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| These moments don't stand out in film history, but they just feel deeply genuine--like I had been there before . known those feelings. The film connected with me at some deep level. It's not for everyone and many will deem it slow and boring, but the depths and subtleties of life contain glimpses of God. |
(2003) Film Review by Benn Becker |
| This page was created on October 7, 2003
This page was last updated on
March 20, 2004
—Review
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
—Forum
Dial up modems will take a few moments |
| CREDITS |
| Directed by David Gordon Green
Story by David Gordon Green and Paul Schneider
Screenplay by David Gordon Green
Producers
Jean Doumanian ... producer
Kimberly Jose ... associate producer
Lisa Muskat ... producer
Derrick Tseng ... line producer
Cast - in credits order
Paul Schneider ... Paul
Zooey Deschanel ... Noel
Patricia Clarkson ... Elvira Fine
Shea Whigham ... Tip
Benjamin Mouton ... Leland
Maurice Compte ... Bo
Danny McBride ... Bust-Ass
Bartow Church ... Geoff
Maya Ling Pruitt ... Feng Shui
Matt Chapman ... Strong Bad
Other credited cast listed alphabetically
Heather McComb ... Mary-Margaret
Eddie Rouse ... Dancing Orderly
Karey Williams ... Tammy Klinard
Original Music by Michael Linnen and David Wingo
Cinematography by Tim Orr
Editor by Zene Baker and Steven Gonzales
Rated R (for language and some sexuality) / 108 min
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM, and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG |
| TRAILERS AND CLIPS |
| —Trailers |
| CD |
All the Real Girls
Various Artists - Soundtrack - 2003
1. All These Vicious Dogs - Will Oldham
2. Beautiful Stars - Isaac Freeman
3. Hottub - Michael Linnen
4. Sea Of Teeth - Sparklehorse
5. Cantus For Bob Hardison - Michael Linnen
6. Fear Satan (Remix) - Mogwai
7. Goin' Back Home - Paul Jones
8. Body On Fire - Pyramid
9. Streets Were Raining - Pyramid
10. I Wanna Dance 4U - Michael Linnen
11. Cactus Wren - Mark Olson & The Creekdippers
12. Say Goodbye Good - The Promise Ring
 |
| POSTER |
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| SYNOPSIS |
 Twenty-two-year-old Paul lives with his beloved mom and works as a grease monkey in a broken down North Carolina mill town. Charming, smart, unambitious, he has a devoted circle of rowdy friends and a reputation as a callous heartbreaker.
When he meets his best friend's sister Noel, fresh from boarding school graduation, the two fall into a perfect, real, terrifying love. They share innermost secrets and inhabit a sweet, dreamy bubble of mutual admiration and understanding. But soon the perfection is too weighty, the bubble too delicate. |
 Review By
BENN BECKER
Benn has an undergradute degree in Finance from the University of Nebraska and is working towards a masters in both Business and English. He owns some farmland and is currently writing a novel. He lives in Lincoln, NE. |
 This is the second film from up and coming director/writer DAVID GORDON GREEN (the first being "George Washington"). Green's films have a feel I can only describe
as REAL. His characters are ordinary people and the mood is light and hypnotic. I found myself being engulfed in ALL THE REAL GIRLS--losing myself in the film in a wonderful way. Green masterfully uses the whole package to tell his story--score, dialogue, cinematography, editing--to create a mesmerizing feel.
 ALL THE REAL GIRLS deals mostly with a burgeoning young relationship set in a rural North Carolina mill town, however the side storylines also add to the feel of the film. I don't want to
reveal too much of the film though. I just feel it's best if the viewer comes in without knowing a whole lot. Paul (PAUL SCHNEIDER; co-writer with Green) is the local who has made the rounds through the girls in the area . searching for meaning, direction, and purpose. Noel (ZOOEY DESCHANEL) is his best friend's sister who just returned from boarding school and she and Paul make a connection. He may see her as a chance for a fresh start in both life and romance; she may look at him the
way one looks at a first love--with reverence, with idyllic hope. Paul is questioning the intelligence of his past choices and subconsciously has learned that sex often causes problems in relationships and demeans the emotion of love when there's no commitment. He wants to love and to be loved and loveable. Noel, coming from an all-girls school, hasn't had the chance to interact with the opposite sex on an intimate level. They may be heading in different directions when it comes to relationships.
