Can a song really change your life?
In the movie “Garden State,” the character Sam, played by Natalie Portman, asks Andrew, played by Zach Braff, in the doctor’s office if he’ll listen to her music. She says, “You gotta hear this one song, it’ll change your life I swear.” In that moment, The Shins’ “New Slang” begins to play, and an indie film classic is born.
Sitting in my room, I would listen to my sister’s “Garden State” soundtrack over and over again and imagine what the movie was about and where each song went. In 2004 I was 11 years old and was not allowed to watch “Garden State,” so the next best thing was staring at the album art and listening to “New Slang” on repeat for the next few years. By the time I was old enough to watch it, none of the songs in the movie were where I imagined they would be.
The songs I had listened to lying on my tattered green carpet now had all these scenes filled with emotions and feelings attached to them. In Braff’s new movie “Wish I Was Here,” the soundtrack fueled by The Shins is just as poetic as the music featured in “Garden State.” Each song serves a purpose, and each lyric holds a truth waiting to be discovered on film. “Wish I Was Here” differs from recent indie films because it is a movie funded by the fans.
Kickstarter helped Zach Braff and his brother Adam J. Braff bring their script to life. The movie features such stars as Kate Hudson, Mandy Patinkin, Josh Gad, Ashley Green, Jim Parsons and “Scrubs” co-star Donald Faison. Fulfilling his promise to the Kickstarter community who helped the movie become a reality, Braff has been traveling all over the country showing special screenings of the movie to backers.
The movie opened in theaters last Friday, and now fans all across the country can enjoy “Wish I Was Here” and see Braff’s vision come to fruition. In the mean time, I will have to enjoy the beautiful melancholy of The Shins’ new song “So Now What,” which was written specifically for the movie.
Critics have been saying that this is Hudson’s best performance since “Almost Famous.” Both movies feature a multitude of artists that define the movie and a generation. Cameron Crowe, the director of “Almost Famous,” used more than 50 songs in the movie. Maybe one song can’t change your life, but what would the bus ride scene home after Russell goes off the deep end be without “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John? What kind of free spirit would Penny Lane be without “The Wind” by Cat Steven’s playing in the background while she dances in an empty gym?
Who would Adam be had he not heard “New Slang” by The Shins? Perhaps it’s not one song in particular that can change your life, but rather a soundtrack. The “Garden State” soundtrack is merely part of the biggest playlist of all – my life. “Wish I Was Here” has already begun to seep into my life and has even caused me to share its music with friends. So play “So Now What” by the Shins before you do anything, before you go out into the world, before you let even the smallest thought enter your head in the morning. I promise it’ll change your life, or in this case, maybe just your playlist.
