Film review: Garden State.

I'd been hearing so many good things about this little film, that I decided to pick it up, today. It finished an hour ago, and here I am, writing this review.


I'd been seeing the name Zach Braff left and right, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the big deal was; why was everybody so damn enthousiastic about this kid from Scrubs? Then I saw this little flick, and despite Braff doing a great job, I still wasn't convinced about his alegged genius. Until the credits started rolling, revealing to me a fact that had eluded me up until then; the kid wrote and directed the film, too. Ok, I'm officially impressed.

Short summary, for those of you unlucky enough not to have seen it yet: Andrew Largeman is a heavily medicated young man; a struggling actor, living in Los Angeles, whose only claim to fame is a role as a retarded quarterback in a bad TV movie. He lives his life in his medicated haze, far removed from his family and friends whom he rarely talks to. But all that changes when he receives the call that his mother has passed away and he must return to pay his respects for a few days.


The film is simply beautiful; Zach Braff created for us a stylish and aesthetically very pleasing film. There are so many memorable shots, such as Largeman sitting alone on the couch, drugged out, while his friends play 'spin the bottle'; such as the shots at the pool, with their magnificent lighting; such as Natalie Portman's Sam tap-dancing in front of the fireplace; and best of all, the shot at the end of the film, where the camera fast-zooms out away from the ark, over the gorge. In short - visually, this film is everything a film should be.

What Braff does so well in this film is that it abandons the traditional narrative arc, and becomes more like a succession of bizarre encounters with people he vaguely remembers from a previous life; it almost feels like a genuine trip home. Braff perfectly captures that awkwardness of returning home after a long period, and the uncomfortability of seeing old friends who haven't nearly changed as much as you think, or hope, you have.


And it is in this juxtaposition between hopes and reality where the comedy lies. This was one of the funniest films I've seen in a long, long time; I would take this over any gross-out comedy that's ever been released, simply because the jokes in Garden State are subtle, and they are funny because they very well could be real, and are not forced on you.

The casting is top notch, too, especially regarding the central couple; the pivotal relationship of the film forms between Braff's Andrew and Portman's Samantha. It is easily one of the most charming and heartfelt romances you'll ever have the pleasure of seeing on the silver screen; together, they share some of the funniest moments and some of the most romantic scenes in recent memory. This couple just feels right together, and that's mainly due to Braff's and Portman's excellent performances. There are also a number of nice turns from the supporting actors, most notably from Ian Holm as the dad slash psychiatrist and Peter Sarsgaard als the long lost stoner friend with a heart of gold, Mark.


Something that also struck a chord with me was the sublime soundtrack. Songs from the likes of Coldplay, The Shins and Frou Frou are an integral part of the movie and set the moods from scene to scene. The tracks were so well picked, they matched the film so impeccably, that it almost seemed as if the soundtrack was an extra character, and not just a soundtrack. I haven't seen a soundtrack fit a film so exquisitely since Donnie Darko.

All in all, Garden State can be perfectly summed up by just one short piece of dialogue from the film:

'This is your one opportunity to do something that no one has ever done before and that no one will copy throughout human existence. And if nothing else, you will be remembered as the one guy who ever did this. This one thing.'

Zach Braff did just that.

An 86 out of 100.

Cheers