Film: Lars and The Real Girl

Lars and the Real Girl, written by Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie (2007)



It's a very sweet, heart-warming and the same time quite melancholy (in other words, right up my alley) film about loneliness, the desire for love and a community that goes to great lengths to show they care for one of its most "excentric" members, Lars, played by the wonderful Ryan Gosling.

Gosling should be showered with acting awards and so should be the rest of a perfect cast, from Emily Mortimer to Patricia Clarkson, to the less known actors who play quirky, but real characters, all trying to live and perhaps find some happiness through their varying degrees of loneliness.

This is independent cinema that's both accessible and, if not quite daring, at least fresh and unpredictable. In my opinion, both screenplay and direction would have benefited from a tighter editing, even if this had meant a film shorter than the standard 1hour and 45 minutes. But this doesn't detract from the sincerity and overall success of the project.

As well as the terrifc ensemble performances, I loved the use of the winter landscape, the grey-sepia photography, the brownish, old-fashioned interiors and clothes, all elements that reinforce the sense of desolation of the Northern American small town where the story is set, but also the beauty that lies beneath the surface, under the snow, inside people's hearts.

Luckily for Lars and those who love him, the thaw finally comes.