REVIEW: Lars and the Real Girl

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to baby-sit my little 4-month-old nephew for about 9 hours. It was a quiet day at home full of baby squeals, a good 2-hour nap (the baby, not me,) and a lot of drool. (baby again)

Somewhere in the middle of that, I popped in my latest Netflix delivery, Lars and the Real Girl, starring Ryan Gosling and...."Bianca."

Lars Lindstrom is a 20-something young man in a small town. He's extremely introverted, much to the concern of his well-meaning brother and sister-in-law, and very lonely. After seeing a co-worker looking at a site advertising life-sized sex dolls, "Bianca" arrives at Lars's house 6 weeks later.

Despite Bianca's original purpose, that is not why Lars brings her home. His reasons can be interpreted in many ways because, unlike what usually happens with a main character, we never know what Lars is thinking or what his motivations are. Instead, the audience becomes one of the townspeople in the film--baffled at first, then slowly accepting of Bianca until you almost forget that...you know...(no one wants to say it...)

This is a movie that I would've chosen to write a paper about in college. It is interesting and layered with no clear genre or theme because different viewers will take away different things. The trailer makes it look like a comedy, but I never found anything comedic about it. It is a lovely film, though--one of those rarities whose strength is in the subtlety of its script and the acting. At the very least, it is about love, communication, family, showing compassion for someone with a mental illness, and what it really means to be human.

I don't want to give away too much, but I highly recommended it. A very strong cast.

The trailer: