Movie: Garden State
Starring: Zach Braff, Natalie Portman
Written and Directed By Zach Braff
(Fox Searchlight)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes

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For those of you playing along at home in our Jeopardy game, for the answer "Garden State" for $400, the question should be "What is New Jersey's nickname?" Of course it's plausible that the question could be "What is the state of mind where flowers grow out of your head?" but your clue here was the subject heading, "Geography".

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Garden State is a pleasing coming of age film and it's genuine enough to make you think that writer, director and star Zach Braff has lived something like this. Braff is familiar to viewers of the TV show Scrubs, but I try to avoid TV as much as possible, so this was my first exposure to him.

Basically Braff has made Garden State very actor driven. He plays Andrew Largeman, a 20-ish small time actor in California who travels back to New Jersey for the funeral of his mother. Unfortunately he's left his medication behind, so the journey is also the first time he's been off tranquilizers in years. He seems a little shell-shocked and distant as he visits with old friends and finds them mostly unrewarding. He makes a feeble attempt to communicate with his dad, a psychiatrist who was responsible for putting him on meds in the first place. Largeman Senior recommends Andrew to an associate to get him a new prescription, and in his waiting room he meets Samantha, played by Natalie Portman. Samantha has a problem with epilepsy but she's resolved not to let that rule her. Call her bent, but sunny. And memorable. She and Andrew warm up to each other and slowly each coaxes the other out. With Samantha's help, Andrew eventually comes to an understanding with his dad, too.

Garden State is very witty in spots but it's not a terribly sunny film. The sets are all real locations and every outdoor scene has a cloudy-about-to-rain soft white light to it, all supported by an introspective, mostly acoustic soundtrack from the likes of Remy Zero, Simon & Garfunkle, Coldplay and Zero 7. The casual working man's approach to drugs, the dead end buddies and the rain soaked epiphany near an abandoned quarry at the end all have an appealing lived-in verity that's hard to find in most dramas. It's not a blockbuster, but first time director Banff should be very proud of a his engagingly subtle accomplishment.

The Skinny:
Am I glad I saw the movie? It was nice, in a touchy feely way.
Would I go to see it again? Stop touching me there. Oh okay, maybe I'll feel like it when it's on IFC or Sundance.

© 2004 - Rusty Pipes