Opening last Friday in theaters in Los Angeles (and just a few other places) was A Man Named Pearl. The Pearl of the film is South Carolina master topiarist Pearl Fryar. The documentary doesn’t open here in San Diego until August 22 but the film is on my list. How often is it that you have a film about a gardener? (Let’s see…there was Peter Sellers in Being There…and then…any others? Would The Constant Gardener or Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil really qualify beyond having gardens and gardeners in their titles?)
The film’s site has show dates and a trailer that gives you the best overview of his work. That trailer forms the opening part of the first of the clips below, and afterwards it goes into a forum featuring Fryar talking about his work in front of an audience. The second clip is a more extended talk and includes a demonstration with him firing up his electric hedge clippers…
One of my favorites is “Greenfingers”, with Clive Owen.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203540/
Greenfingers: “Based on a true story about a group of British convicts who become prize- winning gardeners. Colin and Fergus are incarcerated in an experimental facility in England. They take up gardening as part of their rehabilitation under the guidance of horticulture expert Georgina Woodhouse. Eventually, their diligence pays off and they go on to compete in the prestigious Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.”–from imdb.com
It’s now in my viewing queue–Thanks!