Lars and the Real Girl ***
Craig Gillespie, 2007
US
@ Clearview Chelsea
This multiplex is possibly my favorite in the city. The facilities aren't quite as nice as, say, Lincoln Square, but it's also never that full. It's comfortable in a way that's almost a little bit tacky, but not really. My other option was the Angelika, where the screens are small, the seats uncomfortable, and it's on a really gross stretch of Houston.
The cast is just really solid across the board. Probably my favorite part of the film is the way Lars' "real doll" eventually becomes more and more of a character, particularly when Gillespie makes use of carefully lit reaction shots, such as during an argument in Lars' beat-up Toyota Tercel. Like a lot of indie (romantic) comedies, this is a bit of a quirkfest, but for me it feels like a slightly odd version of one possible version of believable reality, rather than some bizarro world that shares only superficial similarities with our own. I suppose when arbitrating the artistic worth of stuff like this, personal taste is basically the final criterion. There are probably people out there who would wholeheartedly support, say, The Station Agent or Me You and Everyone We Know but not this movie.
See also: IMDb | Metacritic
Craig Gillespie, 2007
US
@ Clearview Chelsea
This multiplex is possibly my favorite in the city. The facilities aren't quite as nice as, say, Lincoln Square, but it's also never that full. It's comfortable in a way that's almost a little bit tacky, but not really. My other option was the Angelika, where the screens are small, the seats uncomfortable, and it's on a really gross stretch of Houston.
The cast is just really solid across the board. Probably my favorite part of the film is the way Lars' "real doll" eventually becomes more and more of a character, particularly when Gillespie makes use of carefully lit reaction shots, such as during an argument in Lars' beat-up Toyota Tercel. Like a lot of indie (romantic) comedies, this is a bit of a quirkfest, but for me it feels like a slightly odd version of one possible version of believable reality, rather than some bizarro world that shares only superficial similarities with our own. I suppose when arbitrating the artistic worth of stuff like this, personal taste is basically the final criterion. There are probably people out there who would wholeheartedly support, say, The Station Agent or Me You and Everyone We Know but not this movie.
See also: IMDb | Metacritic
Labels: 2007, 3 Stars, Craig Gillespie, US
1 Comments:
the over all look and feel of Lars and the Real Girl reminded me a lot of Mozart and the Whale (Josh Hartnett plays a character resembling Ryan Gosling’s)... it's very much about acceptance and unconditional love as well
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