Monday, September 25, 2006
A Group of People Who Miss the Same Imaginary Place
Garden State Review
A thoroughly enjoyable movie, starring Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, and Peter Saarsgard.
I thought it was quirky (my new must-have in a movie, because aren't we all sick of the same 'ol same 'ol boy meets girl boy loses girl boy gets girl/ underdog baseball team wins the championships/ tortured hero must save the world in 48 hours - type stories?)
Anyway, Zach plays Andrew "Large" Largeman, a struggling actor in LA (peak of his career - a bit part playing a retarded football player) coming home to New Jersey, the titular "Garden State". What follows is a mass of hijinks, food, fun and laughter!!!
No, not really. What follows is a Andrew's struggle against a drug-addled,-father-prescribed lifestyle. (I swear, what is it with all the movies I've been watching and drugs? The Chumscrubber, The Thumbsucker, Mysterious Skin, American Beauty, Garden State all feature drug use in one form or another. I hope this is not a sign of anything.)
Natalie Portman plays this kitschy girl Sam he meets at the hospital, and one criticism I have to make is that at some points in time, when she and Andrew are talking about Deep, Profound Things, she just looks so utterly, serenely beautiful and has The Deep, Profound Look etched on her face, it's absolutely heartbreaking and breathtaking at the same time... and at other times when Ms Portman is being kitschy she just fails... utterly. Well, I guess that means she does suceed at Deeply, Profoundly Overacting.
Zach Braff does that too, although my criticism of him is quite the opposite. When he's being quirky or seriously-dorky and 'yo-man, what the hell is going on man'- roll eyes to the left, roll eyes to the right. Wide look. Bam a la Seth Cohen, (although Zach does it heaps better, Adam Brody is giving me the shits right now after that piece of shit acting he did in Thank You For Smoking), he's entirely likeable, sincere and genuine. When he's trying to be Deep and Profound, he fails quite miserably. Case in point: the scene where he goes to his father's room and puts his hand on his chest (Zach Braff: "Shit, I hope this doesn't make the gay rumours about me more intense.") and says, with a laughable attempt at looking serious and Deep and Profound, "We're going to be OK, Dad. You know that, right? We just have to stop trying to be what we're trying to be and be what we are." (Note to self: "There, there. I made it through that scene. Five minutes of cringe. I made it.")
Favourite scene of the film? When Andrew, Sam and Mark are in their trash bags and stand on top of a crane overlooking the 'infinite abyss' and just yell their lungs out at the bottomless pit. No wonder they chose to feature that scene on the movie poster, DVD cover and soundtrack cover. It's just quirky, and interesting and unexpected and strange, and different. Made me sit up and think, "what the hell have I been doing all my life? Get me a garbage bag!"
Unfortunately, despite being quirky and interesting and different (and covered with gold laurels from Sundance and whatever else), I don't think I got the main message of the film. Is it - a) live life to the fullest, it's the only chance we've got? or b) you never know when love finds you, you never know when you're going to hear a song that's going to change your life, meet a person that's going to turn your world upside down? or could it be c) Cramming a 2.5 mil, 1 hour 49 min film with quirky, eccentric, bizzarely insightful situations and characters that are simplistic and yet Deep and Profound is going to make 26 mil in box office takings, earn accolades in film fests all over the nation and beyond and an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes?
Gee, going to have to think about that for a moment.
A thoroughly enjoyable movie, starring Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, and Peter Saarsgard.
I thought it was quirky (my new must-have in a movie, because aren't we all sick of the same 'ol same 'ol boy meets girl boy loses girl boy gets girl/ underdog baseball team wins the championships/ tortured hero must save the world in 48 hours - type stories?)
Anyway, Zach plays Andrew "Large" Largeman, a struggling actor in LA (peak of his career - a bit part playing a retarded football player) coming home to New Jersey, the titular "Garden State". What follows is a mass of hijinks, food, fun and laughter!!!
No, not really. What follows is a Andrew's struggle against a drug-addled,-father-prescribed lifestyle. (I swear, what is it with all the movies I've been watching and drugs? The Chumscrubber, The Thumbsucker, Mysterious Skin, American Beauty, Garden State all feature drug use in one form or another. I hope this is not a sign of anything.)
Natalie Portman plays this kitschy girl Sam he meets at the hospital, and one criticism I have to make is that at some points in time, when she and Andrew are talking about Deep, Profound Things, she just looks so utterly, serenely beautiful and has The Deep, Profound Look etched on her face, it's absolutely heartbreaking and breathtaking at the same time... and at other times when Ms Portman is being kitschy she just fails... utterly. Well, I guess that means she does suceed at Deeply, Profoundly Overacting.
Zach Braff does that too, although my criticism of him is quite the opposite. When he's being quirky or seriously-dorky and 'yo-man, what the hell is going on man'- roll eyes to the left, roll eyes to the right. Wide look. Bam a la Seth Cohen, (although Zach does it heaps better, Adam Brody is giving me the shits right now after that piece of shit acting he did in Thank You For Smoking), he's entirely likeable, sincere and genuine. When he's trying to be Deep and Profound, he fails quite miserably. Case in point: the scene where he goes to his father's room and puts his hand on his chest (Zach Braff: "Shit, I hope this doesn't make the gay rumours about me more intense.") and says, with a laughable attempt at looking serious and Deep and Profound, "We're going to be OK, Dad. You know that, right? We just have to stop trying to be what we're trying to be and be what we are." (Note to self: "There, there. I made it through that scene. Five minutes of cringe. I made it.")
Favourite scene of the film? When Andrew, Sam and Mark are in their trash bags and stand on top of a crane overlooking the 'infinite abyss' and just yell their lungs out at the bottomless pit. No wonder they chose to feature that scene on the movie poster, DVD cover and soundtrack cover. It's just quirky, and interesting and unexpected and strange, and different. Made me sit up and think, "what the hell have I been doing all my life? Get me a garbage bag!"
Unfortunately, despite being quirky and interesting and different (and covered with gold laurels from Sundance and whatever else), I don't think I got the main message of the film. Is it - a) live life to the fullest, it's the only chance we've got? or b) you never know when love finds you, you never know when you're going to hear a song that's going to change your life, meet a person that's going to turn your world upside down? or could it be c) Cramming a 2.5 mil, 1 hour 49 min film with quirky, eccentric, bizzarely insightful situations and characters that are simplistic and yet Deep and Profound is going to make 26 mil in box office takings, earn accolades in film fests all over the nation and beyond and an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes?
Gee, going to have to think about that for a moment.
# posted by me lah @ 10:10 am 
