Dec 27 2008
Garden State.
Written by, Directed by, and Starring Zach Braff… is the film Garden State.
Many many times this film has been recommended to me. I dont believe I have ever fully watched it until about 3 hours ago when I sat down and watched it in its entirety. I would have to say that there is alot of this film that I enjoy, but it must be sifted out through all the dirt.
The acting is wonderful. All the quirky and odd characters seemed to mesh and overlap with not too much distinction, but they all were all interesting. Zach Braff almost instantly pulled me into his character the second the film opened and he earned my empathy soon after. Natalie Portman did equally as well will her fun loving quirky personality.
The story is paced weird and structured rather oddly. The entire film seems to stay at one level pace all the way until the end where it peaks momentarily. There are a few scenes that give you that “feel good” feeling, and a couple others and make you think a little deeper as they pull at your heart strings, but overall it is relatively flat.
The language is far too excessive and unnecessary which distracts from the sometimes well written dialogue and only helps to further mesh the characters together in one unintelligent lump. There is a completely unnecessary scene involving a hotel and some peeping toms that does not further the plot in the slightest and could/should be cut out.
The simple and quirky story is one that is easy to relate to and inspiring in a way. It makes you think about your life. Which is something all films ought to do. I would not say this film is amazing by any means. The music is good though, and its worth a viewing. I like it. I dont love it.
I keep telling myself I need to see it.
Thanks for the heads up on everything.