Garden State (film)
| Garden State | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Zach Braff |
| Written by | Zach Braff |
| Produced by | Michael Shamberg Stacey Sher Danny DeVito |
| Starring | Zach Braff Natalie Portman Peter Sarsgaard Jackie Hoffman Ian Holm |
| Cinematography | Lawrence Sher |
| Edited by | Myron I. Kerstein |
| Music by | Alexi Murdoch Chad Fischer |
| Distributed by | Fox Searchlight |
Release dates | July 28, 2004 |
Running time | 102 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2.5 million |
| Box office | $26.7 million (USA) |
Garden State is a piece of shit written, directed by and starring Zach Braff, with Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard and co-starring Sir Ian Holm. The film centers on Andrew Largeman (Braff), a 26-year-old actor/waiter who returns to his hometown in New Jersey for the first time in nine years, after receiving word from his father (Holm) that his mother has died. He reconnects with his friend Mark (Sarsgaard), now a gravedigger and a graverobber, at his mother's funeral. Largeman gets reacquainted with other old friends, all the time avoiding his father. While in the waiting room of a doctor's office, Largeman meets a local girl, Sam (Portman), and the two cautiously initiate a relationship.
It was filmed over 25 days in April and May 2003 and released on July 28, 2004. The main setting and primary shooting location was New Jersey.[1] It was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival. The film won Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards. The film contains many allusions to the similar coming of age film The Graduate (1967), most notably the opening airplane scene that both pictures share.
Garden State was well received, and is considered a major success for Scrubs actor Zach Braff as it was his feature film debut as a director. The film connected with twentysomethings who felt that Braff's film was speaking to them personally.[2] Lacking the publicity machine of most mainstream Hollywood films, it generated a devoted fan base from people who read and responded to Braff's blog on the film's official site. Fans drove hours to see the film and saw it repeatedly in theaters.[2] The film also spawned a popular soundtrack for which Braff, who picked the music himself, won a Grammy award.
Overview
Summary
Andrew Largeman wakes up from a bizarre nightmare in which he is on a crashing plane to a telephone message from his father, telling Andrew that he needs to return home because his mother has just died.
The struggling actor leaves Los Angeles and returns home to the state of New Jersey to attend his mother's funeral. He recognizes the gravediggers as old friends, and they invite him to a party that night. At home, Andrew has his father book a doctor's appointment for headaches he's been having.
The morning after the party, Andrew proceeds to his doctor's appointment, meeting a girl named Sam in the waiting room. In Andrew's meeting with his doctor, it's revealed that Andrew has been on Lithium as well as other mood stabilizers and anti-depressants but has stopped taking them. Andrew finds Sam outside of the office, eventually offering her a ride home. Andrew is invited into Sam's house, and meets her family. After returning home, Andrew is confronted by his father, who is insistent that they have a talk before Andrew leaves town.
Andrew instead returns to Sam's house, and the two spent the rest of the day together, joining Largeman's friends later, and Andrew expresses feelings for Sam.
The next day, one of Andrew's friends, Mark, tells Andrew that he needs help tracking down a going-away present for him. Sam, Andrew, and Mark spend the day tracking the present down, ending in a quarry in Newark where Mark talks to a couple who've been employed to watch the area, who also do modest antique jewelry sales. The gift turns out to be Andrew's mother's favorite piece of jewelry. Andrew and Sam retreat to his house and sleep together. Afterward, Andrew approaches his father for the talk the father had suggested.
The morning after, Andrew says his goodbyes to Sam at the airport and leaves for his plane that will take him back to his life in Los Angeles. Andrew unexpectedly returns, telling Sam that he doesn't want to waste any more of his life without her in it.
Themes
The protagonist's father has been “protecting” him from his own feelings with pills, namely lithium, which are seen “as the symbolic soul-destroying enemy”[3]
Zach Braff describes the themes of the movie as, “[l]ove, for lack of a better term. And it’s a movie about awakening. It’s a movie about taking action. It’s a movie about how life is short, go for it now. My character says, ‘I’m 26 years old and I’ve spent my whole life waiting for something else to start. Now I realize that this is all there is and I’m going to try to live my life like that’”[4]. “I have this theory that your body goes through puberty in its teens, and the mind goes through puberty in your twenties,” he says. “[Largeman] is dealing with issues that you are going through all the time going into your thirties,” he says of his character. “He’s lost and lonesome which is something I definitely felt in my twenties”[5].
