TIFF 07: Ryan Gosling wows in Lars & The Real Girl

How does one explain falling in love with a movie about a socially disassociated young man (Ryan Gosling) who finds his soul and his community via their  acceptance of his 'girlfriend' played by a... ahem... sex doll?

Oh yes, quirky (and surprisingly heartwarming) is the way to go with the film Lars and the Real Girl, in which director Craig Gillespie gathers together a smart cast who avoid the potential 'wink wink' aspect of Nancy Oliver's original screenplay and play the film with utmost respect.

The end result is a crowd pleaser that many didn't expect to see when they sat down at my packed screening.

It's a hard sell (trust me, when I talk about this film to my festival peers, some of them glaze over when they hear the words 'sex doll'), so I'm really hoping that proper word of mouth will take this film to an audience that will fall in love with it like I did.

At the press conference, Ryan admitted that he now owns one of the dolls (Bianca) because he really grew fond of it during the shoot (get your head out of the gutter please!).

In response to the laughter, Ryan quickly added, "laugh all you want, but I challenge all of you to spend 20 minutes in Bianca's presence and not fall in love."

The next day, I was lucky enough to get some 1 on 1 time with him to find out more about his special movie and his love for Bianca.  

Honestly, go check out Lars and the Real Girl. This film and Juno are my two favorite movies of TIFF 2007!

Add a comment

Posted by Stevie on September 14, 2007 1:12:00 AM EDT #