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It would be easy to dismiss the new indie comedy-drama, Lars And The Real Girl, as nothing more than quirky provocation.
The seemingly outrageous film is about a lonely, smalltown social misfit (London, Ont.'s own Ryan Gosling) whose new girlfriend turns out to be a silicone sex doll he bought off the Internet.
The movie's real conceit is that Lars' family -- his brother Gus (Paul Schneider), his pregnant sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer), and the entire town (including shrink Patricia Clarkson) go along for the absurd ride and accept Lars' delusional galpal -- who he's named Bianca -- as one of their own.
In the wheelchair that Lars buys for her, Bianca is taken to parties and Sunday church, has her hair cut, and even runs for the school board and volunteers at the hospital.
In real life, the 27-year-old Lars, who lives in his brother's garage and is afraid to be touched, would likely be dismissed as the town loon.
But in director Craig Gillespie's second feature film, the clever, ultimately moving script -- penned by Six Feet Under's Nancy Oliver -- overall delicate, sweet tone, and uniformly fine performances lift the movie above what could have been a creepy premise.
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Ultimately, it's about unconditional love and kindness.
It helps that there is no sexual component to the Lars-Bianca relationship, with the church-going Lars insisting that the equally religious Bianca, a half-Brazilian-half-Danish orphan raised by nuns to be a missionary -- yes, she has an incredible back story -- stay with his brother and sister-in-law in their spare bedroom.
It is Karin who actually sneaks a peek at Bianca's "anatomically correct" private parts one night and snickers at the fact with her girlfriends.
Still, sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or cry, given Lars is definitely suffering from mental illness.
As Karin and Gus clumsily attempt to wash Bianca in the tub one night, she says: "It's hilarious," to which Gus responds, "Is it?"
Gosling, an Oscar-nominee who knows how to play everything from misguided monster (The Believer) to love-lorn soldier (The Notebook) to well-intentioned junkie (Half-Nelson), is the perfect guy to inhabit the sweater-and-tie-wearing skin of the emotionally wounded Lars.
A blinking, shy sweetheart of a man-boy, his pain and heartbreak is palatable onscreen, whether he's insisting his sister-in-law cover up with a handknit blanket made by his late mother or awkwardly trying to bowl with a female co-worker Margo (Kelli Garner), who clearly has a crush on him.
Even his interaction with Bianca is thoroughly human. There's one vulnerable scene in particular where they are alone in the woods and he sings L O V E in a high-pitched voice from atop a tree house that has to been seen to be thoroughly appreciated.
Also eminently watchable are Schneider as Gus, who blames Lars' problems on himself for leaving his younger brother alone with his grief-stricken father, Mortimer as the warm and welcoming Karin, Clarkson as the understanding and patient psychologist and Canadian actress Nancy Wright as the kind and elderly Mrs. Gruner.
Various Northern Ontario towns in winter also substitute nicely for the stark American Midwest, and the film gets an added bit of edgy coolness from its soundtrack, which includes the Tom Tom Club and Talking Heads, and thrift-store costumes.
(This film is rated PG)