Pitch Perfect 2

“Aca-Wiedersehen bitches!”

IDDA’S SCORE: **

Pitch Perfect 2 (o nella sua non altrettanto efficace traduzione italiana “Voices”) torna nelle sale in questa caldissima estate libera da mondiali di calcio e competizioni sportive.
Il sequel alle divertenti avventure delle Bellas si presenta con circa la stessa trama, le stesse gag comiche e lo stesso humor.
E nonostante tutto funziona perché i mash-up delle canzoni sono semplicemente troppo belli; non importa che non siate fan del canto a cappella, questi remix sono frizzanti, divertenti e molto ben costruiti.

Ritroviamo le Barden Bellas più unite e affezionate che mai nonostante una tremenda figura di Ciccia Amy, di fronte a niente di meno che Barack Obama, rischi di minare l’uscita di scena dal college delle super campionesse dell’ ICCA Championship.
Per redimersi le ragazze si mettono alla prova sulla scena mondiale sfidando i temibili Das Machine, statuari e agguerriti campioni in carica direttamente dalla Germania.

Il ruolo di Beca (Anna Kendrick) in questo secondo capitolo è stato decisamente ridimensionato per lasciare spazio all’insaziabile Ciccia Amy (Rebel Wilson), l’insicura Chloe (Brittany Snow) e alcune new entry tra cui spicca sicuramente Emily (Hailee Steinfeld vista in Il Grinta dei Cohen), figlia di una famosa Bellas e impaziente di entrare a far parte del gruppo.
Molto più marginale il ruolo di Jesse (Skylar Astin) ancora fidanzato con Beca, e i suoi Ritmonelli ormai oscurati dalla fama della Bellas.
Ritroviamo anche Bumper (Adam DeVine) e seguiamo marginalmente la sua storia d’amore con Ciccia Amy; ancora una volta un po’ troppo sopra le righe, soprattutto la traversata del lago, ma che energia nel duetto “We Belong”!
L’introspezione dei personaggi si fa un po’ più profonda: Beca accetta segretamente uno stage presso uno studio di registrazione e comincia a pensare al suo futuro dopo il college mentre scopriamo che Chloe continua a evitare di laurearsi proprio per paura di crescere al di fuori della Barden University.
Rincontriamo brevemente anche l’autoritaria Aubrey (Anna Camp) che aiuterà le ragazze a ritrovare la loro armonia sottoponendole a due giorni di addestramento militare canoro per poi deliziarci con un coretto di “Cups”, canzone con cui Beca aveva vinto il provino nel primo capitolo del film.
E l’immancabile duo formato da John e Gail (John Michael Higgins e Elizabeth Banks, qui anche regista) e i loro divertentissimi commenti alle performance.

Curiosità: a seguito del precedente capitolo lo stimatissimo giornalista Roger Ebert scrisse che non capiva bene a chi stessero indirizzando questo live comment. Alle televisioni? A una radio? In questo secondo capitolo si fa specifico riferimento a un podcast…che anche loro abbiano letto la recensione di Ebert?

Pitch Perfect 2 piace per la buona musica intelligentemente remixata, il siparietto di Snoop Lion e il suo singolo di Natale e soprattutto per le ragazze.
La trama potrà anche essere scontata (inevitabile l’utilizzo della canzone originale per battere i Das Machine) e alcune gag troppo tirate ma complessivamente le avventure delle Bellas rappresentano un piacevole diversivo in queste caldissime serate estive.

Hitch

“One dance, one look, one kiss, that’s all we get, Albert”

IDDA’S SCORE: *

I always like to re watch movies after some time, to see if I understand them better or differently as I grow up and Hitch’s DVD had been sitting on my shelf for quite a while.
I was looking for a light romantic comedy that wouldn’t require too much attention to follow and I figured what the hell…Will Smith never fails to make me smile.

And that’s pretty much all I got to say about this movie.
Good performances given by smart and funny actors who didn’t have to make that much of an effort to get into their roles.
Other than that Hitch is nothing more than an average romantic comedy you quickly forget about and would not watch again for at least a year.
Is not because it’s not good or funny, it just falls in the midst of ok movies.

One thing I noticed this time that may have tricked my teenager’s eyes a few years ago is the contrast between Hitch luxurious apartment in New York and its supposed salary as date doctor. And actually the whole matter of being a date doctor.
I don’t think such a profession could ever really exist and if it does, I doubt it would earn you an unbelievable avant-garde loft in a building with a funny doorman.

