Garden State

[Harryz]

Came across this when it was in IMDB's top 250. Its Zach Braff directoral debut and what a fine job he did. Natalie Portman was so hawt in it (like usual). The soundtrack was a perfect combination with great tracks such as "Coldplay - Don't panic", "Zero 7 - In the waiting line" and "Frou Frou - Lets go". Brilliant, definently my top 5 movies of all time.

Anyone else seen this? Also, anyone know any other similar movies to Garden State?

 

[lePobz]

Any movie that has a soundtrack featuring Zero 7 gets top marks in my book.

 

[Sprafa]

what kind of music is Zero 7 :O

 

[Harryz]

Its very chilled and laid back. I love the tracks Destiny and Passing by. I'm actually beginning to be pretty fond of them.

 

[lePobz]

Distractions
One Arm Break
In the Waiting Line
not forgetting the classic Destiny

I'm not so fond of their new stuff (when it falls) but they've got enough awesome timeless classics under their belt to make up for it.

 

[guchi]

I saw it, and i agree fully with you

 

[DeusExMachina]

One of my favorite films.

 

[Doppelgofer]

great great film with a top bloke directing, writing and taking the lead...

according to his net blog, apparantly he got a really low grade in screenwriting...yet i watch the film and all the dialogue just seems very natural and real to me. examiners have no shitting clue what they are talking about

 

[OCybrManO]

I never saw any of the previews on TV. The only way I heard about it was from when Natalie was on either Late Night with Conan O'Brian or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart promoting the movie. When it released, I saw it alone in a theater because no one else wanted to see it (they never heard of it, didn't watch Scrubs, and hadn't seen any of Natalie Portman's movies other than the two latest Star Wars movies)... I immediately went in search of the sountrack, which is in the CD player in my room and ripped onto my iRiver MP3 player. It's the only movie for which I have ever preordered the DVD several months in advance. Then, by the time my friends read the reviews it was out of all of the theaters in my area. So, they had to wait until late last year to see it when I finally got the DVD. Now they watch Scrubs and have seen several other films starring Natalie including Léon, Heat*, Beautiful Girls, and Cold Mountain.

I would definately rank this one somewhere in my top 10 favorite films of all time... up there (in terms of my enjoyment) with The Godfather, La Vita è Bella, Pulp Fiction, Schindler's List, The Shawshank Redemption, Fight Club, Apocalypse Now, Donnie Darko, Saving Private Ryan, Requiem for a Dream, etc. I couldn't actually narrow my favorite movies down to just 10 but I know Garden State would make the list if I could...

* a movie with Natalie Portman, Robert De Niro, and Al Pacino? What more could I ask for?

 

[Ennui]

It's an excellent movie. I saw a few commercials but my parents mentioned that we should go see it before I saw them.

And OCybrManO, your top ten films list is excellent.

 

[CptStern]

meh saw it ...thought it was a good effort but ultimately a little immature in some of it's concepts ...I mean what was that whole thing about the stoner guy looking for the dead parents keepsake? existentialism for dummies? man that almost made my LoL

 

[AmishSlayer]

Good movie.

I love that part when they're in he hardware store talking to that weird guy.

"I'm gonna go grab that thing"

"Uhh..is it heavy err?"

 

[lePobz]

Just seen this, yep it's an awesome film ... save for the dead hamster. Great soundtrack

 

[OCybrManO]

It took me forever to get a chance to see it, but I now own it, and I love it. When I first saw it, I watched it again from the beginning as soon as it ended, and watched selections from it again after that... one of the few movies that's ever made me tear up at all.

Did you watch the deleted scenes? I wish they didn't take out the one where he's in the bathroom talking to his father. It reveals quite a bit about the father's character. It also looks sort of like an old Greek tragedy (then I listened to the commentary and he mentioned the same thing, IIRC) with the two characters on stage (which happens to have two pillars in the background) and the subject matter of their discussion. If there's ever a director's cut that scene needs to go back in.

EDIT:

I mean what was that whole thing about the stoner guy looking for the dead parents keepsake? existentialism for dummies? man that almost made my LoL

The stoner charcter seems like he was always a sweet guy at heart but it just wasn't revealed all at once. Like, there's this one scene (another deleted scene) where you find out he kept his little egg baby (a class project where you take care of an egg with a partner as if it were your child) since high school on the shelf in his room next to all of his prized possessions/investments, like the Gulf War trading cards. Cutting that scene made him seem more shallow.

 

[Sai]

i saw it some time ago, felt like an ammature lost in translation to me.

 

[CptStern]

I agree ...far superior movie. Murray was excellent in that role ...good to see him still get some quality roles

 

[Harryz]

Although, I enjoyed GS. Lost in Translation was indeed a brilliant movie. Anyone seen The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou? Anygood?

 

[MarcoPollo]

I found it thought provoking and hilarious.

Edit: The life Aquatic Is ****ING FUNNY!

 

[OCybrManO]

i saw it some time ago, felt like an ammature lost in translation to me.

It's supposed to be a bit more immature than Lost in Translation because they are about different age groups. Lost in Translation and Garden State are similar because they both deal with the concept of leaving home and/or traveling... but they deal with different aspects of that concept and they aren't intended for the same audience.

Lost in Translation deals more with a middle-aged adult's feelings of alienation and being thrown into a completely unfamiliar place/culture where you don't know anyone or fit in... and, with the exception of finding some love/friendship, that's pretty much the entire movie... just a couple of out-of-place people trying to fit in. I loved Lost in Translation, especially the parts with Bill Murray's character... but it felt a little bit slow, IMO.

Garden State deals with young adults moving out of their childhood homes (and the concept of "home"), leaving their friends/family/memories behind, and really being on their own for the first time in their lives and trying to make sense of it all (the metaphor of standing in the rain at the edge of the cliff and looking off into the "infinite abyss" of life)... but it also deals with the overmedication of society, drug abuse, death/suicide, homecoming, purpose/meaning of life (I like the longer deleted version of the talk they had with Albert in his ark), and love (both family and romantic). It's not perfect, but it's a great start for a young writer/director/actor.

 

[nick_t]

This movie was superb in my opinion. It might be the first "real" movie I have seen mostly because I could actually relate to it and because everything seemed so out of the real world. The dialogue was so natural and it seemed as if they were just talking like normal people. I had never given this film much thought since I hadn't seen Scrubs, and wasn't that much into Natalie Portman's acting (only knew her from StarWars and Conan), much like OCybrManO. However, I'm glad I decided to see it because I always thought Garden State would be a moving, intelligent, and thought-provoking film... but I also thought it would be really sappy and melodramatic which steered me away. I mostly enjoyed it because it was filled with humour, sadness, and confusion just like real life. oh, and the music was amazing - it fit in so well. I'm gonna see The Graduate next which supposedly inspired this film.

 

[Harryz]

Someone bumped my thread.

Bought it on DVD a few weeks back. I've also been watching Scrubs a lot, its actually quite good. Soundtrack = awesome.