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Garden State

Sun., September 12, 2004

I finally got around to seeing Garden State last night after hearing some glowing recommendations. The first thing that struck me was at the beginning of the movie, in the scene where the woman in the restaurant asks Zach Braff’s character, Andrew, for bread and he tells her they don’t have any because it’s a Vietnamese restaurant. I’m nearly certain that location was Sea, where I had just had dinner on Friday. Weirder, the scene takes place at the same table our group sat at in the restaurant.

The second thing that struck me was all the scrawny mice scurrying around the floor by my seat during the movie. I suppose it was part of the mixed blessing of a near-empty theater; there was lots of room and quiet, but the mice felt obliged to catch up on their popcorn-related busywork. And looking at the bright side, better mice than cockroaches.

As for the movie itself, I first want to point out the excellent soundtrack, particularly the selections by Simon & Garfunkel and Nick Drake. (Why “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service had to be a pussy cover version by Iron & Wine, I’m unsure.) But I was disappointed how roughly the songs were added to the movie. They seemed to pop up whenever there was a blatantly poignant moment, just in case you weren’t paying attention. Even worse is the scene where Sam, Natalie Portman’s character, actually announces the next song will be by the Shins. Yeah, it’s a great song, but just play the dang thing.

Sam, it turns out, is the heart of the movie, which drags until she pops up 20 or 30 minutes into the film. Nearly all of her scenes with Andrew are rife with crackly, natural dialog that’s really funny; they’re the best part of the movie. I especially enjoyed their initial meeting in the waiting room, the scene in her bedroom (“This is your one opportunity to do something that no one has ever done before”), the hamster burial scene and the pool scene. Some of the peripheral characters thrown in for comic relief, particularly Sam’s adopted brother Titembay and the Medieval Times guy, irritated me. Yes, we get the idea; Sam has a wacky family. Other peripheral characters have such little and insignificant screen time that they seem thrown in as plot contrivances, like Andrew’s dad (played by Ian Holm). And near the end, where the movie meanders toward the antics of Mark (played by Peter Sarsgaard), it starts getting aimless and uninteresting, and feels tacked on.

So see the movie for the excellent performances by Portman (who hasn’t had a role this good since 1996 in Beautiful Girls, although this role is much less cloying and Lolita-like) and Braff, who I’m looking forward to seeing in more movies. His character’s slow evolution from nearly paralyzed to having robust emotion and ambition is well done.

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On September 17, 2004 at 10:40 p.m., anonymous wrote:

i was one of the people who gave the movie rave reviews and i think jason missed the point of the movie entirely. the movie encourages the viewer to embrace life and to take risks in order to live to the fullest. these are things jason struggles with which is why he so easily poo poos a movie that challenges him to break out of his own comfort zone and enjoy the many bounties life has to offer.