Garden
State
Paul
Martin, 22 August 2004
writer,
director: Zach Braff (Scrubs) | starring: Zach Braff, Sir Ian Holm,
Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard
Warning.
I spoil a lot of the movie here, but that's only because this is
a collection of my thoughts on the movie a few hours after letting
it sink in and after only one viewing.
I
could see that this movie was one that was different tham most other
movies. It's pretty random at times and has some questionable content.
However, when it comes down to what it was all about, I think perhaps
a second or third viewing will clear things up.
What
this movie, I think, is for, is people in their 20s, and I found
this to be different from most other movies that I've seen. It's
definitely the only movie I have ever seen that was supposed to
be that way.
Here's
an excerpt from Zach
Braff's Blog about Garden State:
First
and foremost I always hoped people would have a good laugh and
hopefully empathize with the characters. But the fact that so
many of you are relating to the themes and subject matter is so
comforting to me, because for many years when I was feeling all
these feelings, I felt incredibly alone; I couldn't find many
people who were "in it"... going through the mental
puberty that your twenties can be. - (Or any time of your life
that involves feeling long overdue for the next chapter of your
life to begin.)
When
I wrote Garden State, I was completely depressed, waiting tables
and lonesome as I've ever been in my life. The script was a way
for me to articulate what I was feeling; alone, isolated, "a
dime a dozen" and homesick for a place that didn't even exist.
I guess one of the cool things about the success of Garden State
is that those of you out there who are "in it" and feeling
all these things, can take comfort in the fact that there are
so many people commenting on this blog (including me) that can
relate. And as lonely as you ever feel, you are not alone.
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A
guy in his twenties, on prescription drugs because of something
he accidentally did when he was nine, going home to find his friends
haven't changed. They're still partying like they probably did in
high school and college, and he seems to be on the outside of it,
watching from outside of himself, and all of this movement is happening
around him. He's realizing that a lot of these people are wasting
their lives away. He's been on drugs his whole life, and none of
the drug use at the party really seems to effect him. He seems bored
by it.
As
the movie goes on, we learn about his life, piece by piece. The
things that he missed out on, and things that he's been through,
and with each new revelation, we learn that there are many things
that we have to be thankful for in our own lives. That life has
it's hardships. And that life finds a way to move on through it
all.
It
took meeting someone else with problems for him to realize that
he was not alone with his own. He also had one friend bring him
on a journey to get one small thing. At least to me, that showed
that this one friend knows what is important to him, and will be
there for him. This is the friend that will probably either be the
first to really grow up, or is more grown up than he lets on, and
is satisfied with his life at this point.
The
girl that he meets is confused about the world, she's a pathelogical
liar, and I guess she feels like she's got some control over what
people think about her when she makes stuff up. She claims that
she doesn't believe in God, but being a pathelogical liar, we don't
know when she is lying and when she isn't.
The
movie had a lot of good lines in it, and is basically, like Joe
said, about finding where you fit in, and taking some control of
yourself. The lead character is Jewish, but doesn't practice it.
He also found himself numb to the world because of the prescription
drugs. It was only after he stopped taking them, that he realized
that there was nothing wrong with him. He also hadn't cried in about
15 years, and when all is said and done, he finds a piece of what
really matters in life. That one thing that conquers all. Something
that's been a part of most or all of the biggest or best movies
this year. It's a part of Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The
Village. Spider-Man
2 and, of course, The Passion of the
Christ. He finds love. And while everything else in his
life is going insane, that is the first sane decision in what we
can only hope is the first in a series of great decisions and changes.
The
music that plays over the final scenes is "Let Go" by Frou Frou.
What it's telling us about his decision is that he's letting go
of what is holding him back, and jumping in full throttle into the
future. He's accepting what life is giving him because he knows
that is all that he's got. So why not?
And
the shot of the three major characters yelling into a chasm just
shows that sometimes it's good to yell, that you need to scream
to let go of a lot of tension sometimes. I don't know where I was
going to go with this, the words seemed to escape me.
All
in all, I'll probably buy it because it's quirky and different.
For the same reason that I'm getting "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
Mind."
Maybe
it isn't top ten material but it might end up on my top ten for
2004, based on what I have and will be seeing this year.
Read Joe's comments on it here: http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=joesully328&tab=weblogs&uid=124047637
7.5/10
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