Fireflies in the Garden (2008)

This film tells the story of a novelist whose mother dies in a traffic accident. He is family is transformed forever.The story is a mix of present day family interactions of the novelist Michael Taylor, and his flashbacks to his childhood days when he endured emotional abuse from his father. Michael's experience is sad, and I am pleased to see that he turned out to be a functional individual. The father is also a memorable character, as his behaviour is truly despicable. The tale of dysfunctional family interaction, and the subsequent understanding and forgiveness is a nice to watch. However, somehow they do not make much emotional impact on me. Maybe the lost 30 minutes are crucial in engaging the viewers."Fireflies in the Garden" has amassed a lot of biggest stars of Hollywood, and I am surprised that it has not got a wider release as a result.

I'm not a literary genius or anything but this movie left me totally confused. Why did it seem like everyone was beating up on Michael, the one who had been abused? Even the aunt Jane whom I thought would have been the most understanding had zero empathy for Michael and defended the father to the death. She said that the book would kill the father (William Dafoe). Well, so effing what if it does? At least the writer could have let the audience know why she cared so much, after all her relation is to Lisa not the father so it makes absolutely no sense to me. She said to Michael "everything you touch turns to sh**", where did that come from? In my eyes it was totally unwarranted and if it had been me she would have gotten punched in the teeth for saying it. Then she never apologized even after Michael found her son. So it just seems like continued abuse on the abused. Then to throw the Manuscript in the fire is supposed to be a sign of forgiveness? So Michael's supposed to feel guilty for his father's sins? What!? Come on....It would have been a better movie if Jane didn't grow up to be such a turncoat b**ch.

This film could have been so much more enjoyable if we (my wife and I) didn't have to spend most of the movie trying to sort out who was related to whom,. "Sister?" ... "I think she's his aunt, but I can't be sure." ... "Brothers?" ... "Bests me; there are simply too many characters in the plot to keep track of who's who." And the time warps are unreal. Jumping from boyhood to manhood and back again ... over and over ... made the film even more difficult to follow. Kind of like trying to follow the movements of a broken time machine. It is rare that we take the time to review any movie, but this one begged a comment. Was the film editor asleep, just splicing scenes in at random? The actors did an excellent job, but I wonder if the actors approved the jumbled up way the plot unfolds given the erratic film editing.I would have rated this movie an "8" or perhaps even a "9" had it not been for the two major problems outlined above. It could have been really outstanding.

Great story, keeps your interest and a wonderful cast! A bit of a dark and sad movie but a good plot. It did not deserve the reviews it received from professional critics. I always wondering if giving a movie review was political or even money motivated. Now reading what happened to the unfortunate distribution of the this movie I guess there was no one left to please to grease a palm. The "critics" made themselves look silly and obviously crooked. Have you ever wondered why good movies get bad reviews and horrible movies get good reviews? Well here's a lesson and a prefect example of a good movie getting verbally trashed. Read what happened to the distribution of this movie and you will never read another 'critic' review again. Thanks for reading!!