siderite I will also compare this with Crash, but in a positive way. Crash touched a lot of real issues, but had really crappy characters. Garden Party is not so much focused on a cohesive story, but has interesting protagonists. Also, I have to say that I believe the message to be slightly different. While Crash was about people touching other people's lives and actions having consequences, Garden Party is more about the transience of any relationship and the insignificance of its characters.Indeed, I believe the story of this film was not about the people in it as much as it was about how interesting people can make a story interesting when the underlying mechanism doesn't care about or need any of them. Or maybe it was just the mood I was in. This film presents actions like prostitution, posing for sexy pictures, selling drugs and even kidnapping and battery as normal things that people do randomly to reach their goals and live their dreams.Unless, of course, I just found Vinessa Shaw gorgeous and I am rating this high because I be horny.

Claudio Carvalho The teenager April (Willa Holland) arrives in Los Angeles expecting to find a job and she stays at her lesbian cousin's home. Sammy (Erik Scott Smith) is a talented homeless singer, musician and composer that meets a guy that offers an opportunity to him to become a pop star. Nathan (Alex Cendese) is a young gay that has come to Los Angeles expecting to be a dancer but works as secretary of the real state agent Sally St. Claire (Vinessa Shaw). Todd (Richard Gunn) is an artist that neglects his girlfriend and spends most of his time in porn sites. Their lives are entwined when the pornographer Anthony (Patrick Fischler) meets Nathan and April in a bar and he offers two-thousand dollars to take nude pictures of them. Nathan befriends Sammy on the street. Sally hires April to work in her office with Nathan. And Sally dates Todd and finds that there are pictures of her in Internet."Garden Party" is a film with enjoyable but pointless stories in LA. The characters are likable but the neither the characters and nor the situations are well developed. The one-dimensional characters are shallow and the story goes nowhere. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): Not Available

Jay Raskin People looking for action and thrills should watch another movie. This is for people looking for character driven movies which bring smiles, rather than laughs. Although obviously low budget, everything in the film was quite professional. All the acting was good and the camera-work was equal to any good television series. Standouts were Vinessa Shaw as real estate Sally St. Claire and Willa Holland as April. I haven't seen either before, but they both presented warm and delightful characters. Richard Gunn as Todd and Erik Smith as Sammy also showed themselves adept at light humor.I hope that Jason Freeland, the writer-director, gets a chance to do more stuff. He handles this material very well. While there's only a touch of nudity in the film, there is a nice subtle erotic vibe to the film with most scenes centering on some aspect of sexuality.

demaym Firstly, If you enjoy generic, safe, and predictable movies, like the ones 'Hollywood' often churn out, then you might not enjoy, or appreciate, this gutsy offering....As we all know, independent movies are rather 'hit and miss', usually because they push the boundaries, regarding the industry standard rules, when it comes to the directing, production and writing.When an independent movie gets it right, it can be overly refreshing and satisfying.The first risk that 'Garden Party' takes, is that it refuses to give the viewers a recognisable lead character to follow. Instead, the first segment of the movie sets up the premise for several diverse characters, separately, each with their own story and subplot. This is dangerous, for any movie, as trying to follow multiple amounts of plots at once can easily become annoying, and result in an overload, causing the viewer to switch off in frustration. Luckily, in this particular case, it works, and the stories, and characters, quickly begin to intertwine and link with each other.We are introduced to a homeless, pretty boy, up and coming pop/rock singer, who remains placid and confused, as his ultra rise to stardom begins out of nowhere, and he starts to attract attention from promoters, beautiful women, and artists. We then have a young, attractive girl, from a questionable upbringing, who is encouraged by some friends, to get into the soft core porn industry. A young man, who has forgotten who he is, due to being on 24 hour duty to his control freak boss, in real estate, and drug pushing. A ruthless, sexy, and manipulative business women, who does anything to get what she wants, with a soft spot for losers, who she can mould and control. Other characters include an obsessive rich pervert, a seedy photographer, and a pot head who with no ambition.The movie runs along, at a fairly fast pace, and you suddenly begin to care about each character and their individual story. Whether it be in a good, or bad way, you are waiting for closure on each characters subplot, which eventually kind of combines into one big plot.Sex, and taboos, play a big part in the movie, but somehow, and strangely, the movie manages to be quite tasteful, and although sex, drugs, booze and porn are frequently mentioned, it manages to be non offensive, with no real smut element. Its realistic.With a mixture of comedy, drama, and passion, this one should keep you entertained throughout.I like this movie because it has the guts to be a bit different. Exploring scenarios that most movies wouldn't touch, and generally going with the flow. This adds excitement, and an unpredictable element for the viewer.Great acting, interesting soundtrack, good writing, and good directing.I would recommend this film to anybody with an open mind - 8/10