Lars and the Real Girl is an Academy Award-nominated film written by Nancy Oliver, American playwright, television and film writer and directed by Graig Gillespie, who has directed TV commercials for 16 years, Lars and the Real Girl is his second film.
Ryan Gosling who became notorious playing along Anthony Hopkins in Fracture(2007), stars as Lars Lindstrom, as a strange but like able young man who manages to keep down a job but keeps mostly to himself. He barely leaves the garage where he lives when his older brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and adorable sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer) drag him to their house next door for dinner.
Lars is so shy that it’s nearly impossible for him to reply to any questions, so the uncomfortable level of his isolation is never openly discussed. It’s only when he announces he has a girlfriend in the form of plastic doll he purchased via the internet that the all community where he lives must admit his fragile mental state. No one quite knows what to do or how to help Lars, so they play along, careful not to do anything that might hurt him. The results are touching efforts of all those who love him.
To go through the surreal relationship Lars has with his doll, his psychologist (Patricia Clarkson) assures it’s maybe only a stage.
Lars and the Real Girl is a sweet love story and a film which deals with mental illness in subtle ways. The film achieves quirky humor in parts but mainly touching observations about the nature of delusions, and has been able to make such an endearing, intelligent and tender comedy.
Utterly charming and carefully and delicately directed.
Published in www.deadfoxfanzine.com
1 comment:
just saw Lars and the Real Girl, Gosling did a great job playing out his character's psychological transitions... it was nice of them to leave out the predictable small-town drama as well
Post a Comment