Some day in the distant future when this society collapses in on itself and a superior alien race is excavating the societal remnants left in smouldering rubble, looking to find out what the 21st century was all about for us long-dead meat bags, I genuinely believe they’ll find a copy of Zach Braff’s ‘Garden State’ and hold it up as our sacred text. Then they’ll let out a strange alien laugh with their lizard mouths, at what tits we were.
Like many a young gangly teen with too much of an Elliott Smith back catalogue, I’ll be the first to admit I did laud ‘Garden State’ on its release in 2004 – what was there not to love? Here was Mr. Braff straying away from his hospital scrubs and donning funny looking shirts and a floppy haircut for some all out navel gazing, whilst The Shins quietly seeped acoustic melancholy into your skull until you were humming that tune constantly, even in McDonalds. The direction style was perhaps not original but it felt fresh for a lot of adolescent viewers; the dialog was off-the-cuff, the comedic elements understated and the locations felt provincial but still pretty spectacular to look at. The issue here is not that ‘Garden State’ is a bad film, it’s more than the direction style has now become the template for all indie tripe that has followed.
In the past decade, the market has become over-saturated with carbon copies of the Braff-structure. It’s impossible to move in independent cinemas for a sea of movies featuring kooky characters with quirky traits that border on mental health problems. Many actors seem to see these low-budget flicks as a way to show they’re still ‘all about the acting’ and that it’s really just a case of ‘one for them, one for me’ when they do these huge blockbusters which they receive huge fees. What we’re left with is a landmass of sub-par motion pictures that use their indie soundtracks and sensibilities to attempt to manipulate a demographic, without rewarding them with a dynamic film experience that’s worthy of the tug on their young heart-strings.
Zach Braff, ruining the next decade of low budget film-making with Garden State (2004)
In most cases it becomes easy to shrug these clangers off without another thought. ‘Safety Not Guaranteed’; the story of an eccentric mall worker looking to build a time machine to mend a teenage relationship was suitably irksome, ‘Take This Waltz’ and its portrayal of a forbidden love between a rickshaw driver and a ‘civil war reenactment’ journalist (yep.) was truly painful whilst on but easily forgotten afterwards. I’d even happily go on the record to say that ‘Youth In Revolt’ was a genuinely enjoyable film about a shy teenager looking for an edgy alter ego, even if Michael Cera has developed into ‘son-of-Braff’. But what is so bothersome about the new trailer for ‘Boyhood’ is that you know it could have been so much more.
If you’re unaware of the premise of ‘Boyhood’ then let’s get up to speed: The film follows a divorced couple (In this case, Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke) as they go through the trials and tribulations of raising their son Mason (The human growth bag Ellar Coltrane). The director Richard Linklater decided that instead of using different actors to show the passing of time, they would instead film every year for a twelve-year period and adapt the film along with the passing of time, a feat which is huge in scope for a drama and no doubt commendable for the time put in to the project. The film has already done the rounds at Sundance, SXSW and the Berlin International Film Festivals and seems to be an awards magnet, picking up silverware across the way.
Ellar Coltrane. Possibly glum after seeing the trailer for ‘Boyhood’
The problem here is, what do you once you’ve labored to create this footage for over a decade and now that you have the chance to create a defining moment in film history? What Linklater decided to do was create something that seems to be draped in schmaltz and corny dialog such as ‘Life doesn’t give you bumpers’. Add to that mix, the pluck of an acoustic guitar and a suitably Shins-like vocals and a suitably edgy font and what you have is a project with huge possibility that has been suitably ‘Garden Stated’. What hurts more is that this is now expected of movies with low budgets and indie-sensibilities, but this is a twelve-year epic not a summer project. It feels like ‘Boyhood’ has suitably lowered its style and ambition in order to fit a demographic, instead of embracing the size and scale of what it could have been.
It’s time to move on, indie kids. There’s nothing left for you here anymore. No wonder there are superior alien races, when we are spending time on projects like this.
‘Boyhood’ is set for theatrical release in July 2014 and the trailer is available below.
