All the Real Girls

For all of those who love this film, I've got news for you. You're all suckers. If you're really that desperate for good art, for real art, read a book. The fact that people like this movie, and laud it, says so much about the state of film-making.

David Gordon Green CAN'T WRITE. The story is thin. The best scene in the entire film is the opening one, and then the whole thing dissipates because the director's in love with the beauty of southern poverty. Many people have mentioned Malick as a comparison, but in all three of Malick's films, more so Badlands and Days of Heaven, there is a story, and a solid one at that. Malick makes an interesting point about atmosphere/ environment/nature, and comments on the story in a way most films never attempt. But his films never lose their focus. Yes, they're languid and lyrical, but they have a story that propels the film, a purpose the viewer can feel.

I haven't' seen his latest film, but with his first two films, Green seems to be making movies without an attention to story. Without a story, the film doesn't mean anything. Sure, it captures a real aspect of Appalachia, but a documentary would have done a better job.

Low budget and low tech, director David Gordon Green's "All the Real Girls" first struck viewer nerves at Sundance and it will do so everywhere.

Set in Appalachia with shots of the beautiful mountains juxtaposed with a town that never knew prosperity and is left behind in today's North Carolina where the Research Triangle is where it's at, this is a truly affecting and universal story of first love. It's told honestly, without either director's affectation or cast overacting. The story has soul.

Zooey Deschanel plays, outstandingly, a girl, "Noel," returned from boarding school where she's been since age twelve. She plays the trombone and doesn't want to go to college. She's never had a real job and seems not to have acquired much if any ambition or sophistication while away from home. She's a virgin and it's clear that hardly any of her contemporaries who didn't leave town are even remotely chaste. In fact, the suggestion is that most sleep with virtually all the young guys. Including two, "Paul," played by Paul Schneider and his best friend "Tip," portrayed with a brooding intensity by Shea Wigham. Tip is also Noel's brother and protective of her he is. So when his formerly carefree gangbanging bud, Paul, falls head over heels for Noel and she reciprocates he has issues.

The story is universal: the joy and pain of a serious first love, the pitfalls of communication, the unawareness of how words told and events improvidently related can be like mines going off. The simple but inevitable price exacted by inexperience and not just sexual.

There is a quiet and achingly familiar reality to Noel's and Paul's relationship. Anyone honest will recognize himself or herself from some early life. Anyone who genuinely doesn't has missed some pain but at a price. Director Green unflinchingly unravels the mysteries of growing wiser, a necessary but in some ways sad departure from innocence.

Without drugs or crime or a social commentary on the moribund economy of a gorgeous region, the film focuses on the two young people and their families and friends. They are recognizable, worthy of caring about.

When Paul, trying to understand Noel's not wholly consistent emotions and actions, blurts out that he's not that smart, a number of people in the audience chortled and several yelled out "No, you're not." They didn't understand that his comment wasn't self-denigratory but a nakedly honest confession of confusion and fear of loss. Haven't we all experienced that?

8/10.

David Gordon Green's 'All the Real Girls' falls on the lines of 'Blue Valentine' and '500 Days of Summer'. The story is set in some Southern town in Appalachia and it pretty much centres around a young couple, Paul and Noel. Their relationship is complex but their feelings of affection for one another are no doubt real. The small-town setting appears to look quite authentic and it's captured well by decent cinematography.

The pacing, especially in the first half, is quite slow but this also allows one to see how the relationship between Paul and Noel build up. I felt that sometimes the writers and directors were trying too hard to make the film quirkier and, as such, a few sequences look forced or seem out of place. Even the humour is sometimes forced.

Zooey Deschanel steals the show as the vulnerable Noel. Many seem to comment that she can't do anything outside playing quirky. Well, this is one of her less quirky roles. One may draw parallels between Noel and Summer (Zooey's character in '500 Days of Summer') mostly because of the similar storyline even though the characters are almost completely different. Paul Schneider does a decent job. There are certain sequences where it's hard to tell whether he's being funny or was that not the intention. But he has good chemistry with Deschanel. Shea Whigham provides good support and Patricia Clarkson is outstanding.

I was disappointed by the ending. I'm not saying that I wanted a happier ending but at least one where the story is heading somewhere rather than finish abruptly.

A perfect movie to watch if you're in the mood to just chill out and watch the sunset but it's already dark. It offers the meditative sensation of Baraka combined with a nearly pitch perfect portrayal of a small town slice of life topped off with an inherently interesting 'young love' story. My only thoughts for the filmmaker (and in my opinion a significant oversight) would be to figure out how to wrap up the story without affecting the tone... the last quarter felt tedious as you began to expect the traditional dramatic/thematic resolution and therefore anticipate the number of scenes to come; which work best when you're not intellectually involved but emotionally - or even better - intuitively involved.... once the brain clicks in, the experience becomes of one of anticipation and with a film like this, impatience.

All the Real Girls This is possibly the most accurate film about coming of age in small town America. It does this two ways first as other reviewers have noted the cast in the film portrays a realistic group of people making the best of it in a small town. Their behaviors are ordinary and often verge on boring much like a "normal person" in a small town, and not what Hollywood would have us believe youth/people are like. Upon further reflection I realize anyone outside of the norm really sticks out in this film in an awkward if not contemptible way. For the youth it is basically a waiting age for the big thing that will enhance their lives. I do not believe any of the young characters had much of anything resembling a job. They young cast of men hang out at a salvage yard and help/get in the way through the movie. The older characters are stoic and though they say little you get a feeling that they have seen it all before possibly in their own lives or of others.

The second amazing thing about this film is how well it captures the pace of small town life. It is repetitive and monotonous but in the stillness maybe one is capable of seeing more beauty then in faster paced places. I have never been to a North Carolina mill town and till this film never even thought about one but the filming of the area is very well done showing beauty where you least expect it be it the rain in a textile factor or someone going "Shhh shh".

On these two factors alone I'd recommend this film but the acting and story is very solid. It has been over a year since I viewed the film but the images still come to mind rather vividly, but the names of the characters escape me so I will leave that to others. I do not know who directed this film or for that matter recognized any of the actors but that is more of a testament of how strong of a work this film is and I highly recommend it.