Anyone going to see Garden State?

[Yi Fong Yu]

i like it from the trailer. very nice uses of the 2.35 lenses. zach b certainly has talent... but i haven't had time to see the whole movie yet. probably will catch it sometime during the weekday. the story has promise as well.

[Imran Zaidi]

I'm very excited about it. It won't be showing down here in Orlando for a couple of weeks yet.

I recently saw IFC's Anatomy of a Scene focus on it, and definitely can't wait.

[Yi Fong Yu]

which scene did they talk about on IFC?

[Charles Papert]

Saw it tonight. Zach did a great job, I'm really proud of him. Very good film.

While I was on "Scrubs", I showed Zach some clips of a short film I had shot in the Super 35 format (i.e. spherical 2:35, not anamorphic). He loved it and said "that's the best format--that's how I would want my film to look". And now it does!

The lenses really don't make it 2:35--it's the aperture of the camera. Same lenses as would be used for 1:85.

[Imran Zaidi]

Doh, I'm a dork. Anatomy of a Scene is on Sundance, not IFC. They're so close on the dial on my cable I often get their shows mixed up. The scene they covered on the show was when Zach and Natalie Portman meet for the first time in the waiting room of a neurology clinic.

Basically, if you haven't seen the Anatomy of a Scene show before, they break down, in about a half hour, exactly what thought process goes into a particular scene they choose to discuss. They cover everything from lighting decisions to clothing to setting, to props, to film processing, etc...

It's an excellent show, and worth getting Sundance if for no other reason than this show. But there are lots more reasons!

[Yi Fong Yu]

yesh i've seen anatomy on girl w/pearl earring. sounds interesting =^).

a bit off topic but Charles, have you seen Entourage on HBO? sounds like you're pretty close to where the 'action' is.

[Matt Elias]

Saw Garden State yesterday, thought it was amazing. Zach plays his character so well and Natalie Portman does an even better job. It is realy encouraging to know good films are still being made. I read an article that the film had trouble getting funding because no one (studios) wanted Zach to direct it, even though Natalie was already signed on and Danny DeVito was supporting it. Guess they were wrong.

[Charles Papert]

Matt, that was indeed true. Zach was a saleable entity as an actor (via "Scrubs") and his script had passed muster, but he did have a tough time convincing the studios that he would be the best choice to direct. From what I hear, he's getting offer after offer now (and his next picture is already greenlit).

Yi, I have seen Entourage and enjoy it. Last Sunday my girlfriend and I came home from seeing a movie at the Arclight Cinema and turned on the latest episode, which included a scene with Jeremy Piven walking out of the lobby of the Arclight! That same episode had the guys eating lunch at the 101 Coffee Shop, another local joint that I frequent (and for those trivia-minded, that used to be the Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop, where all of the diner scenes in "Swingers" were shot). It's fun to spot the local scenery, although living in LA, that's every other movie or TV show.

I see you live in Boston....I grew up there (in Brookline specifically, also lived in Cambridge) and was really jazzed when I watched something that was shot locally. It was fun in the 80's when "Spencer for Hire" was in production there.

[Yi Fong Yu]

yesh we know brookline+cambridge. i pass by those places weekly. oh Charles pls come back and resurrect Boston's film industry, it sooooo sux! everything here is all documentary based :( and indies all suck! well i know you're in la la land, but if you ever "hit it big" please come back and do boston a big favor.

if i ever "make it big" i wanna stay in boston, there's not enough movies with boston in it, everything's about chicago, la, NYC, miami, etc. boston's ALWAYS left out! no1 represents us! =(

the other complaint i wanna lodge is all the supposed locals that come from around here ALL LEAVE!!! as early as leonard nimoy (i think he was born here), and as recent as mark walhberg (donnie too), ben affleck+matt damon, the list goes on. if you ask people around here they all kind of feel betrayed that no one has stayed behind. i mean it takes an outsider (like clint eastwood) to bring boston (mystic river) into the limelight, it's a sad state of affairs.

[Charles Papert]

Without going too far off topic, let's just say that while Austin, TX manages to host three vital and recognized filmmakers (Rodriguez, Linklater, Judge) as well as a plethora of others, those who strike it in the big time out of Boston tend to not stay there. I certainly had my reasons for leaving, can't speak for others.

Although on the indie front, a couple of them feasted at the Mirimax table for a while and came back to the Land of the Bean and the Cod: Robert Patton-Spruill, who's '97 film "Squeeze" was perhaps the first of the latter day homegrown indies to make an industry flurry, and who now runs a indie production studio in Roxbury. And Brad Anderson's "Next Step Wonderland" and "Session 9" make good use of their Boston-area locations--oh wait a second, Brad moved to NYC!

[Matt Elias]

A bit back on topic, the soundtrack to the movie is really good. Right after the show my friend and I trekked over to Virgin to buy the CD - it's been in my CD player since.

[Rob Lohman]

Imran: man that sounds very very interesting! Wish we had
something like that overhere. Bet you can learn a lot from such
indepth shows.

[Yi Fong Yu]

rob there is a way to download... but uh... it'll be through "improper channels". ;).

[Yi Fong Yu]

i can't remember a drama film this year that was as good as this film. so.... imho garden state is the best of the year thus far.

it was almost as precisely as the trailer potrayed it but full of swears... but then we ARE talking about new jersey =).

i really luv the widescreen shots that take place for a drama such as this. it gives it a bigger scope.

[Imran Zaidi]

Ah, finally saw it this past weekend, and LOVED it. Very enjoyable soundtrack - I'll definitely be picking it up.




**-- SEMI SPOILER ALERT --**




The only issue I had with the picture was the bit with the guy living by the abyss. That whole conversation as Zach is leaving the trailer, while it made sense from a character's epiphany standpoint, it did seem contrived. It seemed forced, because there was nothing really to set up why he and the abyss guy suddenly had this deep connection that makes Zach's character suddenly discover that last bit about himself.

I understand why that bit was there, but I just wish Zach had developed the moment just a bit better.