From: iain
Message:
'Garden State' is the writing/directorial debut of 'Scrubs' star Zach
Braff. It's a little indie film that's come out of nowhere to be a
contender for film of the year for many people, critics and audiences
alike. Braff is Andrew Largeman, a 26 year old wanna-be actor who
returns home for his mothers funeral after being estranged from his
family for nearly ten years. He can't talk to his father and his career
is a joke. The film follows him as he meets up with old school friends,
goes to parties and meets Sam (played by Natalie Portman) a sweet
compulsive liar who he can't get enough of. Largeman says of his acting
"I'm only happy being someone else" and as we learn his families story
we begin to understand why.
I personally found 'Garden State' a little uncomfortable to watch at
times as Largeman's life has many similarities to my own, especially his
interactions with his friends and family. One scene in particular stands
out, when he goes to a party with some old school friends and is given a
tab of "x". He sits in the middle of this empty couch while the
speeded-up party action goes on around him. He only snaps out of his
observational elevated status when addressed directly, and then he feels
all eyes are on him and he sweats under the pressure to entertain, say
the "right thing" or be funny. I think most people can relate to those
kind of situations, and that's where the heart of the film is - every
minute brings up a line of dialogue or a scene that encapsulates the
viewer into the films joy at the all the delicate shadings of life,
whether that moment is happy, sad, astounding, funny, or even utterly
bizarre. It's an ode to the hyper-realism that life sometimes throws at
us to force us from our own mindfunk.
Portman is at her best here, and she gives the performance of the year
in my opinion. If she doesn't get an Oscar she's been robbed. Braff
shows he has a lot more talent than he's allowed to show in 'Scrubs' and
I'm sure this film will be his springboard to develop more quirky
character-driven comedy dramas like this, here's hoping anyway. The film
does have an apparent need to please the audience with it's quirky
one-liners and melancholy sad-but-happy soundtrack, and while it does
become slightly repetitive towards the end, the last ten minutes are so
deliriously happy I challenge even the most macho man not to have a lump
the size of a tennis ball in their throat as they leave the cinema.
Largeman: "Fuck, this hurts so much."
Sam: "I know it hurts. But it's life, and it's real. And sometimes it
fucking hurts, but it's life, and it's pretty much all we got. "
(see www.killyourtv.co.uk for linked review with pictures)
iain
