Directed by Academy Award® nominee Paul Schrader based on his original screenplay, Master Gardener follows Narvel Roth (award-winner Joel Edgerton), the meticulous horticulturist of Gracewood Gardens. He is as much devoted to tending the grounds of this beautiful and historic estate, to pandering to his employer, the wealthy dowager Mrs. Haverhill (three-time Academy Award® nominee Sigourney Weaver). When Mrs. Haverhill demands that he take on her wayward and troubled great-niece Maya (Quintessa Swindell) as a new apprentice, chaos enters Narvel’s spartan existence, unlocking dark secrets from a buried violent past that threaten them all.

Paul Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He wrote the screenplay for Martin Scorsese‘s Taxi Driver (1976). He later continued his collaboration with Scorsese, writing or co-writing Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Bringing Out the Dead (1999). Schrader has also directed 24 films, including Blue Collar (1978), Hardcore (1979), American Gigolo (1980), and First Reformed (which screened at a/perture in 2017); the latter earned him his first Academy Award nomination. Schrader’s work frequently depicts alienated men struggling through existential crises, a premise known as “God’s lonely man.”

“This is a spare film, crisply performed and quietly staged. Weaver’s crackling grande dame imperiousness may be enough to carry the viewer away.” ~ Richard Larson, Variety