Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, July 15: GARNET’S GOLD
Ed Perkins’ portrait of a man on a Quixotic quest debuted at Tribeca in 2014. Additional screenings have included Edinburgh, Biografilm, AmDocs, Documentary Edge, Docville, and South Africa’s Jozi festival, among other events.
Nearing 60 years old, Garnet Frost sadly reflects on a life that, in his estimation, hasn’t amounted to much. For the past two decades, he’s been haunted by a lost opportunity, at least in retrospect. While hiking in a remote part of Scotland, he lost his way and nearly lost his life. Just before he was rescued, Frost chanced upon a strange staff that he later determined was the marker for a cache of hidden treasure secreted there in 1746. Seeking a sense of worth – perhaps more figurative than literal, though both apply – the grizzled Frost assembles a small group of supporters, sheepishly borrows funds from his scene-stealing mother, and sets out to try to locate the lost treasure, based on little more than hazy memories of landmarks that might point him in the general direction. Surprisingly little time is spent on the actual treasure hunt – likely an admission that his protagonist has no chance of stumbling upon the same terrain he accidentally found twenty years prior – making this project more about a man at least finally reaching for a goal more than attaining it, which is well enough, though not without some meandering along the way. Still, Perkins’ film boasts such stunning cinematography which transports the viewer into the space of Garnet’s journey that these occasional excesses may be forgiven.
what (not) to doc 