"What do we do"?

Rating: 7/10 (30 May 2005)

Tons of mixed sensations and feelings were going through my mind as I watched this film, that even if it's not great, it's something that should clearly not be missed. The feelings about my own life and things I'm willing to do, as sensations about all these other movies of this type that have seemed so great to me.
It's just something that takes a lot of courage; what Zach Braff has done with this film. To write, without thinking about anything else than fulfilling his most precious illusions no matter whatI imagine what crossed his mind while he was doing it, and he might have thought it as something impossibleAn actor with the little time in the business as him, looking for a shot It's gratefully amazing there are still some brave producers out there, who look for these things. Dan Halsted, Pamela Abdy and all the others involved in this project's productionYour courage has made some dreams come true.
This is the part where I get emotional and inside personal stuff, but I needed to explain because I imagine what must have been for Zach Braff, being worried if people would like what he loved. Because he could have laughed harder than anyone in his set with the scenes, and those scenes would be shown months later to millions of persons around the world. And what if it wasn't funny for them? I can't say I had a blast with the movie, but I let go because of his situation; trying to figure out what was that anything he saw that probably the rest wouldn't I felt alleviated when the images where coming through. I've always wanted to write a script; primary objectives being writing about real life situations, with no starting or ending point, creating thought-provoking words that don't seem faked or manipulativeThese things are all in this script, somehow. Beautifully written words involving characters making reflections about the moment they're living in their lives. Sometimes the characters talk too much and they seem like nonsense but you can't tell if they're stoned or drunk since they could easily be; because everybody is always in that state. They're saying words most screenwriters are afraid of writing. Yes, Braff's screenplay is a little too profound, and not very spontaneous; but it doesn't matter because you've probably never heard those things before. I think two people can fall in love in less than a week timeHe is sure that can happen too.
Braff has even put his own little preferences in there, like little moments when he does crazy or metaphoric stuff that you realize it can only come from the writer and director, and not from anyone else. Little mentions of actors and movies, probably his favorites (or not), hidden in there (Robert De Niro, "Serpico")The freedom he took, of doing another thing I've always dreamed of, that is putting the music and songs he knew were perfect for each moment. Without problems, he put those songs in the adequate places and they all fit perfectly. Those songs and other little things that probably had a lot to do with his own life, and didn't prevent him of realizing a film that is not worried about time and structure and it's living the moment. Just as Braff's characters say constantly, and then you can get what he's saying: "This is life, that's how it is". "This is the moment". And, in the most revealing part, the question I wrote at the top and we always end asking at some point: "What do we do?" I always end up enjoying this type of films, because they're similar, not maybe only in plot or story, but in ways they arrived to their realization. "Love, Liza" is the story of a man who looses his wife because she commits suicide, and leaves him a letter. The script was written by Gordy Hoffman, and it took his brother Phillip Seymour to get involved there so the movie was made. "Igby Goes Down", the story of an adolescent that stays away because of the events that happen in his family. A totally unknown Burr Steers turned what he thought as a novel to a written and directed movie coming directly from his hands. "Garden State" involves a guy whom his mom dies and his life in his home town for a few days after the funeral. This involves encounters with old friendships, plenty of talks and some romance. How do we compare these films? The first one is the life of a grown man that continues after an event; the second one is the same, but involving an adolescent; the third one involves a man in his 20's.
Pro casting director Avy Kaufman achieves another excellent ensemble, which involved some of the director's preferences too. It's said Braff wrote Sam's role thinking of Natalie Portman. He has a good eye, because Portman achieves a wonderful job, looking beautiful and going crazy periodically. Peter Sarsgaard (Mark) comes from somewhere I can't imagine, to save his natural gifts as an actor and deliver greatly. Ian Holm is mayor words in the father's role, teaching acting lessons and shining in the minority. The rest of the cast is perfect, wherever they came from, they did their job right. And Braff, well, it was his whole project as a writer and director, and he did this film with a lot of passion. But he is also an actor, and puts a lot of passion into that too.