Garden State

Yesterday i went to Faith's house for lunch and after that to watch a movie at her place. Christon, Jeff, Gary and Shuqin went too. They prepared meditteranean food(ok i can't remember the names) with a whole chicken. After that we decided to watch the movie "Garden State". Faith has a very cozy tv room with a very good sound system so if you want to watch movies, just bring it to.....okok..hehhe.

Anyway the movie was very good. I confess, i didn't get the whole meaning of the movie until faith explained it to me. I thought the ending was abrupt and that it had shortchanged me. But it wasn't after thinking about it. It's one of the few movies i've watched which relates very well to 20-somethings. A movie about life and love albeit the small cast.

=====Spoilers=========
Largeman has been taking anti-depressents to help him get through the traumatic experience he had while he was younger. He was responsible for his mom's paralysis and so grew up very much impacted by that incident. Although he wasn't depressed per se, yet his life was numb. He was removed from the emotional side of him and thus couldn't find meaning in life until Sam(natalie portman) came to his life. Even when he flew back to attend his mom's funeral, he just couldn't connect with his emotional side. I grew to like Sam's character as i watched as this girl knew how to live life truly - to take things as it is and to enjoy the small things. Her simplicity influenced Largman in a big way and that helped him get back on track to living his own life. The last part was very insightful too as it tells us that no matter what you do and which path you go, it involves small risks. It's tempting to be too comfortable, as in Largeman's case, not getting into a relationship. But true excitement and meaning in life comes when he commits himself to take the leap of faith - to tread places where he can't forsee the next few steps. We tend to put our faith in material stuff like a job, education and the like because we can see the next few steps already. But it's about taking the risk with someone else and to allow yourself to be changed as a result - changed to someone whom you can't forsee and ruffling a few feathers. I'll like to extend the idea that it's all about relationships with people that changes you, not just your relationship with your bf/gf/spouse(although this is a much bigger risk)

Sure you have a good job, a good education and you're rich, but the movie asks you this question - so what?