Coming home

Rating: 8/10 (9 August 2007)

Zach Braff stars in "Garden State," a film he also wrote and directed -those are some accomplishments.
Braff plays a heavily medicated young man, Andrew Largeman, who comes back to his home town upon the death of his mother. He's on complete disconnect from his father (Ian Holm) who also is his psychiatrist. While in a doctor's office for headaches, he meets the beautiful Sam (Natalie Portman) who claims she's at the doctor's because she's a robot who needs to get charged. It's this kind of off-the-cuff humor that makes "Garden State" a truly unique, touching and wonderful film. Large and Sam are as opposite as can be - she talks incessantly; he's quiet; she cries at card tricks; he claims he never cries, including at his mother's funeral. Yet they connect, and she opens up a world of feeling to him that he's never known. As he tells his father, he's been numb for years. So he takes a vacation from all those medications to find out who he is.
I can't relate to this movie the way that some people on the board can - this isn't my generation - but because of the acting and the story, I can appreciate what they're going through. And it doesn't matter what generation you are - being young is tough going.
The acting is uniformly excellent, with Portman being a standout as a vivacious, friendly young woman who embraces life. There are some familiar faces -Portman, Jean Smart, Ian Holm, Ron Liebman and Peter Sarsgaard as well as some young and attractive new ones. Very well done by Braff; I look forward to seeing more of his work.