Garden State - Movie Review

Garden State is a comedy-drama film released in 2004. Written by, directed by and starring Zach Braff, this film leaves no one indifferent. Apart from love, it is focused on friends, family and life. 

Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff) is a twenty-something TV actor in Los Angeles whose life revolves around antidepressants. One day, he receives a call from his father in which he finds out that his mother has died. He comes back home to Garden State (New Jersey) to attend his mother's funeral. He hasn't been home in nine years and the relation with his family is almost null. So, at first, everything is very cold and distant. However, he finds a lot of old friends easily, like Mark (Peter Sarsgaard), with whom he has great and crazy moments. 

Unexpectedly, he meets a pretty young girl, Sam (Natalie Portman), with whom he starts a nice relationship. They know each other and, at the same time, they know themselves better. Despite their different personalities, they have a special complicity that makes them bring out their feelings. 

Andrew opens up his heart to his friends and admits that when he was a child, angry with his mother, he pushed her, knocking her over a dishwasher, what ended up in a tragedy: she was paralysed. That is why his father, Gideon (Ian Holm), put him under medication since then, blaming him for everything happened, making him believe that his mother's paralysis was his fault. However, after many years, Andrew stops taking the drugs he thought he needed and begins to see his life from another perspective, trying to enjoy it. 

Meanwhile, “Large” tries to do his best at home, but he has a pending conversation with his psychiatrist father. Both were afraid of talking to each other, but finally Andrew tells him that he has stopped taking his medication because he has realized that his mother's paralysis was not his fault. Since then, they are going to try to have a better relationship.

Despite the begs of Sam, Andrew wants to come back to Los Angeles. But at last, he realizes he has to stay there and he wants to, because Garden State is the place where he feels good.

The idea of the film is very good and it has a good beginning, but the ending fails to be as the viewer expects. It concludes as a typical American film, and in my opinion, this is where the film does not live up to the expectations, because the film is not a typical American story and I was a bit disappointed at this point. However, Garden State touches, enjoys and surprises the viewer, what is so difficult to achieve for a director. Moreover, Zach Braff, known to be an (intentionally) dull actor, makes this cleverly-written film a very well-acted one. Natalie Portman contributes to give a fresh air full of energy and happiness. It is plenty of touching and reflexive scenes, as well as wit, spark and tenderness that make this apparently-simple film unique.

 

 

Lost in translation is an American film which came out in 2003. Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, the film is about a boy, Bob (Bill Murray), and a woman, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson). This is one of those films that belong to a group of nondescript works that reject any tag. As many others, it revolves around a man, a woman and the relationship established between them. But it is not made in a common way. The film does not explain with words every situation because silence is sometimes more effective. Lost in translation is a simple film but with emotive moments which make it deeper.

On the one hand, Bob is a calm actor who is in Tokio to make some photo shoots for a famous alcoholic drink, but maybe he is also there because of his difficult situation with his wife. On the other hand, Charlotte is a recently married girl, whose husband is working as a photographer in the same city for a few days, where she finds herself alone very soon. Both feel the loneliness in the same hotel where they meet. They get along quickly, communicating themselves just by understanding glances and some words which get them to feel better in this strange city of Tokio. They go out together, having great times, understanding each other and realising that they are sharing a silent but deep and inevitable love. Charlotte's husband appears sometimes, but she does not give him any special importance. Alike, Bob's wife calls him, but she gives more priority to her carpet than to her husband. All along they know that they are not going to be too much more time together, but their relationship is so strong that they do not care. They are just enjoying the moments: singing in a karaoke, relaxing, having long conversations in the hotel room, drinking in the bar... , in the process forgetting their real lives. Finally, Bob comes back to his own country and, without the typical happy ending, they part in the same quiet, coherent and emotional way as the whole sense of the film.

The best of this film is that there is a special chemistry between them that make the viewer trust in that relationship. In my opinion, the film is awesome, but I feel that something is missing. Maybe it is because the story goes very slow and there are no high-tension situations. At the same time, these two points are the main structure of the film: silence and emotion are perfectly showed.

The film can be summed up in two words: shared loneliness.