Gimme Green (2007) User Reviews

Good but lacking

[nhlgumby · 7/10 · 15 October 2007]

The film is a good look into the excesses of lawn care as it talks to the people who make, distribute, and use the lawn care products that keep America's lawns green. The film strikes them in a light that one might call oblivious: there are the sod manufacturers who go about their business as cameras roll, the chemlawn representatives who skirt claims of their product's toxicity to humans by waxing rhetoric about what the definition of "safe" actually is, and then there are the half dozen or so interviewed homeowners whose obsessions with their lawns lends their compulsions to comedy. We also see those people who are taking an alternative stance to the world of sod lawns with synthetic lawns made out of plastic. We see their plastic spinning machines whir out huge blankets of turf and meet the landscaping companies in the drier parts of the States who are paying their clients dollars per square foot to replace their old grass lawn with new turf. And the opinions vary from enthusiastic reception to city council skepticism on the new turf. But everything is blended together in this film without distinction. The opinions of those people who trim their tiny lawns using the largest John Deere mower they make do not seem that much different from those people who replaced their whole lawn with synthetic turf. Both sects seem ignorant of the environmental consequences inherent in both products, and the filmmakers, either in an attempt to stay true to their subjects or maybe in ignorance themselves, never discuss environmentally friendly solutions to lawn care with anyone. All I can tell from this film is that Americans love of their lawn and they will do anything they can to keep it looking green.

tongue in cheek look at green lawns...

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 23 May 2009]

Shown on sundance channel in May 2009, this is a tongue in cheek look at the water and chemicals being used to keep those lawns green. They make some good points, but they only discuss the evils of using all that water; In the interest of fairness, one could discuss the part those green lawns are playing in the C02/ oxygen exchange process, or the cooling of the atmosphere done by the lawns. In my part of town, if one plants anything EXCEPT plush, green, lawn, it has to be submitted to the town council for approval (this IS a tourist resort area, with numerous golf courses...) At one point, the directors show that if all the water on earth were to fit in a gallon jug, only 3 tablespoons would be fresh water. While this is certainly a startling fact, they also might have mentioned any pros and cons of desalination plants, currently being used by more and more countries. Entertaining short film by Eric Flagg and Isaac Brown.

Green isn't always "green"

[hrkrix · 8/10 · 27 January 2008]

Well worth the viewing time, a lighthearted look at an extremely serious issue. By very plainly examining the subject from both sides the filmmakers use interlocking stories to keep the movie from becoming a sermon. Gimme Green points out that turning around our collective viewpoint on the subject will be a task that will go on until drinking water rivals gasoline for price and scarcity. In a dim, very near and foreseeable future, potable water will become more hard to find. Runoff from over fertilized lawns will continue to poison the very few aquifers we have left. No preaching here, just a sad reality coming to a well watered, manicured and green community near you - see sometimes being green isn't always "Green". Nice job by the filmmakers.