Garden State.

The reason I am reviewing this, almost a decade after it was released, is mainly because I was made aware of this film like four years ago but at that time of my life, I was dating Christina and I was worried that if I'd enjoy this film as much as everyone said, if anything happened to us, I'd end up hating the film for the rest of my life. It seems this idea was for the best in the end. Practically anyone I have ever even said hello to has said I will love this film and now I think I am finally free enough from her to give this a watch and see what I think. Enjoy! And I know, another indie romance movie, I promise I'll move onto something a little higher concept soon, but I might stay in romance land for a while.


Garden State is surreal, it's hard to place where reality starts and ends in this film. I personally found it
fascinating and beautiful, the opening sequence of pure panic as the plane is going down and Braff is completely calm, almost irritated looking, is a brilliant way to introduce his character.

The film in general is just beautiful, the staging, the cinematography, the costumes. Just the entire visual package is a real treat to the eyes. This film is well put together.

The surrealism doesn't just stop with the visuals either, it bleeds into everything. Some scenes are just strange, almost out of place and the dialogue is sometimes completely incoherent. But I don't know, I guess it's well written and put together enough that it only ever adds to the experience, never breaks it. In life, not everything fits together cleanly, I think that is what they were trying to explain.

But I could also understand this kind of artsy fartsy film making can alienate many viewers too. This can be said for many aspects of the film, it has very unconventional pacing, characters and dialogue. For the multiplex crowd, I'm sure this film will only frustrate.

Zach Braff deserves a mention too, I've only ever seen him in Scrubs and he was absolutely hilarious in a goofy sort of way. I was slightly worried he'd just be the same character in this but I was wrong, his acting is fantastic. And the whole cast is great, I mean it even has Natalie Portman in it! And the acting is great across the board.

Plus, Garden State is just a really nice look at well, life. It's a story about life, love, depression, friendship and everything in between. Andrew Largeman returns home after nine years for less than stellar circumstances to see just how much has changed and just how much hasn't and as mentioned, this possibly could be a remedy for a really boring film but it's such a surreal experience, it becomes a really charming little movie. There are some elements I wish they had done a little more with, but all in all, it's a nice little package.

Not only is it a fascinating look on life, it's just so inspiring, quite a few statements this film makes are not just great quotes, but worthy things to live your life by at the same time. God, these last two paragraphs were so hard, I was trying to avoid using the word 'introspection' again.

I found this film really hard hitting, because a lot of the themes of the movie are things I have dealt with since I was 16. The death of a mother, the numbness, the realisation that the house you grew up in is no longer your home etc I was reduced to tears on quite a regular basis while I watched this and thought about my own life.

Probably the only thing I didn't like is that guy who plays Sheldon Cooper is in this film and my hatred for Big Bang Theory is almost as huge as my hatred for Homophobia. He plays practically the same character he plays in that show, although this came out several years before that show. Luckily he is only in one scene and we never see that cunt again.

Of course as always with these kinds of films, music plays a central role. But as far as indie romance soundtracks go, this is probably one of the weaker ones that I've heard. I don't think a soundtrack will ever top 500 Day's Of Summer, though.

I'm discovering more and more as I watch these indie movies that whiplash generating twists are practically a trope of this genre. And this film is no different, there are a few small twists along the way but the bomb that is dropped around the hour mark, you'll never see it coming and your jaw will practically fall off.

Oh also, now after seeing this film, I really want to live on an old boat in the middle of a quarry. Yeah, I'm pretentious, I know.

So do I recommend this? Although the film would have been ruined, if it'd seen it three or so years ago, this film would have probably blown me away and really changed me when it comes to film. Present day me however is already pretty well versed on Indie Romance and so although this does some things pretty uniquely, for the most part this film was competing with some of my favourite films and just never had any chance to compete. It's a great movie but I just know there are better Indie Romance films out there, hell I've reviewed some of them recently. So by all means Indie Romance fans, check this one out, I'm sure you'll love it just don't expect to find your new favourite film here.

Think About It!

-Locke