Garden State

Garden State

2004

Director: Zach Braff

Writer: Zach Braff

102 Minutes

A quiet film released in 2004 made it’s way into every dorm room and post-graduates movie collection because it’s colorful characters, random events, and a wonderful soundtrack.

And then there was Jim Parson’s, the mother-fucking Knight, who now is know as Sheldon on Big Bang Theory.

In Zach Braff’s directorial debut, this film is a coming-of-age autobiography about a young man heading home for his mother’s funeral and has to deal with friends, a new girl, and most of all, his terrible relationship with his father.

“That actually made me sadder than anything: the fact that I felt so numb,” Andrew (Zach Braff) says to his new friend Sam (Natalie Portman).

That’s the major character flaw in Andrew – he’s numb to the experiences around him - numb to life, love, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. His father placed him on prescription medication during childhood and coming home is the first time Andrew stops taking his recommended dosage.

And finally, he begins to sense what is real – what is important.

In the scene above, Andrew’s friend Mark (Peter Sarsgaard) takes them on a journey to Handy World, a shady motel, a nitrous oxide vendor (unseen), and finally a geological rock quarry to find a missing piece of jewelry, which belonged to Andrew’s deceased mother.

When they get to the quarry, they find it’s guarded by a couple living in an old houseboat, which they refer to as an ark. Large’s Ark. Once inside, the couple talks about the rock quarry and how important it is, but the man stops and explains this:

“None of that really matters. If I get to be with this person right here and our beautiful baby. That's all I need.”

Quickly, Braff cuts back to Andrew and Sam. And in that instant, Andrew realizes what’s important. It’s not acting. It’s not his father - it’s Sam. This is a love story, though unconventional, and Sam has helped him feel something again.

Love.

In the age of numbness - where people are comatose on their daily drug - this film spoke to a generation to people who wanted to feel reality again, no matter how painful it was.

In the end, Garden State was the first shot at a directing career for Zach Braff. This was his baby and it turned out well.

But we all want to know, when is the next movie, Mr. Braff, that makes us feel something again.

When?