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Gardens of the Night
Gardens of the Night Image
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Metascore
43 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 5 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: Leslie struggles with a hand to mouth existence on the streets of San Diego with only her childhood friend Donnie to look after her, both of them trying to cope with the trauma of having been abducted and held captive by two men nine years earlier. As an eight-year-old girl, Leslie was abducted through trickery by an older man Alex, and his young accomplice Frank. Leslie was held captive in their house along with an eight-year-old boy named Donnie, who believed his mentally unstable mother, sold him to Alex. The children create a bond with each other managing to escape into a fantasy world they create in their bedroom. Years later Leslie and Donnie, now seventeen years old, are living as street-kids and struggling to cope with what they suffered through, having been affected by the experience differently. Donnie's feelings for Leslie are those of any teenager in love, however Leslie's perception of love has been severely mutated through her relationship with Alex and her instinct is to run from Donnie. Can she not only survive this horrific experience, but be set free from its terrible shackles? (City Lights Pictures)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 5
  3. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    70
    The film gives vivid reality to those photos of disappeared children on milk cartons by letting us peek into the lives of two abducted children subjected to sexual abuse and then prostitution.
  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    50
    Recovery time is recommended after seeing Gardens of the Night, a harrowing, obliquely told story of kidnapping and forced child prostitution that conjures a world entirely populated by predators and prey.
  3. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    38
    Tom Arnold plays the fatherly head of a child-prostitution ring and John Malkovich a sympathetic social worker - two clever casting twists that constitute the main interest in the grueling Gardens of the Night.

See all 5 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. CarolineB.
    10
    Excellent movie - I was gripped throughout. A sensitive subject which was beautifully filmed.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

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