Not a bad first effort

Rating: 7/10 (20 September 2004)

Zach Braff's directorial debut, 'Garden State' gives us the story of Andrew Largeman, a thinly employed L.A. actor whose mother dies, leading him to visit his home state of New Jersey to attend her funeral. Soon after he arrives, he falls back into his friendships with people he went to high school with, most notably Mark, played by Peter Sarsgaard and continues in the barely-there and shallow relationship he shares with his father. (Ian Holm) From there he encounters Sam (Natalie Portman) a girl who is off the scale in terms of quirkiness. He spends several days hanging out with his friends and avoiding his father, all in search for deeper meaning in his life.
For a first time directing effort, Braff did a pretty good job with 'Garden State'. Two things were glaringly obvious to me from the onset; most striking was that he has obviously been heavily influenced by the music video age. The use of slow-motion for dramatic effect, various film speeds, etc. all show direct influence. The other thing is that he is not afraid to let the camera focus on his face  he was very comfortable to give the camera many long, languid looks; so many that the thought popped into my head that he probably practiced these looks in his bathroom mirror or something. Certainly both of these points did not take anything away from the film, indeed the dynamic cinematography was an asset. Unfortunately, the film was higher on style, but the story lacked real meat. There were several times where I found myself looking forward to some plot points (particularly the one involving Andrew's father) being expounded upon, but they just kind of fizzled with a little metaphorical sigh. Having said that, there were several plot elements that didn't pan out in the manner in which we've become accustomed to with Hollywood films, so that was certainly refreshing, and stood out as a definite positive. Also, I appreciated the 'real life  real speak' aspects of the film. It's obvious that the film was written by a Generation X-er, inspired by pop culture, because there were many times during the film where I would chuckle to myself because I'd had an almost identical conversation with someone in my life at one time or another.
Unfortunately, the biggest negative in the film was probably the biggest name of the film- Natalie Portman. Her character, Sam, is quirkiness personified. She says pretty much anything she possibly can, and contorts her body into goofy positions to scream 'I'm different and perky!' as loud as possible. Whereas I found Kate Winslet's 'quirky girl' character endearing in another independent film from earlier this year, 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', Portman simply grated on me more and more throughout the film. Rather than thinking she was special, unusual and deep I found her to be a negative component of the film. Conversely, Peter Sarsgaard, who has been REALLY good in the few films I've seen him in, kept it up in 'Garden State'. His obviously intelligent and well-spoken Mark is a solid, believable and complex character and Sarsgaard embodies this character brilliantly.
I've never seen the show that made Braff 'famous', 'Scrubs', so this was my exposure to him and his talents. 'Garden State' is certainly flawed, but it is quite good for his first work and I'm looking forward to his future writing and directorial career. I enjoyed 'Garden State' on a basic level enough where I would recommend it to anyone who appreciates independent cinema, but I didn't get the emotional, intellectual or spiritual impact I was led to believe would occur based on word of mouth. Braff is a long way from Hal Ashby-caliber writing and directing, but this is a decent start. Still a good film nonetheless, 'Garden State' is definitely worth a look.
--Shelly