"you'll see when you move out it just sort of happens one day, one day and it's just gone. and you can never get it back. it's like you get homesick for a place that doesn't exist. i mean it's like this rite of passage, you know. you won't 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 miss the idea of it. maybe that's all family really is. a group of people who miss the same imaginary place."
andrew, garden state
3 comments:
I know, I'm commenting on an old post, but I've come back to it a couple of times in the last two days.
This isn't an opinion that makes me popular, I guess, but I'm kinda on the fence with "Garden State." I saw it when it came out a couple of years ago and thought it was good but the further I get away from it and the more I think about it, that's kind of all it was, you know? Even the soundtrack, which was supposed to be a huge deal because it was "hand picked" and all was just ... well, okay (too much of what Barry from Championship Vinyl would call "sad bastard music").
And it's not like I'm not a fan of movies like this: "The Graduate" is one of my all-time favorite movies. Which, is kinda why I'm ambivalent toward "Garden State." It comes off as a bit of a second-rate "Graduate" and seems ... affected in a way (which is such a Simon Cowell comment, I dunno).
Then again, maybe I'm an old cynical bastard who's seen "St. Elmo's Fire" too many times.
Thoughts?
i will say that i completely get what you mean by this, because i have felt this way about other highly-touted, "amazing" films that everyone seemed to love - except me. but, i loved 'garden state', for reasons that are both personal and most likely typical.
actually, i can see quite a lot of similarities in the feel of 'garden state', to the feel of 'the graduate'; which i'm not sure that i'd ever thought of until now. i love both films, actually, though i think they hit me in different ways.
i relate to both of the lead characters in this, and not in the most obvious of ways. and, some of the contemplations that go on in this are questions that i struggle with in my own life (thus the inclusion of this particular quote in my blog). i've come from a pretty broken family, i've dealt with being both overly-emotional and numb, and i enjoy watching the enlightenment and connection the two characters find as the movie progresses.
and, well, i kind of dig "sad bastard music". i'm more dick, than barry.
all that said, i respect your opinion on this - and am happy that you commented, and shared it with me. i love discovering other people's perspectives and reactions with media.
also, i'm all for having non-popular opinions. i feel this way about j.d. salinger, and the revered catcher in the rye. i just scratch my head and wonder what the big deal is with it.
Actually, it's pretty interesting that you bring up The Catcher in the Rye in this context because when you think of it, Catcher + The Graduate = Garden State.
I mean, it's not hard to see that because Holden Caulfield and Ben Braddock are both archetypes for teen angst and post-collegiate stress disorder, so just about anything in those areas are going to take their cues (consciously or unconsciously) from them (plus, the use of Simon & Garfunkel).
Catcher, btw, kinda has the same problems that Garden State does in that it's a victim of its own fame, or at least it's author's. But take away Salinger's notoriety as a weird recluse and you have a very important story about an entitled kid being slapped in the face by the world, and in turn trying to save someone else from going through what he's been through (which is why teenagers, especially this nightmare of a generation, should read it).
The difference between Catcher and everything after, of course, is that Catcher sets the tone. Everything after it either rises to the occasion or comes off as trying too hard. I think that's what was bugging me about Garden State: too much of it was quirky for quirky's sake.
I'd revisit Holden Caulfield and really look at it in terms of every other angst-ridden movie, book, CD, whatever else you've seen. You might get a better perspective on it.
Yes, it's a lot of navel-gazing and whining ... but aren't they all?
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