Whenever our daughter comes home for a visit, we end up watching movies we’ve heard of – but haven’t seen. The first night of her most recent visit, she insisted that we watch Garden State with Natalie Portman and Zach Graff. “You’ll love it,” Megan insisted.
“Let’s watch Downton Abbey,” Rob said – a TV show to which Megan introduced us.
“No, c’mon, you guys, you’ll love this movie. It’s like Silver Linings Playbook, but better.”
So we watched it. Zach Graff, who plays the protagonist, also wrote the script and directed the film. He is best known for his role on the TV show Scrubs, which we’ve never seen. There are certainly parallels between Garden State and Silver Linings Playbook. The male protagonists in both movies are damaged goods. In Playbook, Bradley Cooper plays a character who is bipolar. We know this from the beginning of the movie, when we see him in a mental hospital where he has been confined for eight months. Graff plays a man in his late twenties who has apparently gained a bit of fame in Hollywood playing a mentally challenged character in a movie. He returns to New Jersey for the funeral of his mother, whom he hasn’t seen in nine years. She has drowned in the bathtub.
It’s apparent from the opening scenes that there’s something wrong with this guy. We gradually learn his back story – his father, a shrink – his shrink – has kept him on lithium since he was nine. We don’t know why. We do know he was sent away to boarding school when he was in his mid-teens and hasn’t been home again until now.
He goes to see a neurologist to find out why he has such splitting headaches and this is where some of his back story emerges. The script is written so cleverly that it’s awhile before we find out he was a pissed off little kid who pushed his mother when he was nine. She hit her head on the edge of the kitchen counter and became paralyzed from the neck down. By the time we discover this, we already love this guy, we feel for him.
We’ve met his emotionally constipated father, some of his buddies from high school, and we’ve been to his mother’s funeral. We‘ve also met the young woman, Natalie Portman, who becomes his co-conspirator. She, like the character played by Jennifer Lawrence in Playbook, is also a wounded person. She’s an epileptic, from a strange family, and yes, they fall in love.
If you saw Playbook, then you probably recall that Bradley Cooper used to go running with a garbage bag covering his clothes. Oddly enough, there’s a powerful scene where Zach Graff, Natalie, and Zach’s buddies also wear garbage bags over their clothes. It’s depicted on the cover fro IMDB at the beginning of this post. Maybe wearing a garbage bag is an emerging archetype, who knows?
As similar as the themes are in these two movies, Garden State feels more real, as though it was written from Graff’s life experiences, from the frozen core of who he was to the shifting core of who he is becoming. By the end of the movie, he has known Natalie Portman’s character for four days – and she has changed his life completely.
I immediately went to IMDB to find out if this film had been nominated for anything. And it was. This Zach Graff guy is a man to watch. He was the star, scriptwriter, director, and many facets of this story are what he lived, I’m sure of it.
Darren…….Marc has a right to voice his opinion and for anyone to listen to it and decide for themselves what they want to think. Different strokes for different folks, you know? Goodness gracious, so many great movies, so little time! 😉
Loved both movies, and for different reasons. Saw both in the theatre when they came out.
On a side note, and Trish you’ll love it, is that the “L.A.” restaurant he worked in before going home in “Garden State” is actually here in Brooklyn and husband and I frequent. If you ever come up to see us, we will go! Instantly recognizable and made the movie that much more personal for me. And who can forget, “side cars are for bitches.” Applies to so much! 🙂
OH, how funny! I would love to come visit you. We would have such fun!
Come on! All of you!
Watch your back, girl!
I saw Silver Linings Playbook and loved it. When I saw Bradley Cooper running with the garbage bag on it reminded me of my sister who used a garbage bag while exercising to loose weight more rapidily.
Perhaps the garbage bag is a new metaphor for shedding one’s self of old baggage and behaviors?
You’ll have to see “Oz the Great and Powerful” then because Zac is in it as an actor as well as the voice of the monkey sidekick to the Wizard.
Here is an interview Zac did with Marc Fennell,
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-09/braff-a-natural-at-monkey-business/4562758
who I met at the BBWF and did a sync post about –
https://brizdazz.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/turning-6-degrees-down-to-2-degrees.html
“Oz…” is a good movie,I saw it the other day at the movies –
https://brizdazz.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/my-420-session-in-oz.html
Another sync I just noticed now after reading that last link is that Marc works radio 4JJJ (as it’s named in my state,Queensland)
https://tunein.com/radio/ABC-Triple-J-1077-s89109/
OK, onto my list Oz goes. I can’t miss anything this guy is in. Thanks for the links, Daz.
Be sure to check out this interview with Zac though,you’ll be glad that you did –
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-09/braff-a-natural-at-monkey-business/4562758
And that makes Zac ‘2 degrees’ from me,now that Marc shook his hand .-)
And don’t listen to Marc’s review of the movie because in my opinion Franco was brilliant and the movie was real good.I may even go see it again at the cinema.
Worth seeing,for sure.
Got it!
one more film for all those others on my hit list! i need to have a couple of movie marathon weekends or something! many thanks for sharing this one – i’ve seen a few of the scrubs shows where i loved watching ZB – and i think you’re right about from whence at least some of his inspiration comes – thanks again!
Yet another film I haven’t seen – I seem to have a lot of catching up to do – on many things!
Wait till samuel gets old enough to steer you toward the movies he watches!
It’s only Fireman Sam at the moment!
Folks,
If you want to see where these movies got their idea from, look for the movie ” Times Square ” from 1980. Based on a diary found in a couch by the director of a mentally unstable girl. The garbage bags outer wear plays a major role in this film…
Laurence
Never heard of this movie! Onto my list it goes.
Will have to put this movie on my bucket list. “Damagaed goods”. Aren’t we all, in one way or another, damaged goods? It’s a rare individual indeed who can go through life in a physical body without some major challenges. I think learning to face and overcome the challenges are probably the “school” that assists our souls to evolve. These movies seem to tap into the dynamics of this; some are subtle; some are in your face. Great stuff.
I love that movie!