Deep Inspiring Coming of Age Movie

Rating: 9/10 (13 July 2005)

Many "coming of age" movies follow trite formulaic plots. Immature male or female is portrayed as misunderstood or depressed in a frequently obnoxious environment with uncaring or uncomprehending parents. Through a series of events the young person meets disillusionment, loses his or her innocence and gains maturity. This plot is true of everything from Risky Business to Porky's.
All the more remarkable then that a young actor/director should have the maturity, perspective and creative vision to put out a remarkable film, entertaining for people who are long past "coming of age" ( like 45 year olds for instance) and are slipping towards the other age- old.
This film has Natalie Portman in a truly wonderful performance as an eccentric and alive young woman who pulls the main character "Large" out of the catatonic stupor he has been in. In the process she comes to terms with her own feelings of inadequacy and strangeness.
The supporting cast is great and the setting of the Garden State "New Jersey" shows the state as it really is, not like the caricature of the state in the opening credits of the Sopranos.
A film worth seeing again.