Natalie Portman makes Garden State shine

Rating: 10/10 (3 January 2006)

I fell in love with Natalie Portman as soon she appeared on screen in this movie. She blew me away. She is great, awesome, amazing, but most of all she's real. She stands out in this movie's exceptional cast.
The movie itself is well paced. It doesn't rush through any of the scenes, and that allows you to take it all in. Zach Braff has made an impressive first feature with Garden State and it will be fun to see what will come next.
The things that stand out in this movie, beside Natalie Portman, are the music and the cinematography. The music is used in all the right places, and the scenes with no music at all gain strength from this. The soundtrack is superior. Other movies/directors have a lot to learn from this. The cinematography is beautiful. Simple and poignant. It adds to the context of the movie. If it's done deliberately or not I can't say, but I do know that shooting a movie with limited funds sometimes forces you to compromise. No matter what, they made it look great.
As a final thought I'd just like to say that Natalie Portman would have given Hilary Swank a run for the money at the Academy Awards if only she'd been nominated. She obviously was overlooked.