Garden State

Let’s start by saying that the movie I’m reviewing this week is not exactly normal. It has a great cast, great story, great direction, and a fantastic soundtrack, but it is one of the quirkiest films I’ve ever seen. The storytelling is fun and elaborate, but absolutely nothing you’d think of when you think that Natalie Portman co-starred in it. Let’s get to the plot so you know what I’m talking about.

The film is about Andrew Largeman, played by Zach Braff, who is an aspiring actor/ waiter in California that has to go back to his hometown in New Jersey after his mother dies. He attends the funeral and meets up with some friends who invite him to a party that night. At the party he smokes marijuana and takes ecstasy. He goes to a doctor’s appointment the following day for headaches he has been having, and in the waiting room he meets a girl named Sam, played by Natalie Portman. The film becomes enveloped on the relationship between Sam and Andrew, as well as his feelings for his mother.

Garden State was written and directed by Zach Braff, the star of the movie, who was born in New Jersey. He is probably most well known for his role in the television show Scrubs, in which he is the main character J.D. This was Braff’s feature film directing and writing debut. He filmed the movie on a budget of $2.5 million and it was mainly filmed in parts of New Jersey as well as Los Angeles and New York City.

What is nice about this little independent film is the cast the Braff was able to get for the film on the strict budget. Braff played the lead, Andrew Largeman, but also had some great supporting characters. Natalie Portman, playing Sam, was the first choice by Braff for the role and their chemistry made the movie something special. She is most known for her work in the Star Wars prequel trilogy as Princess Amidala, V for Vendetta, and Black Swan, for which she won an Oscar. Peter Sarsgaard, who plays as Andrew Largeman’s best friend Mark, is an actor well known for his range of films, and is most well known for Shattered Glass, Green Lantern, and Boys Don’t Cry.

One of the great things about this film is the soundtrack. It was all handpicked by Braff himself and because he had such a small budget to work with and the soundtrack was integral to the story, he sent a copy of the soundtrack list with the script to the different production studios. The music features namely indie-rock artists and contains such artists as Coldplay, The Shins, Simon & Garfunkel, Frou Frou, and Remy Zero. The soundtrack eventually won a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.

As said before, the film was made for $2.5 million, but made over $35 million during its run at the Sundance Film Festival and in theaters. It was released in 2004 nationally and has been critically acclaimed. Empire placed the film as number 393 on their list of the ‘500 Greatest Films of All Time’.

I would give this film a 4.5/5 because I think that the relationship between Andrew and Sam is fantastic, the soundtrack is great, and it’s just a nice film all around. You can feel the emotion that Braff wants, and sometimes that is not easy to show in a film.