Happy isn't normal

About 【Garden State】




I cannot really say how I should recommend this movie. The director/writer Zach Braff mentioned this story is sort of a composite of his and his friends' stories. The funny thing is I have thought little of New Jersey for a long time. To me, New Jersey is just like some place you have to go through when you leave or head for New York. After seeing this movie, it's the first time that I found the garden state -New Jersey, is more interesting than I used to think.

Since 【Garden State】 is biographical in essense, you cannot really criticize whether the story has any deeper meaning or else you will get frustrated when you try to read between the lines. The protagonist is totally depressed, although his father is a shrink. His family was devastated by a tragedy when he, as a 9-year-old child, pushed his mother and made her stay in the wheelchair until she died.



I have to admit that the main character is not particularly lovable, unless you have unconditional empathy for whomever suffers from depression. However, another main character, Samantha (played by absolutely charming and talented Natalie Portman) somehow saved the ass of this movie. Her arcane but cute personality is destined to rescue whatever was screwed up in this story.

Overall, this sentimental movie is full of witty comedic components here and there, though not quite consistely.

The reason why I still spent time writing about this movie is because of what the protagonist said to his psychiatrist father near the end of the movie,

"We may not be as happy as you always dreamed we would be, but for the first time let's just allow ourselves to be whatever it is we are ..."