“Lars And The Real Girl”

A lonely, wounded man buys a life size sex doll and begins bringing her around to meet friends and family as if she were real. As a conceit, this just cannot work on any kind of serious level, and yet it does, thanks in large part to the amazing performance of Ryan Gosling, a young actor who is already putting together a pretty amazing body of work (if you haven’t seen his Oscar-nominated turn in “Half Nelson,” track it down).

This movie could have gone wrong in so many ways, as we are asked not only to believe that this man could actually develop sincere feelings for a doll, but that the entire town would go along with it to protect his feelings. See, I told you it was preposterous. But before you dismiss this movie, recall that the most moving part of “Castaway” was when Tom Hanks lost Wilson, the volleyball, and think about how affected you were in watching a man cry desperately out for a ball slowly floating further and further out of reach.

Then think about the possibility that we all live with certain delusions at different times in our lives, delusions that we may very well need until such time that we can pull ourselves together and move back into the “real world.” “Lars And The Real Girl” is far from the brain dead comedy you might expect. In fact, it is one of the more thoughtful movies I have seen all year, and one of the more moving as well.

“Ordinary People”

Nearly 30 years later, the conventional wisdom is that Martin Scorsese was robbed when Robert Redford won the Oscar for best director and “Ordinary People” beat “Raging Bull” for best picture. But the conventional wisdom, in this case, is wrong. “Raging Bull” is indeed a great film, but “Ordinary People” is a perfect film, as devastating today as the year it was released. Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland, and Mary Tyler Moore all deliver stunning performances in this story of a family trying to come to grips with the tragic loss of the oldest son in a boating accident. Moore, playing against type, is especially effective in what might be the most difficult part, as a mother who simply cannot face her own pain, much less the problems that still remain in her family. Hutton is the surviving son, trying to let go of his guilt as he slowly recovers from a suicide attempt by attempting to re-enter a world suddenly gone very strange. Sutherland, as the father, is the man caught in the middle, trying to keep his family together. While this is hardly a “happy” movie, it is a hopeful one, and the conclusion is uplifting and life affirming. But not in the way you might expect.

— By Chris Cox