Garden State
Natalie Portman was the only member of the cast to wear a safety harness on the crane in the quarry. Because of her size, the crew was afraid she would slip and fall.,In the restaurant scene near the beginning, when the snotty customer asks for bread, Andrew Largeman replies they have none and explains this is because it is a Vietnamese restaurant. In fact, because of the French colonization of Vietnam in the mid 19th Century, French baguettes are a common staple in Vietnamese cuisine and any good Vietnamese restaurant would most likely have them in their kitchen.,Andrew Largeman: You know that point in your life when you realize the house you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of a sudden even though you have some place where you put your shit, that idea of home is gone.
Sam: I still feel at home in my house.
Andrew Largeman: You'll see one day when you move out it just sort of happens one day and it's gone. You feel like you can never get it back. It's like you feel homesick for a place that doesn't even exist. Maybe it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't ever have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I don't know, but I miss the idea of it, you know. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people that miss the same imaginary place.,After the title of the film there are no opening credits because Zach Braff hates opening credit sequences and thought they would take away from his movie.,Although the film was shot in the Super 35 process, the VHS version entirely Pans and Scans throughout the entire film as if it were shot in Anamorphic Widescreen instead of properly framing it for Full Frame as most Super 35 films are.,Featured in Anatomy of a Scene: Garden State (2004),Orange Sky
Written by Alexi Murdoch
Performed by Alexi Murdoch
Courtesy of Alexi Murdoch,Movies with guns, explosions, Barbie/ken romance... You know the drill. They can be good films, but it's rare I ever relate to those movies.

I *really* related to this movie - both the main character played by Zach, and the pure concept and analogy on display here. This film earns itself a place in my DVD collection upon release for the sheer fact it matches my 20-something experience to a huge degree, and all the feelings along the way.

Normally films such as this tend to end up becoming "coming of age" stories - this isn't. It's simply about living life, but not knowing why you are living it.

An excellent film on many levels - 10/10.,