…it must be the day after movie night.
A couple of weeks ago, the boy suggested going to see Lars and the Real Girl. I asked for a brief plot synopsis, and the boy being a man of few words said “Guy falls in love with blow-up doll.” I gave the “you can’t be serious” look. And yet, I still went. Good thing too. I loved it. A very quiet, heartfelt, quirky small town movie with a basic premise that could go SO wrong: man falls in love with doll he bought on the internet. Lars is quiet, shy and antisocial, stuck in a daily routine that consists of going to work or church and back home again to sit staring out the window watching, but not participating, in the world. Along comes Bianca, dropped off by UPS in a large wooden crate and Lars is completely committed. Completely convinced this doll is a real person, with a full history he has concocted for her, Lars integrates Bianca into his everyday life. Through telling her stories, he tells his own. Through expressing her feelings, he expresses his own. And out of support for Lars, the entire town participates in creating a life for Bianca…and building a new life for Lars.
This is one of those stories that could easily fall off the rails. It doesn’t. There is complete commitment to the characters and the story that makes this movie one of the best I’ve seen in a long time.
indigodragonfly 