By V.A. MUSETTO
Rating: 
Posted: 12:23 am
July 18, 2008
MEET the real-life Edward Scissorhands, Pearl Fryar.
The 66-year-old African-American, the subject of the inspiring documentary "A Man Named Pearl," doesn't have scissors where his hands should be, but he turns trees and bushes into topiary sculptures every bit as amazing as the ones Johnny Depp's character crafts in the Tim Burton film.
And Fryar's sculptures are real, not the result of movie magic.
Fryar lives with his wife in Bishopville, a depressed town in South Carolina's poorest county, where racial prejudice still rears its ugly head.
He first attracted attention when he turned a 3-acre patch of land next to his suburban abode into a magical garden, in some cases using plants that were destined for the dump.
His only formal training was a three-minute demonstration at a local nursery.
Word of Fryar's handiwork spread far and wide. Now, bus loads of tourists come to see his abstract creations, he has a teaching job at a small college, and his work has been chronicled by the national media.
And the local Chamber of Commerce is hoping that Fryar's sculptures will draw visitors to Bishopville, where the main street is littered with boarded-up stores.
Not bad for a sharecropper's son who once worked in a soda can factory.
Running time: 78 minutes. Rated G (nothing objectionable). At the Angelika, Houston and Mercer streets.
