It's safe to say that Christine Stoddard's Her Garden is unlike the vast majority of films you'll see this year. Accurately described as a more "experimental feature film," Her Garden is also described as a romantic stream-of-consciousness film infused with themes focusing on mental illness, mermaids, and love. 

Stoddard also stars the film, serving as both narrator and protagonist for the 3am-set film taking place in the mind of a woman who is having difficulty sleeping. The images that unfold are simultaneously familiar yet jarring, meaning provided via Meagan J. Meehan's thoughtful, contemplative, and emotionally resonant narrative and lensing by Jacob M. Baron that is both experimental yet fully immersive. As our woman tosses and turns, she reflects on her past - an urban childhood being raised by a widowed mother and tasked with supervising her mentally ill Aunt Grace. 

If you're look for easy structure, look elsewhere. Her Garden is committed to being a stream of consciousness film throughout its 86-minute running time. It's an approach that will grow weary for some, fascinate others, and mesmerize even more. I would likely count myself among those being completely mesmerized by the film. 

Her Garden had its world premiere this past month in New York City at the Ankhlave House where Stoddard is Curator-in-Residence. Stoddard has long been a fascinating creative being named, in fact, one of Brooklyn Magazine's Top 50 Most Fascinating People. Perhaps most familiar for her arthouse feature Sirena's Gallery, Stoddard is a committed storyteller who never disappoints. Meehan's words complement her quite nicely here, as we watch this woman, whose name we never know, drift in and out of sleep and varying stages of consciousness as she vacillates between grief and hope and various places in-between. 

I'm not sure that "entertaining" is the word I'd use here. Instead, Her Garden is a meaningful film that may not appeal to mass audiences but will intensely resonate with those who connect to it myself included. It's edited quite precisely, also by Baron, and the imagery I guarantee will stay with you long after the closing credits have scrolled by. 

Meehan's work is fascinating and I found myself rushing to find out more about her even as the closing credits were scrolling. A curator and art teacher as well as an artist, Meehan is the founder of the "Conscious Perceptionalism" art movement and, like Stoddard, exhibits tremendous comfort across genres. 

For those who appreciate the more experimental side of cinema, Her Garden is a film to check out and a film that should, in fact, elicit a tremendous amount of dialogue. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic