Garden State (movie)
Garden State
| Director | Zach Braff |
|---|---|
| Screenplay | Zach Braff |
| Producers | Pamela Adby, Bill Brown, Danny DeVito |
| Published | January 16, 2004 (Sundance Film Festival) |
| MPAA Rating | R |
| Color / BW | Color |
| Aspect Ratio | 2.35 : 1 |
| Runtime | 109 minutes |
| Sound | Dolby Digital |
| Budget | $2.5 million |
Garden State is a 2004 film written, directed by, and starring Zach Braff. The movie also stars Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, and Ian Holm. The title is a reference to the state where a majority of the movie is set.
The movie was filmed over 25 days in April and May 2003 and released on July 30, 2004. It was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival.
The film is rated R for "language, drug use and a scene of sexuality."
Table of contents |
Intellectual Influences
Joseph Campbell
The film is seen by many to follow the structure of the Campbellian monomyth by depicting the protagonist in the Belly of the Whale and then his Rebirth.
Existentialism
Others have noted similarity to Existentialist literature, particuarly the narrative structure of Kierkegaard and direct parallels with Camus' The Stranger.
Soundtrack
The Grammy-winning soundtrack for the film was compiled by Braff; it includes two songs from The Shins, and two decades-old songs from Nick Drake and Simon and Garfunkel. The remaining songs on the soundtrack are by Coldplay, Zero 7, Colin Hay, Cary Brothers, Remy Zero, Thievery Corporation, Iron and Wine, Frou Frou, and Bonnie Somerville.
Plot summary
The quirky film unfolds as a week in the life of its protagonist, Andrew Largeman (played by Braff), a passive 20-something member of Generation Y, comfortably numbed by medication. He's a struggling actor who returns to his hometown in New Jersey after receiving word of the death of his paraplegic mother. Andrew has been heavily medicated by his psychiatrist father (played by Holm) since the age of ten, when he accidentally contributed to the cause of his mother's paraplegia.
He reconnects with several friends he hadn't seen since he left nine years earlier, particularly Mark (played by Sarsgaard). He also meets Sam (played by Portman), an epileptic. They become friends and cautiously initiate romance, despite one another's flaws and things that they don't understand in their environment. Together, in an innocent (but considered by some to be slightly forced and melodramatic) ending to the story, they seem to discover that life is worth living, even when it hurts, and the importance of being with the one you love.
External links
- Official website
- Zach Braff's Garden State Blog
- Garden State at the Internet Movie Database
- Information on Garden State from Movies.com
- Anatomy of a Scene, from the Sundance Channel website
- Teaser trailer from Apple's website
Categories: 2004 films | New Jersey