Holy shit, Natalie Portman can act!

Natalie Portman is not my favourite actor. In fact, since Star Wars (the next generation) came out, I was quite willing to write her off. Completely. And this from one who saw the premiere of Episode III in Hong Kong.

My opinion has since changed.

Friday, the girl out in New York City (yep, she left me all alone for the big city). Surfing the dish, I came across Beautiful Girls, starring a 13 yo Portman in a puppy love thang with 28 yo Wille (Timothy Hutton). And wow, is all i can say. Check the review from FilmCritic.com. Acting is top notch, the heartbreak (“5 years. We wait five years”.) palpable.

And so, laying up for a long night without the girl, I pop in my most recent DVDWorthy acquisition, Garden State (the link is to the trailer of the movie). Here’s Portman again (obviously) alongside Zach Braff of Scrubs fame. He wrote and directed the film. Stars in it too.

I like movies with small but meaningful messages. Soem might call them “boring”. Hey, I loved Lost In Translation, so what can I say?

In the meantime, don’t hold Spielberg and the new SW trilogy against Portman. She can act, after all.

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PS – I turned the evening into a Portman Trilogy, catching yet another movie, this one apparantly her first. Variously named Leon, Leon the Professional, or merely The Professional.

There’s definitely talent here.