...a delightfully quirky look at finding oneself and accepting who and what we are and what life is all about.
Anyway, "Garden State" ambles along amiably through a series of often amusing and sometimes touching scenes until Large learns to face life, to love, to create his own happiness, and to find a place for himself in what appears to be a largely uncaring world.
"Life hurts, but it's sorta all we have," says Sam.
Large finds a home.
Video:
When the picture quality is working to advantage, it's as good as anything I've seen. When it's not, it looks only average or below. I'm not sure the reasons for this, except that both the color and the object delineation vary considerably from scene to scene. I suspect in part it is intentional on director Braff's part, trying to emphasize certain moods. In any case, the picture size is good, a ratio of about 2.13:1 across my standard-screen HD television; the transfer is anamorphic, enhanced for windscreen, which is good; and the bit rate is high, providing as much color depth and clarity as it is needed. Grain, halos, and moiré effects are non issues. But while some scenes show up brilliantly, others are muted, even dull; while flesh tones are sometimes quite natural, they are just as often pale or overly dark; and while most scenes are crisp and sharp, others are slightly blurred. Having not seen the movie in a theater, I could not say with any certainty that the variable results are, indeed, intentional, but in any case they are not distracting.
Audio:
The sound is rendered via Dolby Digital 5.1 reproduction, and although all five-point-one channels surely aren't needed, it's nice to hear them during the few instances when they do come into play. Mostly, we get all-around good sound, especially for a non-epic or non-blockbuster type movie. Dynamics are strong, frequencies are well balanced, bass is deep, and musical ambiance reinforcement is efficient in the surrounds. Needless to say, dialogue is rendered faultlessly, if rather anchored out in the front center channel.
Extras:
"Garden State" was a relatively small-budget film, costing about two-and-a-half million, that reaped ten times that amount at the box office. This is possibly what prompted Fox to deck out the DVD with more extras than usual for so small a motion picture. The disc comes with two audio commentaries, the first with writer/director/actor Zach Braff and actress Natalie Portman; the second with Braff, director of photography Lawrence Sher, editor Myron Kerstein, and production designer Judy Becker. So you get to hear from a variety of folks on the subject, although as usual I didn't have time to listen to more than a few minutes of each of them. Next, there is a twenty-seven-minute featurette on "The Making of Garden State," which is better than most such featurettes in that it doesn't just congratulate itself for its entire running time but actually gets some solid reminiscences out of its cast and crew. I enjoyed it. After that is a series of sixteen deleted scenes, practically another film unto itself, again with optional commentary by Zach Braff; followed by three minutes of outtakes and bloopers, the usual silliness of actors unintentionally cracking up; and then a look at another Fox Searchlight feature, "Millions." The disc concludes with twenty-four scene selections; English and Spanish spoken languages; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
Although "Garden State" is no award winner and does not compare with "The Graduate" in terms of classic, universal appeal, it is a delightfully quirky look at finding oneself and accepting who and what we are and what life is all about. There is nothing especially groundbreaking about the film, but it has enough gentle humor and genuine feeling in it that I should imagine it might satisfy most any viewer, regardless of age. Still, it helps perhaps to have lived through the main character's problems and solutions for oneself in order to truly appreciate the film's charms.
"Life hurts, but it's sorta all we have," says Sam.
Large finds a home.
Video:
When the picture quality is working to advantage, it's as good as anything I've seen. When it's not, it looks only average or below. I'm not sure the reasons for this, except that both the color and the object delineation vary considerably from scene to scene. I suspect in part it is intentional on director Braff's part, trying to emphasize certain moods. In any case, the picture size is good, a ratio of about 2.13:1 across my standard-screen HD television; the transfer is anamorphic, enhanced for windscreen, which is good; and the bit rate is high, providing as much color depth and clarity as it is needed. Grain, halos, and moiré effects are non issues. But while some scenes show up brilliantly, others are muted, even dull; while flesh tones are sometimes quite natural, they are just as often pale or overly dark; and while most scenes are crisp and sharp, others are slightly blurred. Having not seen the movie in a theater, I could not say with any certainty that the variable results are, indeed, intentional, but in any case they are not distracting.
Audio:
The sound is rendered via Dolby Digital 5.1 reproduction, and although all five-point-one channels surely aren't needed, it's nice to hear them during the few instances when they do come into play. Mostly, we get all-around good sound, especially for a non-epic or non-blockbuster type movie. Dynamics are strong, frequencies are well balanced, bass is deep, and musical ambiance reinforcement is efficient in the surrounds. Needless to say, dialogue is rendered faultlessly, if rather anchored out in the front center channel.
Extras:
"Garden State" was a relatively small-budget film, costing about two-and-a-half million, that reaped ten times that amount at the box office. This is possibly what prompted Fox to deck out the DVD with more extras than usual for so small a motion picture. The disc comes with two audio commentaries, the first with writer/director/actor Zach Braff and actress Natalie Portman; the second with Braff, director of photography Lawrence Sher, editor Myron Kerstein, and production designer Judy Becker. So you get to hear from a variety of folks on the subject, although as usual I didn't have time to listen to more than a few minutes of each of them. Next, there is a twenty-seven-minute featurette on "The Making of Garden State," which is better than most such featurettes in that it doesn't just congratulate itself for its entire running time but actually gets some solid reminiscences out of its cast and crew. I enjoyed it. After that is a series of sixteen deleted scenes, practically another film unto itself, again with optional commentary by Zach Braff; followed by three minutes of outtakes and bloopers, the usual silliness of actors unintentionally cracking up; and then a look at another Fox Searchlight feature, "Millions." The disc concludes with twenty-four scene selections; English and Spanish spoken languages; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
Although "Garden State" is no award winner and does not compare with "The Graduate" in terms of classic, universal appeal, it is a delightfully quirky look at finding oneself and accepting who and what we are and what life is all about. There is nothing especially groundbreaking about the film, but it has enough gentle humor and genuine feeling in it that I should imagine it might satisfy most any viewer, regardless of age. Still, it helps perhaps to have lived through the main character's problems and solutions for oneself in order to truly appreciate the film's charms.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]13577[/release]