He is wanting stability and she is just starting to date. She has been warned about Paul's past, but sees him for how he treats her and how he makes her feel.
 Roger Ebert's review extremely well done and he comments that the film "is too subtle and perceptive, and knows
too much about human nature, to treat their lack of sexual synchronicity as if it supplies a plot. Another kind of movie would be entirely about whether they have sex. But Green, who feels tenderly for his vulnerable characters, cares less about sex than about feelings and wild youthful idealism. . Most movies about young love trivialize and cheapen it. Their cynical makers have not felt true love in many years and mock it, perhaps out of jealousy. They find something funny in a 20-year-old
who still doesn't realize he is doomed to grow up to be as jaded as they are. Green is 27, old enough to be jaded, but he has the soul of a romantic poet."
The dialogue in the film is personal and emotive in a simple, yet meaningful way. Ebert again: "Green's dialogue has a kind of unaffected, flat naturalism. That doesn't mean their speech is not poetic. His characters don't use big words, but they express big ideas. Their words show a familiarity with hard times, disappointment, wistfulness." While watching a film you can often sense the screenwriter typing out the lines in all their perfection . that's not apparent here and it is refreshing!
There are moments between Noel and Paul that especially struck me as true--at least from my limited, male viewpoint.
These moments don't stand out in film history, but they just feel deeply genuine--like I had been there before . known those feelings. The film connected with me at some deep level. It's not for everyone and many will deem it slow and boring, but the depths and subtleties of life contain glimpses of God . of the things that make us truly human and not just another mammal. We learn about ourselves and about life itself as we go upon our journeys . time marches on with or without us. We
learn one event can change everything and we cannot go back. We must move forward. ALL THE REAL GIRLS is not a perfect film, but if you can allow yourself to empathize with the characters and let yourself go I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and touched. We feel a realm of human emotions--love, loss, jealousy, honesty, desperation, innocence, and hope--from all the characters. In essence we feel the things that make us human.
I'm sorry for quoting Roger Ebert again, but he captures the final mood perfectly. "The thing about real love is, if you lose it, you can also lose your ability to believe in it, and that hurts even more. Especially in a town where real love may be the only world-class thing that ever happens." His quote makes me think of God and his unending love for all of us--believers and non-believers. Life can get us down, beat us around, and numb our emotions, but God's love still abounds. We
have to hold onto and nurture love or else it becomes invisible to us and we may lose belief. A line from David Gray's "My Oh My" -- "It takes a lotta love these days; To keep your heart from freezing; To keep your spirit free." I want to end with lyrics from David Gray's "Silver Lining". The song makes me think of God's relationship with each of us--each side has a part to play. We need to hold onto the positive and press on always making the effort to maintain the spiritual connection.
The world tries to teach us all of its lies, falsehoods, and foolish ways, but God will be there waiting to help us unlearn them -- "Know that the light don't sleep." God is love, God is truth, God is the light in the dark.
DAVID GRAY -- "Silver Lining"
Take this silver lining
Keep it in your own sweet head
Shine it when the night is burning red
Shine it in the twilight
Shine it on the cold cold ground
Shine it till these walls come
Tumbling down
We were born with our eyes wide open
So alive with wild hope
Now can you tell me why
Time after time
They drag you down
Down in the darkness deep
Fools in their madness all around
Know that the light don't sleep
Step into the silence
Take it in your own two hands
And scatter it like diamonds
All across these lands
Blaze it in the morning
Wear it like an iron skin
Only things worth living for
Innocence and magic - amen
We were born with our eyes wide open
So alive with wild hope
Now can you tell me why
Time after time
They drag you down
Down in the darkness deep
Fools in their madness all around
Know that the light don't sleep
We were born with our eyes wide open
So alive with wild hope
Now can you tell me why
Time after time
They drag you down
Down with talk so cheap
Fools in their madness all around
Know that the light don't sleep
Know that the light don't sleep
Time after time
They drag you down
Down in the darkness deep
Fools in their madness all around
Know that the light don't sleep
Know that the light don't sleep |
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