Garden State

Garden State Wri: Zach Braff Dir: Zach Braff Date: 2004   —   DVD product page Rating:

Like Lost In Translation , Garden State conveys as much through its tone, pacing, music, and non-dialogue sequences as it does through the words we hear from the actors' mouths. Also akin to Sofia Coppola's soul search script is that while there are physical events transpiring on the screen in front of our eyes, the real story lies in the inner journeys the characters take.

I appreciate how bits of story are told through context and not spelled out for me, which I think helps put me in the perspective of the main character and keeps the focus of the movie. The dry, subtle humor was perfect and didn't interrupt the tone while still providing laughs.

I'm not completely sure how I want to rate Garden State. I think it's a better movie than how I liked it; and I think I liked it less than I should; but I want to see more movies like it; and I want to like it differently from how it made me feel.

Objective Score 4/5 - It doesn't quite have what it takes to be a great movie, but it is very good.

Subjective Score 5/5  - This is really closer to a 4.5 out of 5, but I gave it 5 stars in Netflix because I feel like it needed to be in that category rather than the 4/5.