THE GARDEN

An appealing and eccentric view of the world, where miracles seem natural and the ordinary becomes miraculous, THE GARDEN has a gentle comic touch and presents its characters with respect and affection. Jakob, a young schoolteacher, is kicked out of his father's house and sent to his grandfather's country garden with instructions to sell it. When finds his grandfather's journal, written in mirror-image script, and a map leading to an old hidden bottle of wine, Jakob is too intrigued to leave. Instead, simple long-forgotten acts and memories allow him to rediscover himself and redefine his relationship with his father. Helena, a pubescent neighbor girl, teaches Jakob to “understand all things not understandable”; passers-by have names like Rousseau and Wittgenstein; a jumping cat seems to drop out of nowhere; a tree appears to shake off its apples. With this wide-eyed and penetrating vision of the tenderness of life, Martin Sulik proves himself a director to be watched far beyond the reaches of his Central European homeland. In Slovak with English subtitles.