So the American Indie season starts with Garden State. Written and directed by Zach Braff of Scrubs fame it follows listless twenty something Andrew Largeman as he returns to his New Jersey home town for his mother's funeral.
We follow Andrew as deals with his father, reunites with old friends and bonds with Samantha who is a rather odd girl he meets in the reception of the doctor's office.
The script is charming and heart felt, all the characters we meet feel like real people, even those we only meet for a single scene. At the centre of the film is the trio of Andrew, Sam and Mark an old friend of Andrew who is drifting through life. Together these three attend parties, kick around and spend a day on something of a quest to track down an important item for Andrew.
Zach Braff brings a likable quality to Andrew who could easily come across as a cold, detached character but here really does come across as someone who is just waking up after sleeping through years of his life.
Peter Sarsgaard's Mark is all rough around the edges charm and Natalie Portman is simply adorable as kooky Sam which is something that should be applauded given that in the wrong hands the character could of been just plain annoying rather than endearing.
The film is filled with splashes of visual flair as well as Braff shows a strong eye for a striking shot and interesting frame set up in his director boots.
Released in 2004 I think it's fair to say this is probably my favourite film of the last ten years, I can watch time and again without tiring of it and still get moved by it every time. Which is something probably people can tell since I've already posted about the film a number of times and how much I like it.
Anyway so that's the season's kicked off with one of my all time favourites, if you have a minute check the video below which is a summary of the film edited to Thhe Fray's 'How To Save A Life' which fits really well.
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