The Creeping Garden

directed by:
Tim Graham & Jasper Sharp
documentary

“What is a slime mold? Is not an animal, plant, or fungus, though it
has characteristics of all three. They most closely resemble the latter
– hence the name – but they move (albeit very slowly, about an inch per
day) and pulsate when seen on time-lapse. Though found everywhere on
Earth, they are peculiar enough to freak people out or inspire
curiosity when they turn up, as is the case in a bit of old network
news footage that bookends the film, referring to strange blobs in
Texas. But, as it turns out, slime molds and the history of public
fascination with them is interesting beyond how they are biological
oddities.

“It’s easy for me to list out the interesting bits in this movie,
making the review nothing but a recap and perhaps discouraging people
from actually seeing it because they’ve already heard the lecture, so
to speak. Fortunately, I in addition to providing the expected
information, directors Tim Grabham & Jasper Sharp make a film that
is really a year to watch. There is striking photography, including
some time-lapse work that is almost too good, as it may give the
impression that this throbbing and moving is happening in real time. A
cool, unnerving score by Jim O’Rourke plays underneath, full of
thrumming bass and bings & bongs out of a 1970s sci-fi movie. There
are sharp-without-needless-adjournment bits of CGI and nice clips of
microscopy to help the viewer visualize what may not be visible to the
naked eye.

“For all that those sights and sounds may be creepy – and they
frequently are a bit grotesque, although a fun kind – Grabham &
Sharp don’t lean into the horror movie vibe nearly as much as they
could; though these things seem so far out of our experience as to be
scary as heck, the filmmakers instead see slime molds as fascinating,
and use them in part as a way to celebrate investigation done out of
pure curiosity. They spend plenty of time with respected academics
working for traditional institutions, but also have Bryn Dentinger of
the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew point out that their vast (if
incompletely cataloged) collection owes a great deal to civilian
scientists like the amateur mycologist we meet early on, and one of the
most enthusiastic voices belongs to Heather Barnett, an artist whose
work with this living medium connects fairly directly to some of the
fascinating work done at universities seen later on. It’s perhaps a bit
of a stretch to see these folks outside the formal community that has
come to define science as a parallel to life forms that don’t fit into
the main biological kingdoms, but not a huge one.

“That curiosity shared by everyone involved is what gives the film life
(both in terms of existing at all and presenting interesting material),
although it can run a little wild. The filmmakers go off in some
directions that are themselves interesting, like 19th-century magic
lantern shows and early nature documentaries, that at times seem a
little too tangential. The flip side of that is that Jasper &
Grabham also feel free to talk about more directly relevant topics that
may still seem esoteric, such as how slime molds are capable of
simulating network systems as a sort of organic computer (if a slow
one). It’s a sort of intelligence, but very different from how we
frequently use the term, and an unexpectedly big concept for a popular
science documentary.

“So come for the bits that may initially just seem weird; this is some
very cool science that doesn’t come off as gross so much as engrossing.
I’m admittedly much more a fan of this type of film than most, but when
they’re so interest-grabbingly well made, that just make them a better
change of pace than usual. 4.25 cats

“Seen 28 July 2014 in Salle J.A. de Sève (Fantasia Festival:
Documentaries from the Edge, HD)”