Nonetheless, the pair made by Smith and Kevin James delivers a couple of entertaining and well directed scenes.
In particular the one where they go from destroying Albert’s office after his disastrous intervention in the conference room, to totally cool conversation when Allegra shows up and Hitch orchestrates the whole thing behind the door.

Eva Mendes’ intervention as Sara Milas works too.
And even if it didn’t, who wouldn’t wanna watch an hour and half of Eva Mendes? She’s just gorgeous. No matter how stuck up her character might be.
Unfortunately her role as the-one-worth-making-a-fool-of-yourself-for kinda nullifies the first two acts of the movie which had actually intrigued me into finding out if Hitch would have succeeded with the hopeless Albert and out of his league Allegra.
All that action is left on its own once we get deeper into Hitchens own misfortunes while trying to hang out with Sara.

Overall Hitch is a likable movie, although it does have a few to many cliches lines, especially the final love speech.
“[…] And there’s only one person that makes me feel like I can fly… That’s you”
Come on now. I ain’t watching Gossip Girl for a reason.

Should you watch Hitch? Yes.
Why? Because it stars a good cast and it goes by fairly quickly without ever getting boring.
Will you count it among the greatest romedies of all time? I’m afraid not, but if that were the purpose I would have not watched any of Matthew McConaughey’s movies prior to Dallas Buyers Club, would I?

Maleficent

“But, as many thought whenever they saw the graceful figure soaring through the air,
it took a great hero and a terrible villain to make it all come about.
And her name was Maleficent“

IDDA’S SCORE: **

La Bella Addormentata Nel Bosco è tra le più popolari principesse Disney nonostante abbia sì e no una battuta nel celeberrimo cartone animato del 1959.

Al contrario, in Maleficent Aurora è una ragazza coraggiosa, intraprendente e dal cuore buono.
Eppure la vera protagonista della storia, che lo si voglia o meno, rimane inequivocabilmente l’alta figura tenebrosa la cui ombra proietta un paio di corna: Malefica, la quale merita decisamente di essere ai primi posti tra i migliori “cattivi” dell’universo disneyano.

Maleficent però presenta la storia sotto una luce ben diversa: una fata buona, una ragazza buona, è tradita da quello che dovrebbe essere il “vero amore”, perché spesso le persone fanno del male a coloro che amano per la brama di beni terreni e di gloria. Proprio come Stefano, che più di tutto desiderava diventare Re.

La scena più impattante del film è quella in cui, detto in minimi termini, un uomo avido deturpa una donna delle sue ali abbandonandola nel dolore e nella vergogna.
Quest’atto di crudeltà fa crescere il seme dell’odio in Malefica che sfoga il suo dolore maledicendo la figlia di Re Stefano, per poi prendersi cura di lei mentre le fate buone ma impacciate (forse un po’ troppo, non sono amabili in questo film) cercano di proteggerla dal suo stesso incantesimo.

Passano gli anni e Malefica alleva la bambina nell’ombra, affezionandosi a lei fino ad amarla come una madre e a pentirsi della morte apparente cui l’ha condannata, tanto da mettere da parte la sete di vendetta verso Stefano e assumere, a tutti gli effetti, il ruolo di eroina.
Infatti, il suo amore per Aurora è talmente grande che avrà la forza di spezzare l’incantesimo che “nessun potere mortale” avrebbe sciolto.

In molti hanno parlato di questo film come un inno al femminismo: una donna ferita cresce con amore la bambina figlia del suo detu rpatore, la protegge dal suo stesso padre e seguaci (uomini malvagi e donne inermi) e infine la incorona Regina di un mondo fatato, in cui finalmente regna la pace.
Tuttavia credo che il tema più importante e innovativo sia legato al fatto che Malefica, nel suo ruolo di fata madrina, è il “vero amore” di Aurora.

Il film è una sorta di spin off di una favola classica come tanti se ne vedono ultimamente, con un CGI notevole ma a tratti confusionario e cambi di scena un po’ troppo repentini.
Eppure è ricco di qualcosa che nemmeno l’originale cartone animato del ’59 aveva, con tanto merito anche ad Angelina Jolie, spesso sottovalutata, e l’espressività del suo viso perfetto. Questa ricchezza sta proprio nella chiave di lettura che abbatte il dogma del tradizionale rapporto sentimentale tra uomo donna, presentando l’unico amore vero ed eterno: l’amore invincibile e potentissimo tra una madre e un figlio.

