{"id":1623,"date":"2015-01-02T00:28:48","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T00:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bryanbuser.com\/365moviesbyday\/?p=1623"},"modified":"2022-08-11T02:09:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T02:09:46","slug":"all-the-real-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/365moviesbyday.bryanbuser.com\/all-the-real-girls\/","title":{"rendered":"All the Real Girls (2003)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Director David Gordon Green is quietly creeping into the upper echelon of movie directors. However, he is probably a name most people still have not heard of. Green is known for doing these smaller, independent, character-driven movies that are often set in Anytown, USA. To me, the movies are incredibly realistic because they dive so deep into raw, everyday emotions, explicitly dealing with love and lust and jealousy and anger and hurt. Keep in mind as I say this that he has also directed stupid humor comedies like\u00a0Pineapple Express<\/em>,\u00a0The Sitter<\/em>, and\u00a0Your Highness<\/em>, but that shows how ultra-talented the man is. The movies I am talking about are\u00a0George Washington<\/em>,\u00a0Undertow<\/em>\u00a0(which I didn’t like but appreciated), and\u00a0Snow Angels<\/em><\/a>, a film I admire in every aspect. I’d need to go back and watch\u00a0Snow Angels<\/em><\/a>\u00a0again (a movie I watched for the second time ever, no more than 3 or 4 months ago) before deciding if I like it or\u00a0All the Real Girls<\/em>\u00a0better. To me,\u00a0both of these movies capture the pureness of simple film-making.
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What I like about\u00a0All the Real Girls<\/em>\u00a0is just how real it is. Snow Angels were too, but that was based on one scene you don’t see every day. The story with\u00a0All the Real Girls<\/em>\u00a0is lived every single day in every single city in just about every single country in the world. The film stars\u00a0Paul Schneider (Bright Star, Lars and the Real Girl<\/em>). Paul is in his early 20s, lives at home with his mother, and works as a car mechanic for his uncle. He gets his joy from the simple things of small-town life, which means hooking up with every girl in town and just hanging out with his pals Tip\u00a0(a fabulous Shea Whigham –\u00a0Take Shelter<\/a><\/em>, television’s\u00a0Boardwalk Empire<\/em>) in really his first role [on a side note, if you have not seen\u00a0Take Shelter<\/a><\/em>, add it to your must-see list. It’s the best movie about the onset of paranoid schizophrenia that you will ever see. Michael Shannon stars, and he has never been better nor will likely be as good as again…and I think he’s a terrific actor], Bo ( Maurice Compte –\u00a0End of Watch, Fidel<\/em>), and Bust-Ass (Danny McBride –\u00a0Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder<\/em>). Paul is smitten when Tip’s teenage sister Noel (Zooey Deschanel –\u00a0500 Days of Summer, Bridge to Terabithia<\/em>) returns to town after completing boarding school. Against Tip’s wishes, Paul and Noel start getting close, and a relationship ensues. What transpires through the rest of this movie is not exactly what you would expect, but then again, when does life go according as planned? This movie will make you sad and probably cause you to reevaluate your own life. It’s certainly not the feel-good movie of the year, but, as I’ll say a few times in this review, it feels honest. Now this movie isn’t for everyone. Some will find it way too slow and might wonder at the end what they just watched. If you’ve felt secure in all of your romantic relationships in life, you might not be able to relate to the characters. But if you have been wounded or witnessed people hurting others intentionally, you’ll be able to connect and maybe even love this movie as much as I do.<\/p>\n

The person\u00a0I related to most in the movie was Paul. I am different than Paul, but I think I’ve carried his mentality before. First, I’ll state what is different. He lives in a small town and has a small-town reputation for getting what he wants with girls and then leaving them. They end up thinking he is a jerk, and you feel poorly for the girls and see this as a central character flaw in Paul. Fortunately, I don’t feel like I’m that way at all. I only pursue girls who I think there could be a future with. Otherwise, what’s the point? My heart isn’t strong enough for anything less. Often it’s not even strong enough to last in a relationship with someone I genuinely care about. But that’s a different story entirely. I relate to Paul and what I’ve experienced firsthand fear and self-doubt. We see flashbacks of how he is with other girls, but the only relationship we see him pursue is the one with Noel. And the first few minutes of the movie show the two of them touching each other tenderly in a public setting while talking sweetly to one another. We don’t know him (or her, for that matter) at all yet, so of course, we are conditioned to think that these two people at least care for each other very much. We soon realize that they have known each other for years, but she has recently moved back home after attending boarding school for her high school years.<\/p>\n

In any case, Paul and Tip\u00a0are similar. They’ve each had their way with the town girls and have swapped their stories. So when Tip finds out that Paul is spending time with Noel, he is more than just skeptical. He doesn’t threaten as much as he says something to the effect of, “I know who you are. She’s my sister. Why can’t you leave this one alone?” He’s a little more menacing to Noel, stating all of Paul’s flaws and how he’ll use her and then walk away. He’s the protective big brother, and you can feel the anger he is trying so desperately to mask. Sometimes Tip does a great job with this aspect of his being. At other times, he does not. So going back to the part of Paul that I can relate to is his acceptance that he is the person he is. People are defined by their actions. The best way to predict a person’s future behavior is to look at their past behavior. But Paul wants to change. The question is whether he is committed to it and does he have the resources that will allow him to do so. I don’t think he’s particularly proud of his past behaviors, but he knows he can’t go back to change them. At least in the present moment, what is true is that he cares for Noel and doesn’t want to hurt him. While he believes that this is the person who can change his ways, he doesn’t necessarily trust himself to do so. In the back of his mind, he believes what Trip says is true. He knows when he’s done with a girl, he simply walks away and could care less what others think. His past is catching up with him, and he’s doing his best to change that. He knows that won’t be easy. He knows that will be an everyday struggle, especially when things aren’t particularly great with Noel. In the film’s first scene, Paul tells Noel he’s afraid to kiss her because it will set Tip off. I think, from the start, he knows that if he’s going to pursue Noel, he’ll have to do it differently from all his previous pursuits. The fear of Tip and the potential backlash from that seem like the worst thing that could happen to him, though, because\u00a0he cannot fathom the alternative. He is in complete denial that she could ever hurt him because that hasn’t happened before. And since, it seems, no girl has ever told him no before, how could he even begin to believe that this could be a possibility? What we do learn about Paul, though, is that deep down inside, he is just as vulnerable as the rest of us are.<\/p>\n

