State of Mind

[lillibet]

Tonight Jason and I went to see Garden State. It had been recommended to me by a couple of friends--actually, by two people I would never have guessed would like any of the same films--so I was intrigued. It made an interesting counterpoint to Riding in Cars with Boys, which really got to me.

Not that I didn't find Garden State affecting, but it didn't hit home in quite as depressing a manner. Perhaps it was the tone--very calm, with a lot of silences, rather than the frenetic wordiness of RICWB.

Zach Braff did a fine job with the role, but I just failed to find him engaging, which might be attributed to the disconnectedness he is displaying. In many ways, it's a similar role to that of Bill Murray in Lost in Translation, but I found Murray's portrayal of dissociation more sympathetic, somehow. Kudos for the screenplay, however--it managed to be both specific and universal in the way that the best indies hit so well.

It was great to see Natalie Portman doing some real acting again. In a lot of ways, this role is very much like the kid she played in Beautiful Girls, right down to the ice skating. She was quirky and honest and open and lovable--I wish Lucas would let her show some of that as Amidala.

I found Ian Holm sort of distracting. Perhaps because this role is so minimal and hermetic, it's hard not to see him, rather than the character. Jason commented afterwards that he kept thinking "Why, it's Mr. Bilbo!" but I find the role that springs to mind is of the priest from The Fifth Element.

The real find of this movie, for me, was Peter Sarsgaard, playing the stoner gravedigger, Mark. He was charming and driven and lame and loving and cruel in ways I found very familiar and convincing. I'm looking forward to seeing him in Skeleton Key (which I'm gonna have to see because that's the movie that was filming all over New Orleans when we were there and why Kate Hudson was at dinner with us one night).

The one question I have is: does every circle of slackers have a multimillionaire who lives in a huge, cool house and buys the drugs? Is this the next movie stereotype, like the gay neighbor?

Comments

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

The ending worked very well for me. When they're sitting on the steps and Largeman is feeding Sam the line about needing to work things out on his own I was groaning. She's not actually going to fall for this shit, I wondered. And she was such a brave little soul, trying to figure out how to give him what he needed--if I had a quibble with her performance it was that she seemed too young for the twenty-six she claimed. But when he came back to grab hold of this chance he had found, I believed it more than most happy endings. Yes, there was a sense of "Now what?" but I thought the important thing was that whatever would come next, they had decided how to face it. And that's what life's about--no certainties, no grand plan, just finding the things that make chewing through the restraints worth while.

Perhaps what I liked best about this movie is that a month after seeing it I can still bring to mind the feeling that it evoked and wonder what those characters are up to now. What do you think Sam's done with his apartment? I'm picturing lots of brightly colored throw-pillows, a couple of cats, a parakeet and the iguana abandoned by the guy who moved out downstairs."