‘Garden’s’ Strong Start Slowly Wilts

“The Hanging Garden” hangs itself about two-thirds through its 91-minute running time. Until then it’s a venturesome and absorbing attempt on the part of first-time director Thom Fitzgerald to vary the familiar story of the homecoming of a young man to what proves to be a supremely dysfunctional family.

After a 10-year absence, William (Chris Leavins), a gay man in his mid-20s, returns to his parents’ home beside a lake in Nova Scotia for his sister’s wedding. But in this Irish Catholic household, all that’s idyllic is the setting. The sister, Rosemary (Kerry Fox), a caustic type, is having a tough time negotiating the rustic pathway of her parents’ elaborately landscaped hillside with her long-trained wedding gown, and she seems less than thrilled about tying the knot with her longtime boyfriend (Joel S. Keller).

But at least she seems glad enough to see her brother; their carefully coiffed mother (Seana McKenna) and their father (Peter MacNeill), who more than lives up to his nickname, Whiskey Mac, are decidedly self-conscious about the return of their son, who left weighing 350 pounds and is now a slim, nice-looking man who is openly gay. William’s grandmother (Joan Orenstein), a ferociously devout woman, embraces him, although she’s suffered from Alzheimer’s disease too long to recognize him for certain.

You really have to wonder why William returned. Nothing has changed, clearly, except that his abusive drunk of a father may be a tad less likely to strike out at his now-adult son.

Trying to avoid the predictable confrontational family drama, Fitzgerald goes for lots of stylistic devices and intricate structuring but finally goes over the top with a highly improbable family secret and other unlikely developments that allow the film to verge on parody or burlesque. Fitzgerald well may develop the talent to match his passion, but as for “The Hanging Tree,” there have been countless and far better darkly comic dramas about extravagantly dysfunctional families.

* MPAA rating: R, for strong language, sexuality, language and a scene of a hanging and some teen drug use. Times guidelines: The film also has some violence, sex with a minor.

‘The Hanging Garden’

Chris Leavins: William

Seana McKenna: Iris

Peter MacNeill: Whiskey Mac

Kerry Fox: Rosemary

A Goldwyn Films presentation of a Triptych Media/Gala Film/Emotion Pictures production. Writer-director Thom Fitzgerald. Producers Louise Garfield, Arnie Gelbart and Fitzgerald. Cinematographer Daniel Jobin. Editor Susan Shanks. Costumes James A. Worthen. Music John Roby. Production designer Taavo Soodor. Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes.

* Exclusively at the Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (213) 848-3500, and the NuWilshire, 1314 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 394-8099; opens May 22 at the South Coast Village, Costa Mesa.