January 10, 2005
Garden State
Critic: Steph Lewis
On a scale of 0 to Awesome, I rate this: Solid & Thoughtful
Released: July 30, 2004 Limited
Director: Zach Braff
MPAA RATING: R, for language, drug use and a scene of sexuality
Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, and Zach Braff have excellent, real performances in this beauty of a film. It's Zach Braff's directoral & writing debut and he does it with style and sass. This film reminded me of a strange Charlie Kaufman writing style mixed with a bit of The Graduate for quirkiness and thought.
Andrew Largeman (Braff) has basically been on a bunch of hard prescription drugs for most of his life, as prescribed by his psychiatrist father, which has left him essentially numb to life. It's pretty clear that his family has issues that haven't been discussed for quite some time. When his mother dies, Largeman leaves his small T.V. career in L.A. to go back home for her funeral. There, he reconnects with people from his past including his father (Ian Holm), his gravedigger friend (Sarsgaard), and other quite interesting people.
When "Large" comes back home, he leaves all of his prescription medications behind as kind of a bizarre experiment to see what happens when he's not medicated. He begins to see and feel life differently, which is emphasized in his meeting of Sam (Portman). She's this crazy-fun girl who gently helps Large to live again.
Overall, this movie is made very sensitively. There are moments of humor piggy-backed on deep thoughts. Each character is phenomenally played, especially Portman who absolutely shines. I wish that Sam was real so she could be my friend.
The only thing that made me upset about this movie was the ending. I felt that the whole script and characters were so well done, that the cheeseball ending kind of made me ill. I wish they had come up with a better ending, but the rest of the movie really held me. Whether they be burying a hamster, collecting tears in a dixie cup, or having breakfast with a knight...the quirky scenes are amusing and thoughtful at the same time. We find love and joy in the bizarre, and thus fall in love with the deep struggles the characters so openly share.
The biggest kudos goes to Braff, who wrote and directed this little beauty.
This movie is rich in symbolism, poignancy, and quirkiness -- which makes it a delight to see!