Alienation and Absurdity Come Home to the 'Garden State'

B-actor Zach Braff has finally found his forte. Braff is best known for his starring role in the popular television series "Scrubs." His current film, "Garden State," offered him an exceptional opportunity: rarely do major films feature the same star actor, director and screenwriter; and almost never is such an individual filling the second two roles for the first time in his career. Yet Braff met the triple responsibility in excellent form and shows much promise in writing and directing, even if his acting is improving more slowly.

The young filmmaker plays a role familiar to his life as Andrew Largeman, a New Jersey transplant actor living in Los Angeles numbed by the symbiotic pair of his medication and isolation. Called back home to confront the death of his mother and the cold love of his psychiatrist father, Largeman finds himself swept back up in a strange world of drugs, wealth and callous disregard for reality he thought he had left behind.

Confused and alienated, Largeman finds meaning in a chance encounter with an odd and marginally unstable Sam (Natalie Portman of "Star Wars: Episodes I and II") that plants the seeds both of self-reflection and love. As his few strange days at home progress, Largeman stares not only into the vacuum his life has become, but also into the deep questions life demands each of us answer.

Braff's greatest gift is his powerful insight into the absurdity and alienation that are so inherent to human life. The first finds a home in his humor, which is at its best when subtle, lightly accenting the ludicrous delights that, unnoticed, pepper the ostensibly dull texture of suburban life.

Moreover, the film explores a variety of fascinating subjects, consistently topical to the experience of suburban youth life: drugs, existential anxiety, psychosomatic drugs and the struggle to build a sense of direction in one's 20s. Up until the last scene (for which she shouldn't be blamed too much), Natalie Portman gives the best performance of her career as a complex, flighty and devilishly subtle girl who would have been far too easy to overact. As an added bonus, Braff crafts a creatively shot and captivatingly textured visual product.

Unfortunately, the film just misses its potential by too often giving in to the clichés of a tired and numbing culture that it so successfully critiques.

Characters and plot are a bit contrived. The sometimes brilliant humor borrows too heavily from the crudeness that has become a substitute for wit in today's Hollywood. Romance, while certainly more thoughtful and true than in most recent romantic comedies, falls tritely into place in a weak and rushed ending. Most of this is probably attributable to the lack of confidence that comes with Braff's inexperience.

As he grows and fully embraces his original and incisive style, we can expect much from this young and rising artist. He would be well-advised, however, that his performance behind the camera shows much more promise that his somewhat inconsistent efforts in front.

All in all, this is an excellent film that I recommend to any film-going Princetonian, especially given its accessibility at the Garden Theatre weekend evenings at 5, 7:15, and 9:30 p.m.