Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

We can't … enjoy the movie, because it isn't meant to entertain. It's a detailed docudrama that shows the abduction and forced prostitution of an eight-year-old girl, then the permanent destruction of her life in her teen years.It's gut-wrenching. The first half of the movie plays almost like a twisted procedural in which a child pornographer and slaver (brilliantly and unexpectedly portrayed by Tom Arnold) tricks and kidnaps young Leslie (Ryan Simpkins).We're shown the nuts and bolts of everything – starting with how Arnold's character earns her trust ("Can you help me find my dog?", "I'm a friend of your father's.") And Arnold is so convincing in the role, it's easy to see how lines like this can fool a child. We see how she's drugged, imprisoned, and persuaded that her parents don't want her anymore, then how she's coaxed and reassured into prostitution to pedophiles. There were a few times when I wanted to shout at the screen – such as when Arnold's character actually coaches the prepubescent girl about what customers expect. Then we're even shown how children are marketed and sold – with catalogs and photos and polite, secret business meetings. Jeremy Sisto and Harold Perrineau show up in effective supporting roles that will turn your stomach.Then – midway through the film, we fast-forward to Leslie's life as a teenager, where she is now somehow free of Arnold and his even more evil partner (well played by Kevin Zegers, who I remember best as the sweetnatured, clean-cut kid in Zack Snyder's 2004 "Dawn of the Dead" remake).Again – it's hard to know whether to recommend this movie. To call it sad would be an understatement. It IS a pretty well made film – the acting is great all around, and especially from Arnold. And IMDb.com says that that writer/director Damian Harris developed it after years of research among child victims.It has some problems, though. For a drama about a victim, its central character just isn't well rendered or extremely likable. It's awkwardly structured. Unless I'm mistaken, we never find out how Leslie escapes her captors.The movie is also poorly paced, I think … it drags a bit around the middle and the anticlimactic ending feels like a postscript. Finally, it seems to make little use of John Malkovich's genius in a supporting role. (That guy is goddam mesmerizing – like Anthony Hopkins, he could read names out of a telephone book and make it interesting.)Quite honestly, if this movie is as accurate as it claims (and there's no reason to think it wouldn't be), it would make a great educational tool. No child should watch it, but it's so explicit and procedural in nature that it seems like a great resource for training police officers or parents.If you watch this, I strongly recommend watching "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey" or "Old School" afterward – y'know … just so you don't kill yourself.http://ericrobertnolan.wordpress.com/

Gardens Of The Night was a very well done film in my opinion. It pulls the viewer in right from the beginning. Excellent acting, scripting, and directing. The New Yorker review says you need recover time after seeing this film. I believe it because I am finding it very difficult to write this review. Forget the reviews, just watch it because it is a must see like it or not! Gardens Of The Night was a very well done film in my opinion. It pulls the viewer in right from the beginning. Excellent acting, scripting, and directing. The New Yorker review says you need recover time after seeing this film. I believe it because I am finding it very difficult to write this review. Forget the reviews, just watch it because it is a must see like it or not!

There are a few film efforts I've seen that hurt me so badly that they diminished my ability to feel peace of mind or happiness. Oz season 4, Megan is Missing, The Killing Gene, and this movie. This movie hurt me more than any of those. Years after seeing it, I still have nightmares about it.I can not complain about anything in this movie on a cinematic level. It is very well filmed and directed. It is very well acted. The story is mercilessly realistic and honest. It is a noble, worthwhile effort to have made this film.The conundrum is that there is not one person I can think of whom I would put through the pain of watching this. Anyone who could watch this movie and not be injured by it is just closed off to its realism.The life that is evoked by this film is that of people who have had everything taken away from them. That things like this actually happen is too much to bear.

Relentlessly raw, authentic and sad: I hope that description doesn't drive you away because it is also brilliantly directed and intensely human, and there is a loving relationship at the center that lights it all up like the sun. A scene in an arcade where the two main characters are doing Dance Dance Revolution together had me weeping. Catch this one, however you can.IMDb says I have to add more lines so I'll say that the casting is as good as casting gets -- one character after another is blazingly real. And the cameo by Malkovich does not feel like a gimmick: he's a genius, and therefore always welcome.