Birdman

“I’m nothing. I’m not even here”

IDDA’S SCORE: ****

Birdman si apre con un uomo seduto a gambe incrociate a mezz’aria e si chiude con lo stesso uomo che forse si è appena suicidato o forse ha spiccato il volo trasformandosi definitivamente nel suo supereroe alter ego.
Non è spiegato il perché né dell’incipit né della fine.
Addirittura nella scena iniziale l’inquadratura cambia prima di mostrarci come il personaggio torni con i piedi per terra.

Da quel cambio di scena però, iniziamo a seguire Riggan (Michael Keaton) attraverso un vortice caleidoscopico costruito su un unico piano sequenza, magistralmente accompagnato dalla travolgente colonna sonora di Antonio Sanchez. Correndo attraverso passaggi stretti, camerini e scale a chiocciola, siamo immediatamente catapultati nel dietro le quinte di un teatro a Broadway e resi partecipi della confusione mentale che pervade il protagonista.
Riggan è l’ombra di un attore una volta famoso grazie al suo alter ego Birdman, un supereroe alato che di certo non si aspettava di finire nel dimenticatoio e glielo ricorda costantemente con la sua voce aggressiva e invadente.
Oltre il pallido ricordo di un se più giovane e desiderato, a Riggan non rimane che un’ambiziosa pièce teatrale da lui scritta e diretta nella speranza di riacquisire legittimazione artistica e giustificare la sua avventura a Broadway.

Nei giorni che precedono la prima, Riggan cerca anche di aggiustare goffamente il resto della sua vita di cui fanno parte una figlia ex-tossica (Emma Stone) che ci regala il miglior monologo del film, l’ex moglie Sylvia (Amy Ryan), il migliore amico e co-produttore Jack (Zach Galifianakis, nel ruolo inaspettato di voce della ragione) e le colleghe Lesley e Laura (Naomi Watts e Andre Riseborough).

La precarietà del suo stato d’animo non migliora con l’arrivo di Mike Shiner (Edward Norton), un attore capriccioso, arrogante ma soprattutto sincero che lo pone senza remore davanti alla triste realtà della sua vita.

Michael Keaton ha creato un personaggio iper-loquace a tratti umoristico ma allo stesso tempo perennemente pervaso da un senso di melanconia che sfocia facilmente nella disperazione e nella rabbia.
Birdman è un film incredibilmente ricco a livello emotivo, satirico ma dolce, intimo ma diretto.
Grazie a una regia vibrante e mai troppo estrosa, Iñárritu ci trascina nella confusione che pervade Riggan senza prendere una pausa fino alla fine, che però non spiega. Forse per non guastare il realismo magico che circonda il film, per non sminuirlo d’importanza o semplicemente perché non ne vede il bisogno.

Del resto Birdman non è solo il fantasma di Riggan, così come alcuni sostengono Batman lo sia stato di Keaton; è l’alter ego di ogni uomo che viene dimenticato con il passare degli anni, il ricordo sbiadito di qualcuno che una volta è stato il migliore. Quasi come un supereroe che avesse perso i propri poteri.

Memento

“Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car.
And memories can be distorted. 
They’re just an interpretation, they’re not a record,
and they’re irrelevant if you have the facts”

IDDA’S SCORE: ****

For psychoanalysis, memories are conscious representations of the past suspected to be, at least in part, illusory. Their interpretation is personal and affected by feelings and emotions.
We often don’t realize how much we rely on faded frames floating in our minds but if we try to recall a certain event among a group of friends, we’ll be surprised that nobody seems to remember the same details, or even main facts.

But what would happen to us if we were to lose our memory and only remember our life up to that day?
How could we be in control of our actions and ultimately even tell right from wrong?
Memento explores this possibility through the character of Leonard Shelby, with a great performance by Guy Pearce.

Leonard is well aware that others treat him like a freak and even so he always relates to people without prejudice.
He knows he can only rely on his polaroids and tattoos but, if his facts lead that way, why shouldn’t he open up to the person standing in front of him?
He has to find the murderer of his wife at all costs because that’s his purpose in life.
Note that it is different from an achievement, because it has continuity.

