message in the movies By Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

           
          
Garden State    Rated R
Directed by Zach Braff. Starring Zach Braff, Natalie Portman

Photo © Searchlight Pictures
Thomas Wolfe once wrote that “you can’t go home again”, but that hasn’t stopped filmmakers from using the hometown reunion as a way of depicting the coming-of-age of a young adult.  In this case, it’s Andrew “Large” Largeman who returns home to New Jersey from life in California as an aspiring actor.  Andrew learns that his mother has died and comes back to pay his respects, in spite of a tense relationship with his father.  While at the cemetery for the funeral service, he reconnects with two former high school buddies, who are now working as gravediggers.  His friends soon invite him to a party and to a series of small adventures with the offbeat folks from back home.  Garden State has about as many interesting moments as frustrating ones, but it has a big heart for Andrew, whose past is haunted by tragedy but capable of redemption, after all.  I didn’t much care for the heavy drug use in the first 30 minutes of the film, but the story soon shuffles away to more amusing vignettes.  The good news is that the cast believes in the whimsy of the script more than I did and first-time writer-director-star Braff (of the TV sitcom Scrubs) benefits from their commitment to his project.  There are a couple of speed bumps and tangents that just don’t work (including a Halo and

Pitchfork Rating:  Two halos. . (A quirky comedy-drama with compassion for its damaged characters and faith in the power of love.)  Three pitchforks.  . (Some rough language, recreational drug use, and one unnecessary scene of sexual activity.)

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