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Miss
Portman says, "Come here and give me a little smoochie woochie."
There have
been many films that have attempted to capture the essence of a
generation of youth. The Graduate, American Grafitti, Dazed And
Confused all fit the profile and capture their respective generation
successfully, though, interestingly enough, the last two films depict
the previous generation in their youth. No generation film has broken
the pointless slice-of-life depiction of youth though, and unfortunately
a recent film has fallen just short of this as well.
Garden State is a generation film revealing the ambivilent, seedy,
but often humorous lives of boomer children in an over-medicated
society. The entire film leads to the final scene where the viewer
is dying to escape from this ambivilance of pointlessness in meaning
and what results is a common, everyday let down. This doesn’t,
however keep this film from being one of the best films of the year
with one of the best soundtracks of all time.
Zach Braff (of Scrubs fame) is the man behind the magic in this
film and Natalie Portman is the breath of fresh air that we anxiously
await for the first 20 minutes of smokey intro. Braff (writer and
director) plays a twenty-something actor/waiter who is thoroughly
unimpressed by anything. He dreams of tradgedy and lives a pointless
existence with no color. His mother dies and he’s brought
back to his childhood home, a place he hasn’t been in 10 years.
He reunites with old high school buddies while trying to avoid his
father and continues his unimpressed behavior in the face of sex
drugs and rock & roll. It’s not until he meets Samantha
(Portman) that he begins to wake from his sleep. As he wakes up,
he begins to realize that the bathroom cabinet full of prescription
drugs may have just caused his long living slumber.
Portman is refreshing because she is youthful and uncorrupted and
although she is not the ideal girl in the mind of many in search
of sophistication, she is not tarnished like the high school buddies’
friends. The relationship between the two leads is well-portrayed,
and believable, even considering the unlikely circumstances for
their meeting. After some unique and funny scenes between the two
the viewer is ready for point.
When
would we ever see classic shots like these if it weren't for independant-minded
films?
The point comes
eventually, but misses what could have potentially made this film
one of the best ever. Although the writer/director/actor decides
to shake off the things that make him numb to the world (i.e. the
drugs), he doesn’t give himself a larger purpose than to just
live. Some may think that that is purpose enough, but to live without
purpose is very similar to the state of life the protagonist was
looking to escape: pointlessness.
This could be scene as a first step in the process of self-actualzation,
in which case, it would be a very successful first step considering
the state of this overly medicated world. Unfortunately, I don’t
see this becoming anything more than it is, which is a good generation
film. To some extent, it looks to bring people back to reality,
which is good, but to leave it at that ruins the potential.
The viewer would be grateful for just the slightest hint at a higher
purpose, yet religion is mentioned, then quickly discarded, morality
is ransomed and turned on its side, and the institution of family
is reasonably scoffed at. Luckily, Braff did almost get love right,
and if there’s any consolation, it is the hope for that ideal.
All in all, the film is well worth the 9 bucks. It is very well
acted and well written. It is funny and believable. And perhaps
it is fitting in this youth/generation film a grand purpose wasn’t
found. It wouldn’t be right for immature kids to figure out
the ways of the world. We’ll look forward to seeing what this
generation can do when they’re in their thirties.
JSB Morse
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