Sometimes the only thing keeping you alive… is the thing you forgot to water
In a world increasingly fractured by noise, burnout, and digital disconnection, BUDS (2025) blossoms as a quiet, quirky dramedy that finds unexpected meaning in the smallest things — potted plants, shared silences, and the fragile, hilarious mess of friendship in your thirties.
Set in a rundown Los Angeles apartment complex where dreams have dried up and houseplants outlive relationships, BUDS follows two longtime roommates: Theo, a failed indie musician who now teaches ukulele on Zoom, and Max, a chronically single barista-turned-botanist who hasn’t left the building in months. Their days are stuck in limbo — until they adopt a dying monstera from the trash and, unexpectedly, find a new reason to keep going.
As the plant begins to thrive, so does their bond — evolving from co-dependency into something beautifully bizarre. Along the way, they form an unlikely friendship circle with an anxious divorcee upstairs, a stoner delivery guy who speaks in haikus, and a retired florist who insists the plant is “watching them.” What unfolds is part absurdist comedy, part tender exploration of grief, healing, and how to keep something — anything — alive.
With deadpan humor, intimate visuals, and a lo-fi warmth that feels like a hand-knit sweater, BUDS doesn't shout — it whispers. About loss. About growing older. About how friendship, like plants, doesn’t need much to survive. Just sunlight, attention… and maybe a little weirdness.
