Caught A Matinee Today
Of Garden State, which I did not hate. I also didn’t love it, but I did like its quiet, otherworldly feel a whole awful lot.
And it’s really well-acted, especially by Natalie Portman (now I’m even more pissed at George Lucas for wasting her the way he does) and Ian Holm. Portman is terrific, but her character has the least depth, she’s like a forced version of the nifty girlfriend most of us wish we could find. That it works as well as it does is due, I feel, more to her performance than the script. You will not often see me credit an actor over her script. But in the hands of a less-talented performer, this role could have been as shallow as Phoebe in a late-season episode of Friends.
Here’s a tip: Avoid reading too many synopsis before you see the film. Not because it has big “The Village” like secrets to give away. But because it’s the kind of movie where the way it is what it’s about is at least as important as what it’s about.
Great soundtrack, too. Any movie that uses Nick Drake, Simon & Garfunkel and Frou Frou is OK by me.