In fact he has already killed the felon and Teddy has even taken a smiling picture of him (if it really was the killer, but I like to think so) and yet Leonard has never written on the back of that polaroid.
He doesn’t want to remember.
He needs to keep looking for him otherwise what would he be living for?

His life now depends on having someone to hunt down and if Teddy is getting tired of covering for him (after getting him into troubles) than that killer might as well be him.
All he has to do is write down “don’t believe his lies”, take his car plate and wait five more minutes for his memory to fade so he won’t remember what he has just realized.

Lenny has accepted his issue and exploits it to protect himself, to be sure he’ll never have to remember what has really happened.
Guy Pearce’s performance is perfect because he delivers a character worried, pensive and confused as you expect him to be, since it’s a whole new environment to discover every time he wakes up.
And yet he also makes you see the real man; there’s rage, excitement and love, especially when he remembers his wife.
It’s a lot for a man that doesn’t have mental capacity and time to feel almost anything.

That last glimpse of her smile, the way she brushed her hair and read over and over that old book, that is what Lenny wants to remember and live of.
He doesn’t want a new existence because he can’t have one.
And even if he could tattoo on his chest that he may now rest in peace, he won’t.

I was reminded of him after seeing the character of Teddy Daniels in Shutter Island: doesn’t he too chose not to remember the truth and rather “die as a good man”?
Sammy Jenkins was nobody but Lenny himself as much as Laeddis was Teddy: both projections of their own tragedies on fictitious men that could be blamed for their mistakes.

After all don’t we all seek refuge in our own memories, where we can find solace for what we’ve done and can hold on to a smile, a moment, a feeling?

Two last notes I’ll add to this review.
One is a two thumbs up for the technical expedient of presenting the story backwards. It really does bring you closer to the reality Leonard is perceiving and its uncertainty and lack of information.
The second one refers to Roger Ebert (my favorite movies lover of all times) and his review of this film: Memento review by Roger Ebert
Ebert mentions two readers that have pointed out that if Lenny doesn’t recall anything after the accident, how can he know to have short term memory loss?
I have to admit I hadn’t thought about it but I chose to accept the plot as it is and it couldn’t have been developed without such premise.

PLOT

Leonard, not Lenny because he hates it, has few certainties about his life: his wife has been brutally raped and murdered and now he seeks revenge.
Problem is that he has short term memory loss due to the trauma suffered during the struggle and he can’t hold on to his thoughts more then few hours.
In order to keep up with it, he takes pages and pages of notes, shoots polaroids of people he meets and tattoos on himself the main facts about his wife murder.
On his chest there’s one that says: “John G. raped and murdered my wife”…but, note after note, anybody could become John G.

What has really happened is that his wife survived the attack and they were reunited after.
Unfortunately she couldn’t bear the fact that Lenny had lost his memory and she was positive that, deep inside, her husband was lucid and his condition solvable.
So she tested him for good. She was diabetic and had him inject her the daily dosage of insulin more than once, to see if he could realize he was killing her. And he didn’t.
Of course Lenny doesn’t remember any of this, he thinks his wife was killed after the rape.

Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) was the cop who followed his case and the only one who believed what Lenny said about two attackers being in a room and not just one, whom he shot during the struggle.
Ever since then Teddy has helped Lenny have his revenge on the second attacker; in fact Lenny has killed him a year prior to the events told in the movie.
Teddy has even taken a happy photo of him after, but he has chosen not to write underneath what that smile was for.
Sammy Jenkins, the poor lad Lenny always talks about, is nobody but himself.
A projection of what has happened to him and his wife.

After justice had been made Teddy had taken advantage of Lenny condition, calling him on the phone with false clues about the murder that lead to drug related businesses ran by thugs Teddy has to take care of as undercover cop.

That’s how Lenny ends up killing Jimmy Grants (another J.G.), a man who’s got nothing to do with him or his wife. Larry’s a drug dealer and after Lenny takes care of him, his girl Natalie (Carrie-Ann Moss) is left to deal with his debts.
After figuring out Lenny’s condition, who in the mean time has decided to drive around in Larry’s car wearing his clothes, she decides to take advantage of him and make him getting rid of Dodd, whom Larry owed money to.

Throughout all this, Lenny is convinced to be after his wife’s killer and he loses his memory so often that most of the time he ends up acting instinctively based on what’s going on.
Natalie plays around with him and asks for a favor (to get rid of Dodd) in exchange for tracking down a car plate Lenny has written down on his notes.

