Solid debut from Braff

Rating: Null/10 (12 February 2006)

There are films that define each generation. The Best Years of Our Lives define 1940's. Rebel without a Cause define 1950's. Easy Rider defines 1960's. Star Wars defines 1970's. Breakfast Club defines 1980's. Pulp Fiction defines 1990's.
Okay, which film am I talking about? Oh yes, Garden State! It perfectly defines this generation for kids like me and some others.
What makes Garden State so special? Well, for example, we can relate to several characters in Garden State and it is seldom that we get character driven and dialogue driven film all in one, which is very unique. Think of Before Sunrise but Garden State has a plot. Zach Braff make amazing debut as director with this film and he must be given kudos for that.
Zach Braff's character Andrew Largeman represented, maybe, all of us because we can feel the empty and void all in ourselves but soon or later we will be redeem by someone who is similar to Natalie Portman's character Samantha. Perhaps, this is Portman's finest work as an actress besides The Professional. I never saw any of Braff's works before but he did superb job in Garden State. Someone in Braff's position would try to have steal and hogging whole the film to themselves but that's not case with Braff. He simply allows the storyline developing and let his actors shine in their roles.
Nobody in Garden State outperforming each other and that's smart thing. Everyone in Garden State is perfect with content in their roles and for that, it is amazing independent film. Its very reality based film but it treat us an intelligent audience because it allows us to pondering for ourselves instead of being bombarded with explosions and car chases every five minutes.
Its 102 minutes of pure character interaction film, which is pretty rare among modern films these days but I'm hoping that it can stand the time of test because the theme in Garden State is universal and I think everyone can really relate to it, no matter what their experiences are.
I would recommend this film to everyone and it's one of the precious few modern films that I actually like.