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Paul Kay

Garden State

Starring: Zach Braff,  Natalie Portman, Ian Holm

Director: Zach Braff

The film: Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff) lives a detached life. Estranged from his family for the past nine years and ensconced in an anti-depressant bubble since the age of 10, he ambles through his days as a waiter and  out-of-work actor in Los Angeles.  His prosaic existence is disrupted, however, when his mother dies and he's forced to return to suburban New Jersey, and his pompous psychiatrist father (Ian Holm),  for the funeral.

So begins an elegiac journey of self-discovery as he abandons his medication, reconnects with  old friends and attempts to come to terms with his mother's death. But the real antidote to  his numbness might just lie in the bizarre world of  compulsive liar Sam (Natalie Portman).

First-time writer/director Braff  weaves so much care and detail into every aspect of this film that you'd have to be sedated not to be charmed. Inhabiting the kind of offbeat realm usually reserved for the likes of Hal Hartley  and Wes Anderson,  Braff's quirky characters drift from one memorable scene to the next, complemented by a dreamy, Simon and Garfunkel-influenced soundtrack and measured  direction.

The weird and wonderful characters that populate Largeman's town - in particular, the excellent  Peter Sarsgaard  as his pothead, gravedigger,  best friend - bubble with all the peculiar eccentricities that such a rich, character-driven script allows. But it's the leads who sustain Garden State's dramatic core.  Portman, given the opportunity to play the kind of heartfelt, idiosyncratic role that George Lucas' bluescreens don't afford, gives her best performance since Leon first catapulted her to stardom, while Braff is so likeable as he tries to navigate  the waters of twentysomething, post-college alienation and aimlessness, it's hard not to fall for the pair of them.

Which is not to say Garden State is without its flaws. Promising characters and subplots remain unpursued and the ending is hugely disappointing - as pedestrian and devoid of imagination as the rest of the film is vivid and inventive. Fortunately, by the time it rolls around, you should be suitably enamoured with what's gone before  to make this  a minor annoyance.

The extras: An extensive cache, including two commentaries, an unconventional making-of that proves the cast and crew to be as unusual  as the characters, and a host of worthwhile deleted scenes.

The verdict:  Gem of a movie  that marks Braff, in his various guises as actor, writer and director, as a talent  to look out for.



Garden State