The Hanging Garden

Let's give credit where credit's due: most films take at least a reel to really get on your bad side, but this Canadian independent about the return of the prodigal gay son to a family so dysfunctional it seems more parody than portrait will lose most audiences within 10 minutes. Stereotypical drum roll, please: we've got your alcoholic father, long-suffering mother, senile live-in grandmother, foul-mouthed older sister, fresh tomboy younger sister, tacky aunt...and on it goes. In fact, these people are so obnoxious and unlovable that I almost have to believe there's a trace of autobiography here (nobody would create these characters for enjoyment). Ostensibly, the gay son (Chris Leavins), home for his sister's wedding to--sacre bleu!--one of his early lovers, is coming to terms with his earlier repressed, overweight, suicidal teenage self. He--and, rather oddly, others in the family--share his "visions" of key moments in his childhood. Now, I've always understood that the unspoken rule on memories made flesh (for cinematic purposes) it that they're seen by one person only, otherwise we've left the realm of personal fantasy and entered into the...uh, what? Some fans of the film, which took honors at the Toronto International Film Festival, might suggest the word "transcendental," but I think the word I'm looking for here is "bogus." Not recommended. (R. Pitman)