That car plate belongs to Teddy and Lenny was well aware of it when he wrote it down after the cop had confronted him telling the truth once more.
Lenny has already taken care of his wife killer but after a year and a half he’s still hasn’t given up on his quest and Teddy is there to make sure he doesn’t get hurt, or rather to have Lenny scare away certain police targets.
Lenny (has said above) has decided to make Teddy the killer because he couldn’t stand to be exploited and then ridiculed with the truth about his life.
And everything sums up at the end because Teddy’s name is actually John Edward Gammell so he can be Lenny’s Jhon G. Again, anybody could become Jhon G.

In the end we’re not told if Teddy really has helped Lenny killing his wife or if is a cop at all.
That above is my interpretation and I understand it is really confusing  but give Memento a second watch and everything will be more clear. Trust me, it is worth it.

Young Adult

“Why Buddy?”
“He’s a good man, he’s kind”
“Are other men unkind?”
“He knew me when I was at my best”

IDDA’S SCORE: ****

High school can be tough.
For the majority of people it turns into an everyday challenge where the best you can do is find a group of friends that share your interests and passions, stick with them and make it trough.
But there will always be her.
The stunning beautiful prom queen you want to hate but you’re too dazed by her glamour, her older look and the charming spell she seems to cast on any other human being.
And you sit there thinking that ten to twenty years from now she’ll have lost all her beauty and the glorious days of her light perfect skin and soft lips will be nothing but a shadow on a wrinkly face.

Well, that is not going to happen.

Beauty queens will always be such because they will never let go of what made them special in the first place.
Mavis Gary in Young Adult is the perfect fallen queen.

Long after that last dance at prom, Mavis finds herself stuck in a lonely life with a dog she doesn’t take too much care of.
She’s evidently bored, depressed and unsatisfied and can barely find the strength to get out of bed in the morning, attempt to write the last season of a young adult series that used to be popular, wear a make-up mask that will hide the bags under her eyes and go out for a drink (or maybe two or three) at night.

She has no real purpose in life and this is why she’s so ready to turn things around and go seek her high school sweetheart Buddy Slade, once she has found out he’s a newborn dad.
Stormed back into Mercury, Mavis tries so hard to restore the high school romance that was dead long ago, with no clue of the embarrassment she creates around herself.
The only one who is straight to her is Matt (great performance by Patton Oswalt),  the one person she could care less about in high school who turned out to be as cynical and misfitted as she is.

Matt points out that Buddy is happily married and she has no place in his life but what I believe the movie implies is the fact that even if he really were unhappy with his marriage, he still couldn’t make Mavis life better.
The point is that she did not fit in small Mercury when she left after high school and she doesn’t now. Despite her issues, she has lived the city life and I don’t think she could relate to the routine in small Mercury or fit in clothes that are definitely not Marc Jacob’s.

Because after all, even to them, she’s the one who has made it.
She’s a glamourous writer living the life in Minneapolis.

At this point of the movie, seen that she had already acknowledged the failure of her plan, I thought she would have realized that she was better than what she had become and she could still fix her life.
There’s only one problem about that. Mavis is an alcoholic. 
And I very much liked the fact that none of the characters in the movie ever tell, she’s the only one to admit it.
She says it to her parents at dinner and she subconsciously admits it to Matt.
The relationship between them is the only thing that brings you closer to the character of Mavis who is so terribly blind to what’s really going on around her.

Mavis Gary is a fallen beauty queen who hasn’t realized that the years after high school should have been the starting point of her real life, rather than the ending journey of the best part of it.
Her beauty, which at 37 comes at a cost well portrayed in the movie, is what has always kept her going and is the reason why she can easily be convinced by a character clearly frustrated as Sandra (Matt’s sister) that everybody else is so jealous of her.
So “fuck Mercury”. She’s better than that. She always were and always will be.

I very much liked this movie. It’s different from all others high school related and it doesn’t turn into a gigantic drama about a woman with issues.
Charlize Theron delivers a character who keeps her head up and has an intimidating effect on people around her, despite what really goes on inside.
And even when she cries and admits her craziness, she’s still so beautiful, so perfect.

PLOT

Mavis Gray is a beautiful woman who lives a depressive existence.
With the only company of her dog and some superficial friendships and sexual encounters, she drifts through her messy apartment in an attempt to write the last season of a book series for young adult turned into a once popular TV show.

