"The Way to Shadow Garden" is an 11-minute movie from over 60 years ago that was written and directed by Stan Brakhage extremely early in his career. It is very different compared to some of his later works. There is a lead actor in here, it has sound, it is in black-and-white and it somewhat has elements of a plot and story, only to mention some aspects. However, it is still not a success in terms of filmmaking and judging from this one, I don't see a great deal of talent. I personally found it rather bizarre and annoying than memorable or interesting. I do not think it is a deserving watch and I felt it dragged on more than one occasions. Thumbs down.

I first had the opportunity to see this trippy little short some years back at a retrospective of Brakhage's work at one of my local art gallery. I had seen David Lynch's 'Eraserhead' some years earlier, and thought, ZOUNDS! I wondered then if anybody could make a film that was as trippy and messed up as that one (in the good sense,of course). After seeing 'The Way To Shadow Garden', I thought, okay, I can see where Lynch got his inspiration for Eraserhead. This is a psycho-sexual fever dream, where the protagonist arrives at his apartment, scans the room, anticipates that something potentially disturbing went on, and decides to gouge his eyes out, and retreats into a sort of garden of shadows (provided here via the means of reverse film). This is not a film for the faint of heart, but is an important one for film students who are interested in one of the early pioneers of experimental cinema.