Chrysanthepop David Gordon Green's 'All the Real Girls' falls on the lines of 'Blue Valentine' and '500 Days of Summer'. The story is set in some Southern town in Appalachia and it pretty much centres around a young couple, Paul and Noel. Their relationship is complex but their feelings of affection for one another are no doubt real. The small-town setting appears to look quite authentic and it's captured well by decent cinematography.The pacing, especially in the first half, is quite slow but this also allows one to see how the relationship between Paul and Noel build up. I felt that sometimes the writers and directors were trying too hard to make the film quirkier and, as such, a few sequences look forced or seem out of place. Even the humour is sometimes forced.Zooey Deschanel steals the show as the vulnerable Noel. Many seem to comment that she can't do anything outside playing quirky. Well, this is one of her less quirky roles. One may draw parallels between Noel and Summer (Zooey's character in '500 Days of Summer') mostly because of the similar storyline even though the characters are almost completely different. Paul Schneider does a decent job. There are certain sequences where it's hard to tell whether he's being funny or was that not the intention. But he has good chemistry with Deschanel. Shea Whigham provides good support and Patricia Clarkson is outstanding.I was disappointed by the ending. I'm not saying that I wanted a happier ending but at least one where the story is heading somewhere rather than finish abruptly.

MisterWhiplash All the Real Girls is a love story, but according to director David Gordon Green on the DVD he would almost not want to explain what it's about. The reason for this turns out to sound, perhaps, a little too high-minded or poetic, maybe just pretentious, as he expounds upon the way the sun hits the two and a half legged dog and that that's what the movie is 'about'. In short, he explains, the movie is just about how we are. That's possibly a good way of explaining it, or reasoning it or whatever, since the film is not entirely classifiable almost in spite of its more typical and tender elements. But as a work of a director like Green it is something that is all his own, for better or worse (mostly for better), which is something that has been seen in the work he's put out so far with the possible exception or amendment of Pineapple Express.It's by no means a really great love story nor a really great film. Yet as someone who has tried to crack writing his own relationship dramas, this struck a chord. There are real scenes of truth, of revelation and insight, and tenderness and the resolve to try and accept the way things are which can never be done. Paul Schneider plays a character named Paul (how close to real life I leave to you to figure on), who is something of a town Lothario, albeit not really proud of it as we later learn. He and Noel (Zooey Deschanel) fall for each other despite the angry protest of her hick brother Tip. We then see the relationship unfold as something of a first-young love scenario, both for Paul and for virgin Noel, and how it plays out against some more specific drama and character interplay with Paul's frustrated hospital-clown mother (Clarkson) and friend Bust-Ass (Danny McBride).As tends to happens in certain young-love movies, there's something that happens that occurs that mucks the whole thing up- more-so for Paul than Noel in one of those 'funny' kind of hard to take ways- and yet Green even treats this as well as other tougher moments with care and attention to how real and awkward and truthful the actors should play it. This doesn't necessarily mean all the scenes work completely or feel a little jagged with the patient (not really slow) pacing. But when they do work they work very well, like a confession Noel makes to Paul in the hotel room, or a silly scene at a bowling alley. And while Green paints his 'canvas' of sorts with this sleepy blue-collar North Carolina town with some arty montages (the SKY, the high-speed factory, hills and landscapes, pretty pictures), the actors are surprisingly good with seeming to do so little. Part of that is the subtle strengths in the writing, and some of it is just how Scheider and Deschanel keep things simple and sensitive. Even Whigham has a good scene expanding his character. Clarkson is also a given for doing small wonders on screen.If it's not quite one of the most mind-blowing romance films I've seen this decade, it might be that I wasn't entirely in the right frame of mind, or didn't find all of the little scenes with the supporting characters worked as well as the central "plot" (in quotes for redundancy), or that the music is sometimes placed in ill-fitting scenes or is too sappy for my taste. These criticisms aren't to say it's a very well accomplished effort, a small and intelligent picture that doesn't cheat on its characters. It is familiar, and it feels very much a true Sundance fest effort, but it's better than others I've come across for its originality and tact.