She’s alone and depressed, spends all her nights drinking and welcomes the following morning chugging Diet Coke. Then she receives an email from Buddy Slane (Patrick Wilson), high school sweetheart who’s now married with child. 
Mavis is bothered by the news and convinces herself that her lost love is stuck in a marriage he doesn’t want and it’s definitely time for her to rescue him and live the life they always talked about back in the days.

So she shows up after years in Mercury, Minnesota, and not too slowly unfolds her plan. Buddy is polite and kind to her but doesn’t show any sexual interest or much less dislike for his life and family. Mavis twisted mind misinterprets every single word of his.

The only person who confronts her is Matt Freehauf,  who used to be the high school joke whom Mavis remembers as “hate crime” since he was beaten up and his legs and genitals damaged for life by a bunch of jocks who thought he was gay.

Matt is the only person to rely on in a town where she can hardly remember anybody’s name. He has no problem telling the truth about her issues and the embarrassing scene she’s putting up with Buddy.
And when she finally has her epiphany, she finds solace in the company of the one man who is as cynical as she is.

Mavis has her moment of truth but forgets about it pretty soon, because it’s much easier to blame others for their mediocrity rather than accepting and seeking help for her own issues.

Alpha Dog

“So  you’re like  ransom or something…”
“That’s fuckin hot!”
“Yeah it’s, like, another story to tell my grandchildren…”

IDDA’S SCORE: **

I couldn’t tell you if I regard Alpha Dog as a good movie.
I’ve watched it more than once, last time yesterday, and still can’t figure out if overall I liked it or not.

I believe it gives good proofs of the fact that not all petty drug dealers are thugs and some of them are just really dumb.
Throughout the whole movie you get the uneasy feeling that the story could end in a good way but somehow it won’t because the kidnappers are just too stupid.

I’ve read many reviews of this movie and they all describe the character of Zack Mazursky as “naive”.
I don’t think he’s naive at all…he’s just an average kid who doesn’t go out much (yet again he’s fifteen pretending to be seventeen) and is very happy to spend some times with older dudes he can have fun with.
I believe the rest of the bunch is the one being naive, naive to think that they are “the shit” because of the constant partying and smoking and drinking and unrated language, naive to think that kidnapping a kid for $1200 ransom would be this incredibly smart symbolic gesture…until things get out of hands.
I believe it was Cassavetes intent not to give us detailed information about the case but to let us be carried by their incredibly ridiculous way of solving the situation.

To me they’re just spoiled rich kids who live off their parents money and ultimately just hide from the real world and resulting responsibilities.
Justin Timberlake portrays it best playing the character of Frankie, who gets to know Zack and develops an affection towards him and yet is unable to impose himself unto Johnny Truelove and take the kid home.
Truelove is played by Emile Hirsch and, like any other performance of his, delivers a character you’ll hardly remember.
After all though he has to come off as a poser who is just scared of guns and real fights, compared to Jake (Ben Foster) he’s nothing but a wimp who makes the wrong decision and is too weak to take control of his actions.
On the other hand I loved Ben Foster performance: he comes off as the only real thug turned into a junkie who tries, or not even, to be a good brother.

Overall I would say that the film is alright.
There are definitely some good performances and you get the overall feeling you wouldn’t want to be friends with these people who are just a bunch of posers who find solace in partying because they’re too scared to face reality.
And when they do, when they actually face the fact that they’ve kidnapped a person, they panic and then run.
Zack, if he had survived, was the only one who would have made something out of himself.

One thing I’ll admit about this movie: Sharon Stone monologue at the end is among my favorites of all time. It is so real and painful that it brings you back to reality and makes you realize the abomination of such act.

PLOT

Alpha Dog is based on the real homicide of Nicholas Markowitz (in the movie Zack Mazursky) occurred in 2000 by Jesse James Hollywood and his peeps.

Story is simple: Zack’s brother Jake (played by Ben Foster) is a drug addict who buys from Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch), who isn’t much of a thug but acts as one and is looked up to by a bunch of “friends” who spend their lives partying and having fun.

When Jake falls into debit with Johnny, things begin to get nasty and Truelove, who’s too scared to face Jake directly, crosses path with Zack running from home after a fight and decides to kidnap him.

Zack is not the usual victim: he’s not tied up in anybody’s basement or beaten or starved but is treated like a cool kid who happens to be kidnapped. He develops relationships especially with Johnny’s straight man Frankie (Justin Timberlake), has sex with much older girls (e.g. Amanda Seyfried) and enjoys parties as a good new addiction to the group.

