Zach Braff's Garden State is an adorable, intimate movie, part screwball romantic comedy, part buddy/road picture. The film blends a mourning with a coming of age story and wraps in a shell of deadpan black comedy.

As a director, Braff shows a skill for selecting settings for his scenes: there's a great I'll-write-you-every-day scene toward the end of the picture that takes place between Andrew (Braff) and Samantha (Natalie Portman) next to an up escalator in an airline terminal. Braff also knows how to end a scene; a lot of his humor comes from the way he edits.

Braff the actor is gifted with dark, mobile eyes; he can control the tempo of a scene just by choosing where to look.

posted: 10:27:43 PM  

Happy fifth anniversary, ArtsJournal!

posted: 7:20:17 PM