Every so often one of those movies comes around that critics hail as some kind of indie film miracle. “Garden State” was one of those. It was praised as “this year’s ‘Lost in Translation.’” Now, that doesn’t exactly turn any switches for me; I thought “Translation” was overrated. I could appreciate the beauty of it, but as a film? Eh. For a better film that came out around the same time, check out “Dirty Pretty Things.”
But enough about other films. Like I said, every so often, there comes a film, which, for one reason or another, just ends up being the film for that moment.
I love “Scrubs.” Let’s just get that out in the open. I think it’s one of the best shows to come out in the past few years, and I can’t wait to start collecting it on DVD. I think Zach Braff is awesome. He’s smart, funny, slightly self deprecating, and yet willing to do stupid jokes for laughs. Plus he’s Jewish. Did everyone season the season premiere of “Scrubs”?
So you gotta believe that when I heard Braff was going to write, direct, and star in a semi-autobiographical film that takes place in New Jersey (where I spent the summer of 2004), you’d better believe I was excited. So now you know my prejudices.
Braff plays Andrew Largeman, a twenty-something whose mother’s death has brought him back to his hometown of South Orange after a 9-year exile in Los Angeles. Once home, he is confronted by family, especially his father, who seem to resent his long absence. His relationship with his father is strained as it is. The elder Largeman is a psychiatrist, and also his son’s psychiatrist, who has had Andrew on surprisingly heavy doses of drugs, including lithium, since he was a young boy. During the trip home, though, he leaves all the drugs in L.A.
The purpose of the trip is to bury his mother, but it seems obvious he came home seeking something else. He’s trying to find himself, which is a common goal I think many people his age are pursuing. He meets old friends and new ones, and experiences more in four days than most people can in a lifetime. While Largeman is seeking his own identity (he works as an actor, ironically), he also meets Sam, played by Natalie Portman, who we hope is at least his age but could be 14 by most clues in the film.
This was not the sweetest, funniest, most honest and heartfelt film I’ve ever seen. It didn’t change my life. It didn’t make me a better person. But it wasn’t trying to do any of those things. What it did was hold relevance for me, and probably many others. One scene of the film is frighteningly similar to an event from my own life.
Love story aside, what the film really did was assure me that it is OK to be unsure, and imperfect.
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