Cast
- Zach Braff as Andrew Largeman
- Natalie Portman as Sam
- Jackie Hoffman as Aunt Sylvia Largeman
- Ian Holm as Gideon Largeman
- Peter Sarsgaard as Mark
- Alex Burns as Dave
- Ron Liebman as Dr. Cohen
- Method Man as Diego
Production
Garden State was Zach Braff’s feature directing and writing debut. The title of the film was originally intended to be Large's Ark - in reference to Braff's character but he changed it because no one understood what it meant.[6] Garden State was filmed on a budget of $2.5 million.[citation needed] Most of the film was shot on location in Braff's home town of South Orange, New Jersey,[1] with filming taking place at Cranford, Livingston, Maplewood, Newark, South Orange, Tenafly and Wallington. Although the majority of the filming was done in New Jersey, filming also took place in New York City and Los Angeles.
Braff has cited such films as Harold and Maude, Woody Allen films, Annie Hall and Manhattan, and the films of Alexander Payne as influences on Garden State.[7] Parallels have also been drawn between Braff's film and Ted Demme's Beautiful Girls (1996), which is striking since Braff wrote his script during his college years when Beautiful Girls was in theatres, and his first choice for the love interest was Natalie Portman, who plays a similar role in Demme's film. [8]
Music
The music that accompanied the film was hand-picked by Zach Braff. Commenting on the selections, Braff said that "Essentially, I made a mix CD with all of the music that I felt was scoring my life at the time I was writing the screenplay".[9] Braff used many artists he used in other works including his friend Joshua Radin.
Braff accepted a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The film's trailer won an award for best music at the Golden Trailer Awards. The Broadcast Film Critics Association nominated it for best soundtrack.
Reception
The film was first screened on January 16, 2004, at the Sundance Film Festival where it was purchased in a joint venture by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Miramax for USD $5 million, double the film's budget. Fox Searchlight Pictures president Peter Rice said of the film, "Having enjoyed the film immensely, we look forward to working with Miramax to bring Garden State to audiences worldwide."[10] From March until mid July, it screened at other various film festivals until it received a limited release on July 28 in North America. It became only the fourth non-documentary feature to top the chart that year, as calculated by per screen average, since Memorial Day weekend.[11] Stephen Gilula, president of distribution at Fox Searchlight, attributed the film's gradual success to word of mouth and a publicity tour by Braff leading up to the film's theatrical debut. Gilula said, "Zach [Braff] had a cross-country tour, and we [organized] word of mouth screenings, where we had to turn people away. Zach did Q&As following [the screenings]."[11] From late 2004 through mid 2005, Garden State was shown at more festivals and was released in over 30 countries. Despite having a limited release in all its markets, the film was able to gather $35.8 million at the worldwide box office, of which about $26.7 million came from North America.[12]
Garden State has an 87% freshness rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website.[13]
Awards
In addition to being a nominee for the Grand Jury prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, Braff received Best New Director from the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Florida Film Critics Circle's Pauline Kael Breakout Award, Best Debut Director award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures and Breakout of the Year from the Phoenix Film Critics Society.
DVD
After its limited release in theaters, the film gained more popularity during its DVD release on December 28, 2004, which includes commentaries, deleted scenes and featurettes.
References
- ^ a b rottentomatoes.com Garden State production notes
- ^ a b Lite, Jodran (August, 2004). "Garden club". Daily News. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Holden, Stephen. "Film Review; First Go Cold Turkey, Then Go to Cold Jersey." New York Times 28 July 2004. 17 March 2008 <http://moview.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9904E6DC123DF93BA15754C0A9629C8B63>
- ^ Braff, Zach. "The Scrubs Star Gets Hollywood (and Natalie Portman's) Attention With Garden State." By Caroline Howard. People 28 July 2004. 17 March 2008 <http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,673026,00.html>
- ^ Braff, Zach. "Garden State: Zach Braff is Lost in Jersey." By E.C Thomas. Glide Magazine 10 August 2004. 17 March 2008 <http://www.glidemagazine.com/articles122.html>
- ^ Blackwelder, Rob (2004-07-01). "Braff in the Saddle". SPLICEDwire. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
- ^ Leahan, Jonny (2004-07-27). "Zach Braff Visits Life's Infinite Abyss in Garden State". indieWIRE. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
- ^ Internet Movie Database<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0333766/trivia>
- ^ "ign.com". IGN music: Garden State soundtrack review.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help); Unknown parameter|accessdaymonth=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "moviecitynews.com". MCN Sundance 2004:Fox Searchlight and Miramax acquire Garden State.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessdaymonth=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Brooks, Brian (August 4, 2004). "Garden State Sows a Bountiful Box Office Debut". indieWIRE. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Garden State at Box Office Mojo
- ^ Garden State - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
External links
