MovieChat Forums > Beautiful Girls (1996) Discussion > Garden State Similarities?

Garden State Similarities?

posted 11 years ago by MaximusGrandimus
5 replies | jump to latest

I recently watched this movie again for the first time in about 5 years or more, and soon after that I watched Garden State. It struck me that the character Natalie Portman plays in that movie could be this character grown up. We never really see her family in this, and the family we meet in Garden State could easily have fostered a 13-year-old girl who was as bright and witty as the character in this film. What are your thoughts, Internet?

Also, the tone and themes of both movies are very similar - serio-comic, main character comes home after being away for a long time and finds that the more things change the more they stay the same. When he comes back he is surrounded by friends with wierd quirks and their various relationships, feels out of place because he can't connect/relate, either to his old friends or to the town that he grew up in. But he also can't make it work in the life he's temporarily getting away from. Then, of course, meets Natalie Portman and everything clicks...

I don't know if you're aware of this but I've already changed things. I killed Ben Linus.
--Sayid

[–] Naughty-God 10 years ago

The only similarity between Portman's two characters was that they were portrayed by her. I didn't see any signs of the physiological imbalance condition that her character in Garden State had. Also, her GS character was more of a tormented and lonely soul type character whereas Marty was a wise young girl beyond her years yearning to escape the limited confines of a small town. If you were to combine these two characters or write them as the very same one then I would see Marty not being in New Jersey, but probably living in Europe as an International student, if not in the US living with a college professor at NYU or Harvard. She'd definitely be a writer/observer of some sort.

[–] MaximusGrandimus 10 years ago

I don't know, Portman's character in Garden State had epilepsy but that's not necessarily a behavioral condition. Her character did have further ticks and traits, but none of which I would call necessarily imbalanced.

I don't know if you're aware of this but I've already changed things. I killed Ben Linus.
--Sayid

[–] Naughty-God 10 years ago

that's why I called it physiological, pertaining to a physical condition, not a psychological condition. Either way, I found both characters very different from one another. Furthermore, Braff's character in GS is somewhat similar to Willy's younger brother in BG...very withdrawn.

[–] RobSac 10 years ago

I must admit I haven't seen Garden State. I've seen people compare it to Beautiful Girls, but I just can't picture Zach Braff carrying the role of the young, male lead coming back to his home town the way Timothy Hutton did in BG. Hutton's Willie Conway is one of the coolest characters of the whole 90s Miramax era.

[–] nite_eternal 9 years ago

Zach Braff is a hack and he totally ripped off this movie. Garden State is lost in translation meets beautiful girls