Aside from the many witnesses they leave behind, Johnny and friends have many chances to come out “half-clean” by taking the kid home but the latter is just to scared of Jake’s reaction (who has already raided his home and pooped on his floor) so they keep holding Zack captive.

Then Johnny begins to think that the solution of the problem would be getting rid of the kid…
I won’t tell what happens in the end, although I believe that readers already know.
I don’t want to write it because it’s still unbelievable to me that it really happened.

Lars And The Real Girl

 

“Lars asked us not to wear black today.
He did so to remind us that this is no ordinary funeral.
We are here to celebrate Bianca’s extraordinary life. From her wheelchair,
Bianca reached out and touched us all, in ways we could never have imagines.
She was a teacher. She was a lesson in courage.
 And Bianca loved us all. Especially Lars. Especially him.”

IDDA’S SCORE: ***1/2

Lars And The Real Girl is ultimately a movie about a guy with issues that begins to love a plastic sex doll.

And yet there is nothing about it that makes it corny, off-color or insulting. In fact it’s a sweet movie that never crosses the line.
There is not one sex joke regarding the doll or a bitter comment that could have made it all wrong.

We’re not asked to feel for Lars Lindstrom but just to let him be.
Because it’s only by doing so that we can appreciate the delicacy of his nature and be part of the world he sees.
He is so kind and compassionate that by the end of the movie I had too, developed affection towards that inanimate piece of plastic.

The way he relates to Bianca is so pure, genuine and romantic that it almost brings her to life and makes you wish she could love Lars back.
But in fact she does.She does it through the love of his brother who has realized how alone he had left him for years, his wife Karin who grows into being a newly mom and the whole community that learns a lesson about diversity and, as the priest says in his sermon, ultimately courage.
Two thumbs up for Ryan Gosling who delivers a performance that is accurate and yet so delicate that it makes you wish he would have done more movies like this and spared us some of his recent Refn collaborations…

Movie runs for 106 minutes which is more than enough to develop affection for Lars and his family and not be bored by this fairy tale from the real world.

Sometimes people forget how simple love can be and Lars And The Real Girl is a great proof of that.

PLOT

Watching this movie I was reminded of one of those fairy tales settled in some place dispersed in the middle of nowhere, with only one main road, surrounded by snow and in which fashion is still dictated by flannel pyjamas.

When you first get a glimpse of Lars’s house, no information is given regarding its location.
I imagined it to be some cold region of the United States, in one of those towns that are cut out from the rest of the world and have so few inhabitants that they could all be gathered in a Wall Mart store.

Lars is a shy, ordinary young man who lives in a garage close to the house of his brother Gus and sister-in-law Karin.
He is genuine, kind and helpful and very much loved by his family and the community, although he prefers to be alone in his small room rather than being hugged and hosted at people’s parties, reason why he often refuses to the point of running away from Karin just to avoid having breakfast with them.

He has an office job and is totally capable of taking care of his persona.
We learn throughout the movie that his mother died giving birth and his lonely and depressed father raised him until his death.
He has friends and acquaintances and even a slightly childish young colleague who shows much attention for him. And yet he does not seek other’s company.

But then comes Bianca.

Bianca is the girl of his dreams: she’s beautiful, educated, kind, quiet and not used to the whole kissing-and-hugging that he despises so much.
And that’s because Bianca is not a real person; she’s a plastic sex doll that Lars ordered off the Internet.
But in his delusional mind she’s real and perfect.

And this is what makes Lars And The Real Girl such an extraordinary movie.

Lars’ family is shocked and puzzled at first sight of this sex artefact treated as if she were a real person.
Lars has all figured out in his mind: the reason why she’s forced on a wheel chair and her incapability to eat or dress herself.

Doctor Dagmar, probably my favorite character in the movie, suggests that his family should too act as if she was real, giving her the chance to talk to Lars while Bianca goes through weekly therapeutically sessions.Lars has to come out of his fantasy on his own, since Bianca seems to be a projection of his own personality and traumas.

 

The whole community ends up playing along with them and Bianca is treated so much like a real person that everybody is comfortable having her around at parties, in church and even volunteering at the local hospital.

Until one day when Lars makes her leave just has she had come, just in time for the last snow to melt.