Greener on the other side

Rating: Null/10 (1 November 2011)

Garden State was very complex from the beginning because it had bizarre scene with the plane that was in turbulence and everyone is screaming in chaos while the protagonist who was played by Zach Braff as Andrew Largeman just sat there in his seat looking ahead emotionless. Instead of the natural reaction to turn around and panic with the crowd Andrew just acted if nothing was going on. From then on what I picked up was "Is this the beginning of the movie or the ending?" It was confusing and I didn't know what the movie was going to be about. Just by looking at the expressionless face that Andrew portrayed really made me feel like wanting to punch him in face and scream "what's wrong with you!" The scenes that I thought were irrelevant were the party scene and the whole scouting for the present issue. The first scene I mentioned is when Andrew Largeman goes to a party with his longtime friends and there are drugs involved. I believe it would have been a better movie without the whole drug scene because what my impression was "not another drug movie" like Harold and Kumar. The second part that I wasn't so thrilled about was when friend Mark (that was played by Peter Sarsgarrd) takes them scouting to find the present he wants to give Andrew. Then they happen to stumble upon the hotel and the porn scene. That had nothing to do with the characters and it was plain idiotic to have it in the film. If these two scenes weren't in the film I think it would have been better. What I found to make the film a heartfelt and a success was the relationship with Sam (played by Natalie Portman). The character Andrew showed more emotion with Sam because Andrew and Sam connected a lot and it showed a lot of heartwarming moments. For example when Andrew and Sam are in the tub together and Sam is trying to comfort Andrew because of his past experience of his mother was a very sentimental moment. If the plot didn't incorporate Andrew and Sam together then it would have missed a big element, As Tim Merril expresses "The chemistry between Braff and Portman and their characters goes a long way, saving the film when it takes a few too many bizarre plot/location turns" To be honest I had no idea what the movie was about because it was difficult to predict what was going to happen next, like the movie Inception that was filled with a lot of psychological elements and the plot was mind boggling. I really enjoyed the movie because it had a bunch of things that made me go in "WOW, I didn't expect that to happen!" It just shows how the character develops and gets out from the bottomless pit to awaken to a new world that was shut out. Garden State is an unforgettable film that really teaches the value of life and what journey each character goes through especially Andrew once he realizes what he has in his life is potential because her really didn't get to live life and experience everything around him. As Kevin Thomas puts it "Illuminates a young man's overdue coming of age with unexpected depth and grace."