ametaphysicalshark David Gordon Green's "All the Real Girls" is unquestionably one of the most authentic 'relationship films' ever made. The romance at the core of the film, between Paul and Noel (played by Paul Schneider and Zooey Deschanel), is unquestionably realistic and will surely remind almost everyone of their romantic relationships, if not as a whole then certainly in parts.It really is too bad, then, that the rest of the film is uninteresting. I do feel that it is uninteresting partly because the rest of the characters aren't people I can personally relate to or recognize. Not that I relate to every movie I enjoy, as that is certainly not the case, but this whole film appears to have a sense of familiarity, and anyone not born in the American South or somewhere like it may not find the small town itself and the supporting characters all that interesting. I did not. Perhaps with repeat viewings "All the Real Girls" will improve in my eyes, as I almost feel guilty for faulting David Gordon Green for doing pretty much exactly what he set out to do. This film feels real from top to bottom, and it's almost refreshing to see a non-hostile portrayal of the South, but I thought that too much of the film was spent on uninteresting people with uninteresting backgrounds.All my issues with the film end at the script, however. I cannot fault David Gordon Green as director here, simply because this film moves at a pace that perfectly suits the material, because the film looks absolutely gorgeous, and because certain scenes are so breathtakingly stunning that they really do achieve cinematic perfection. The photography by Tim Orr is likewise stunning. I also cannot think of a moment of sub-par acting in this film, and Zooey Deschanel is absolutely incredible, one of the finest female performances of the decade for me.Ultimately this film is an achingly authentic, deliberately-paced, melancholy, romantic joy. I will never be able to say I did not enjoy it. I do wish the supporting characters were more, though, especially Noel's brother, who came across as a pretty obvious and stereotypical character.Update (June 2009): having seen it again I stand by my general attitudes, as poorly-written and incoherent as my review generally is. Too lazy to write a new one.

dead47548 There is no doubt in my mind that this is the most realistic film ever made, by miles. Everything about it from the familiarity of the people and relationships in the town to the dialogue is simply authentic. My jaw dropped when I heard the brilliant dialogue. It never feels like the actors are reading off of a script of playing out someone else's words. Every word, every pause, every look is so brutally natural that you can't stop yourself from being completely immersed in the world that Green introduces.It is also the most heartbreaking film I've encountered. The idea of an affair is brought up in so many films, to the point where it's just become something common. Even in one of my favorite films, Closer, an affair is brought up and it just feels so meaningless. You just get a feeling of "Ouch, he's going to be mad. Alright, next scene." and it's become such a dry and typical plot device. This film completely turns this around and creates one of the most shattering scenes I've ever had to watch. You fall so in love with the characters and want so badly for their relationship to prevail, but when Noel drops this bombshell the viewer, like Paul, becomes absolutely devastated. The sex scene is the most painfully hard to watch scene I've ever come across. It subtly displays the complete degradation and travesty that their relationship has turned into and brought me to tears.There is so much depth and so many symbolisms in the film that relate to their relationships throughout the picture. A great example would be Noel's haircut as a disruption of nature just as her weekend away was the catalyst to their separation. There was also the river displayed in the end when Paul is trying to teach his dog how to swim. He points out that the river flows two ways, and I think this is a metaphor for their relationship. Both characters are moving on their own way. When they cross paths it's beautiful, but then they pass on into their own opposing journeys. Paul is transforming from a sexually promiscuous man into a deep lover who cares more about an internal relationship than a physical one, and his relationship with Noel is what helped him become this. Noel transforms from a shy, isolated virgin into a more outgoing and sexually experienced woman, and it was their relationship that propelled this change. This is easily the most authentic and devastating film I have ever seen. I was completely wrecked.