Trailer...
Synopsis
A young man (Ryan Gosling) dealing with human interpersonal and social issues, channels his desire for human contact when he orders, befriends, and falls in love with a human-sized female doll.
My Take
Nothing spells honesty, wit, and inspiration like an independent film. Sure, some independents drag out for hours with their art-house spiel and sometimes limitless ethical boundaries, but often times (as I am coming to realize) I'll take an indie over a big-budget any day. Take the recent run of favorites like Gone, Baby, Gone, Michael Clayton, and a soon to be favorite Juno (coming in December); all hits, unfortunately the only downside being availability. Lars and the Real Girl was playing in only 1 theater in the entire Central Florida area; at the Winter Park Village – and to give you out-of-towner's an idea of relation of time to get there, from my house its about 40 minutes. To see a movie. But then again, I knew it was going to be worth it.
Ryan Gosling's performance as an interpersonal lacking slightly delusional Lars Lindstrom should be marked down in the Oscar Nominee book right now. Lars lives basically a sheltered life in his brother's house, living in the garage. And when I say living I literally mean living. He normally gets up to go to work, works, then comes home in the garage and the next day starts the day over again. Growing up without a normal relationship with people leaves Lars in limbo with dealing with the human population. He often doesn't know how to respond to people, and is deathly afraid of physical contact. However, all of that changes when Lars orders and 'dates' a life size female doll. Eventually introducing her to his brother and sister-in-law, the couple are unsure of how to take it immediately seeking help from the family's doctor. Slowly and surely Lars' delusion of his love for the doll, named Bianca, becomes apparent and serious leaving not only his family, but the whole town to play along and assist with the situation as well.
Remarkably enough while it does sound like something you might hear on a BBC comedy, Lars and the Real Girl is not at all that. While the reality of a man loving a doll does sound like a storyline driven over the top, and probably laden with cheesy jokes and pointless one-liners; this story takes a sweeter, more serious side. Eventually, the accommodations the townspeople make for Lars and Bianca, while potentially light-hearted, don't seem so far-out. The point of Lars having the relationship with the doll, is finding a toll to channel his want, his desire to connect with another human. Unfortunately, an unstable childhood left Lars with pretty much no "equipment" to deal with the outside world (though he does manage to support himself with a moderate job). The new girl at work piques his interest, but Lars responds in the only way he knows how; subtly. Wanting to fight the urge, but avoid human confrontation – Lars creates the delusion of Bianca, one that his brother and sister wait to wash over him like a fad, yet it doesn't come. Through Bianca, Lars begins to develop more outside of his box and extend to the potential labeled on the movie poster itself, "The search for true love begins outside the box".
With a touching, sweet, loving depiction of devotion, loyalty, and the human condition Lars and the Real Girl comes off as a truly moving film. Also laced in is a clever story emboldened by witty dialog and almost no flags (some sexual innuendo referring to the fact that Bianca came with female parts; but Lars never talks about it, and it only lingers for a scene very discreetly). While you probably wont have the chance to catch this one in theaters, it makes for a very worthy rental and an even better romantic-mood-setting flick.
Until the next silver screen production,
Zachary Anderson
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