Lars und die Frauen (2007)

Lars und die Frauen: Directed by Craig Gillespie. With Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, R.D. Reid. A delusional young man strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.

“Lo and behold, a film that still believes in simple human kindness.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s been a severe lack of that on our movie and television screens lately, which is why I found u0026quot;Lars and the Real Girlu0026quot; utterly irresistible. I imagine this is the kind of movie thatu0026#39;s either going to work for you or itu0026#39;s not. I can guarantee that if you go into it and pick apart all the ways in which itu0026#39;s not realistic, youu0026#39;re not going to enjoy it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRyan Gosling has rocketed to the top of the list of my favorite contemporary actors. Heu0026#39;s given two of the best performances in the last two years: here in u0026quot;Larsu0026quot; and last year in u0026quot;Half Nelson.u0026quot; The success of u0026quot;Lars and the Real Girlu0026quot; depends almost entirely on Goslingu0026#39;s ability to sell this character to the audience, and he does so flawlessly. Lars is a sweet teddy bear of a man who also happens to be intensely lonely. He orders a life-size and anatomically correct sex doll and proceeds to make a companion of her, taking her to parties, to church, to family dinners. A psychiatrist (a marvelous, as usual, Patricia Clarkson) tells the family that the best thing they can do for Lars is to encourage his delusion until he works through whatever is causing it; they relay that to the townspeople, who take it to heart. As a result, Larsu0026#39;s u0026quot;girlfriendu0026quot; is completely accepted by the town, and even gets elected to the school board.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUltimately, u0026quot;Larsu0026quot; probably isnu0026#39;t very realistic, but isnu0026#39;t it nice to think it could be? That a group of people could be this warm, kind and accepting, simply because they happen to like somebody and want to see him get better. The film is full of wonderful performances from everyone. In addition to Gosling and Clarkson, Emily Mortimer shines as Larsu0026#39;s caring and worried sister-in-law.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt really irritates me that critics were divided on this movie on the basis of it pushing the boundaries of credibility, when they almost unanimously praised u0026quot;Gone Baby Gone,u0026quot; a film so melodramatic and heavy handed as to be no less implausible, and that goes down as two of the most unpleasant hours Iu0026#39;ve spent in a movie theatre for a long time. Has our culture now decided that a film about good kind people is too unrealistic to stomach, and that the only movies that ring true are ones about human depravity? u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo far, u0026quot;Lars and the Real Girlu0026quot; is one of my favorite films of the year.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGrade: A”