Adam meets Eve in Garden State and they fall in love...

Rating: 9/10 (6 January 2007)

I had been meaning to watch Garden State for the longest time... finally rented the DVD last week. Natalie Portman and Zach Braff look great together! Few on screen couples look "real" but these guys do ;) Some of their intimate scenes together especially in the end are really well done... their emotional closeness is very heartrending... this film is essentially another boy-meets-girl kind of story, but it's done in such an unassuming unaffected manner... not with the overbearing consciousness or awareness that oh, the boy meets THE girl and now they're going to fall in love... which you kind of feel while watching most movies... I think a huge credit for that goes to Braff for writing a character like Sam - quirky, uninhibited and just radiating so much positivity. Natalie Portman is amazing as Sam...but then she's amazing whatever role she plays...!
After I saw the film, I sat through the entire audio commentary by Zach Braff and Natalie Portman... I do this for almost all the films I rent on DVD... I enjoy listening to the director's commentary as it brings new insights into the film and how the whole thing came about... To this end, I found the director's commentary of GS a bit wanting... one main thing which I found lacking is Zach Braff's lack of comments on his choice of actors... When Peter Sarsgaard appears on screen, I want to know why he chose Peter for the role, especially since he plays such an important part in the film. The same goes for Iam Holm and even Natalie Portman... especially Natalie Portman... So what if Portman is giving the commentary with him? I still want to why he cast her and not someone else... I read somewhere that Braff chose Natalie because he'd been a great fan of hers as she's an actress with great depth etc... but I want to know why... Braff talks about Jean Smart's casting and that of other minor characters who appear in the film as friends, but not of the main supporting cast... I wish he'd done that... Braff is very generous with his comments on Judy Becker's production design for the film and indeed it is one of the features of this film that really enhances it's overall impact on the viewer and makes it memorable...
Garden State is a really commendable attempt for a first-time director like Zach Braff. He is, I read, directing a film called 'Open Hearts'. Hope it's as good or probably better...!