So this is one part of the movie that I love. What is harder to relate to, and this, I think, is primarily due to the time constraints of a two-hour movie, is how simple the shift appears to the average viewer. It’s almost like you have to connect to this Paul character to understand this movie. For some, it will seem that his shift from disconnected jackass to gentle husband material happens too easily and seems much too difficult to believe. Not for me. There is some vagueness with how much time passes between scenes. It seems that scenes often occur on the same day or after another. At other times, it seems like weeks could pass between scenes. I felt that Green was purposely vague, and I mostly liked that. But there were times when I wanted to know how much time passed from a previous scene to one I was currently watching. It follows the reasonably logical progression of a relationship. Noel is a virgin coming into this movie, and Paul is not. The idea of “will they or won’t they” isn’t much of a debate. More so are the circumstances before and after.<\/p>\n

The second part of the movie that needed some work was Noel’s ability to go for Paul despite all she knows about him. She seems to have no regard for his lifestyle and his use them and leave them approach. How is she supposed to believe\u00a0that she is any different? But we never know what is running through a person’s head when they are making their decisions, especially when love is involved. She’s infatuated with Paul. Perhaps she has been even before she went away to school. Perhaps she believes she can be enough for him. Maybe she knows that there is a strong potential to be hurt but that she either doesn’t care or doesn’t know how difficult that might be. Again, this is all new for her. But she does have a coming of age moment that only\u00a0Zooey Deschanel can have. Though this character is nearly unrecognizable compared to her role as Summer in the fantastic, almost flawless\u00a0500 Days of Summer<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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The movie will take you for a ride, and you might be incredulous after your first viewing. But, if you feel this way, you do like it, watch it again. Watch it over and over again.<\/p>\n

The role characters are great too. Green did an excellent job of shedding light on so many different characters. The leads stole the show. They each show that they are human. They show vulnerability.\u00a0The performances are understated, quiet, and authentic. As mentioned, Whigham’s Tip is fantastic as the protective older brother of Noel and best friend\/running mate of Paul. He’s ripped up inside because Paul is his best friend but knows that, much like himself, he treats the town women poorly. Like Paul, he wants to change but knows how difficult that is.\u00a0Whigham captivates in all of his scenes. Also convincing is\u00a0Patricia \u00a0Clarkson (Pieces of April<\/em>, Showtime’s\u00a0Six Feet Under<\/em>) as Paul’s mom Elvira. What is her job, you might ask? She’s a clown. She loves Paul and sees this world as a complex place that can be both beautiful and brutal. When Paul tells her he’s happy, she sees right through him as only a mother can do. But perhaps the most underrated performance in the movie belongs to Benjamin Mouton (Flatliners, A Time to Kill<\/em>), who kills it as\u00a0Paul’s uncle Leland. A man of few words, there is not a wasted moment when he is on screen as he staggers through the film, painstakingly reminiscing at one point about the passing of his late wife and how he wonders if all of what he experienced was worth it because the loss of the love of his life was so significant. He’s all Paul has in terms of a role model. He was great. Mouton seemed to have retired after this movie. I still remember him as Julia Robert’s father in\u00a0Flatliners<\/em>. He was chilling in that role. On another side note, see Flatliners. It also is a fantastic movie and scary as hell.<\/p>\n

I love this movie.<\/p>\n

Plot 10\/10 (I loved it…I love movies about genuine relationships that I can relate to…I get it if there are those out there who watch this movie and think it was the most pointless two hours of their life…I would not argue with you because this is a movie I would never want to debate…However, it makes you feel, just like just about everything in life is right)
\nCharacter Development 10\/10 (the actions of the characters in this movie don’t always make sense, but that’s what makes them so honest…our actions in life are always reactions to things others have done)
\nCharacter Chemistry 9\/10 (there were some lame-o’s like McBride’s Bust-Ass who were put there for comic relief, which I didn’t necessarily care for, but all of the actors who had serious roles were at their best)
\nActing 10\/10 (top-notch…you’d think these actors were each pulled from streets of the rural town where this was shot)
\nScreenplay 9\/10 (Green and Schneider wrote the story…they had a vision as a couple of guys in the early 20s, and I think they carried it to fruition)
\nDirecting 8.5\/10 (I loved it…it jumps around a little too much…I think it was shot out of sequence, or maybe the characters drifted in a different direction from the original story…it’s not quite\u00a0as smooth as it could be…Green is still a work in progress, but he’s not even 40; yet…I hope he keeps challenging himself with the type of drama)
\nCinematography 10\/10 (so realistic…so beautiful…nothing too overdone…just dreary)
\nSound 9.5\/10 (music is playing softly for what feels like a majority of the movie…it’s never overdone…the music is somber but peaceful)
\nHook and Reel 10\/10 (it’s slow…I don’t know why this movie captured me in such a way when other similar types of films have no effect…however, I’m glad this one drew me in, held me, and encouraged me to watch it over and over and over again)
\nUniversal Relevance 9.5\/10 (poignant to me on so many levels)
\n95.5%<\/p>\n

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