some. Knowing Ryan’s body of work may also alter audience perspectives, as he was the editor of this year’s…interesting flick Moonfall. Still, Moon Garden has a lot to like. It would work well for those public library patrons interested in fairy tale mythology and family dynamics. The film belongs on drama, horror, and fantasy library shelves.