Garden State

'Garden State' came out in the Uk on December 10th. I had heard wonderful things about it from friends and relatives in the US - I wasn't disappointed...

From start to finish, the film made me laugh and cry. I thought the opening in which we met Braff lying emotionless in bed. Listening to the answer machine message from his dad about his mother's death was disturbing and really drew me in.

So many memorable moments: The funeral, touching and funny, the party scenes, the scan scene...And as for the dialogue - well, sharp and witty. I don't think I will ever forget Natalie Portman's dancing in her bedroom - just to be 'unique' or Zach Braff's touching comments about what makes a 'home' in the swimming pool.

Even those touching moments were funny; the fact that he couldn't swim!

As a mid twenty-something, This film really spoke to me. It's that question we all dread. We've graduated university, got jobs....then what?

Fantastic...just a shame it is not on wide release here...

One of the best films I have seen in ages!

9/10

I would give Garden State a 9 out of 10. The only reason I'm not giving it a perfect 10 is b/c it had a slow start. Besides that this movie overwhelmingly surprised me with its directing and acting. Natatlie Portman did an amazing job playing Sam. She really worked the part. Zach Braff's directing debut is stunning. I had never heard of Braff except for his character on the TV show Scrubs. He also did an excellent job acting. There were so many surprising elements thrown out during the movie. Braff just kept piling one thing on top of the next to make the story more interesting as it rolled on. I was very pleased with Garden State!!!!!!!!!11

This is a really watchable film from a great new young director. Zach Braff, you may well know from the brilliant scrubs, writes and directs this very competent film. Basically it is a simple plot about a few days in the life of a man coming back to his home town for his mums funeral. Anyway what is really interesting in this film is the relationships between characters especially Zach's character and his dad and between Zach and Natalie Portman's character. There is a lot of quirky humour and surreal daydreams that can be seen as a direct influence from scrubs. If you liked Donnie Darko you should enjoy this, yet if also if you thought Donnie Darko was a pile of sentimental, surreal dross you should find that this is a much better and more 'real' film.

This is a film well worth watching

"Garden State" has a very specific brand of humor that not everyone is going to get immediately. But as writer/director/star Zach Braff says in the bonus interview, "Is it funny? {Interviewer says yeah} Good. I never know if anyone else is going to find them funny. If nothing else, I'm making a movie that I'll enjoy."

And that's why this movie works. In comedy, the worst thing you can do is try too hard to be funny. "Garden State" falls squarely in subtle, almost deadpan territory... meaning there aren't any big sight gags, slapstick or knockout punchlines.

In that respect I'd put it in the genre of "movies like Bill Murray would act in" except there's no Bill Murray. I'm referring to flicks like Coffee & Cigarettes, Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic, which is essentially saying it's like a Wes Anderson film, or maybe Terry Zwigoff (Ghost World, Art School Confidential). There's a lot of visual storytelling, as in quirky symmetrical shots, stationary cameras on meticulously arranged sets, or a surreal vibe punctated by the camera slowly rising into the sky.

The story is something like famed French existentialist Albert Camus would write if he did comedy. A late-20s, emotionless, estranged son (Zach Braff) returns to his hometown to bury his mother. He seems devoid of all sentimentality as he wanders around meeting all sorts of crazy (and I mean crazy) characters from his past. Whether he's being nearly shot to death by an overenthusiastic cop, or molested by a hot blonde at a party, his range of emotion barely budges between bored and slightly perplexed. Then he meets his antithesis, a 20-something girl (Natalie Portman) whose range of emotion is somewhere between very amused and insanely happy.

It's the delightful contrast between these 2 characters, and their great on-screen chemistry, that turns an otherwise brooding sarcastic comedy into a really entertaining treat.

Another thing that really defines this film is the way every character, even the minor ones who only have 1 scene, are so bizarre and interesting that you feel like an entire movie spinoff could be made of each one. These characters include: 1) the grave digger who makes his real living by doing questionable things at the hardware store; 2) the grave digger's hot mom who is sleeping with her son's sworn enemy from high school; 3) the kid who got rich from inventing "silent velcro" and who now spends his time doing absolutely nothing; 4) the West African immigrant who is studying criminal justice and is obsessed with figuring out which dog is pissing on his phone; 5) the strange "Guardian of the Abyss" whom I won't spoil for you; and the list goes on.

The second half of the story focuses on a bizarre suburban quest the 3 main characters undertake, almost like in "Stand by Me" but with grownups and maybe a pornographic peepshow or two (btw the location of the climactic scene, "Kiernan's Quarry", is a real place--or at least it was until it got filled in & converted to condos a few years ago).

But as strange and nonsensical as it sounds, these are in fact "true stories from suburbia" as Zach Braff says. The entire film is a compilation of stories that happened to him and others in his small Jersey town growing up. "Garden State" has a magical way of bringing these seemingly random vignettes to our attention, making us understand the epic nature of obscurity.

So no, there may not be crazy car chases, bank heists or wacky jewel capers (...oh wait, actually there sorta is 1 wacky jewel caper), this film delivers a really entertaining ride from start to finish.

This movie was incredible. As a massive fan of light romance 80's movies and old action films, I absolutely fell in love. The plot was no where near heavy, the characters were inspirational and once again, Natalie Portman's cute and quirky character played a massive roll in the beauty of this movie. The story, though containing heavy content to do with the death of Zach's mother, managed to stay subtle and tenuous keeping the comedy theme going. An incredible piece and a must watch to all that have the chance to witness the film.