Sunday, November 04, 2007

Lars and the Real Girl


Saw a good movie tonight. Lars and the Real Girl.
It's late and I've been up since 7am so bear with me here. :)
We went to see this movie on a whim based on a trailer we saw a week or so ago. I think we both did not expect what we saw once we got into the theater. We were both expecting more of a goofy comedy movie, when in fact it was a drama (aka chick-flick). But again, it was a good movie and a unique story (which is rare coming out of Hollywood now-a-days).
I'm not giving anything away here, because it's in the trailer, but the nutshell of the movie is that Lars is a little - shall we say - odd. He's socially awkward. Then one day... he orders a "sex doll" off the internet, but takes to it as if she is a real person. The movie then is about how this effects (or is it affects?) Lar's life, and those around him who care about him. It was a pretty touching movie in spite of its oddball premise. If you're looking for a movie that's off the beaten trail (which are the ones I usually like), then I'd recommend this movie.
I was again impressed with the actor who played Lars... Ryan Gosling. I couldn't think where I had just heard that name recently, turns out I just watched a DVD about a week or two ago with him in it. That movie was "Fracture" and I would have NEVER pinned those two characters as the same actor. Kudo's Ryan.
There was one scene in the movie that I thought was brilliant... Once the word gets out in this small town about Lar's new "girlfriend" we start to see how the various townspeople react. Of course most of them think it's strange, give him/her odd looks etc... Well, there was one scene where Lar's goes into work and his two co-workers are teasing one another... The one guy is a computer geek with lots of action figures set up around his computer, and the girls he's bickering with has a teddy bear by here computer. The girls is getting back at the geek for messing with her bear, so she "hides" some of his action figures. Then it hit me... the writer(s) were making the point that many of us have these "real dolls" that mean something to us. I had to smile once I got the point.

In other news... and I'll try to keep this short, as it may not really be of any interest to most people... I signed up for and went today to a class/workshop to learn about "microcontrolers". Specifically the board we were introduced to is called an "arduino" (made in Italy! Anyone who speaks Italian, know what that may stand for? Sis?). This entire "field" is totally new to me. I never really got into electronics because after a few basics I get totally confused. But I've always enjoyed tinkering. So I said "what the heck" and signed up for the class. Now that it's over, I'm really glad I took it. Even though I had to get up at 7AM on a SATURDAY!!!
I learned a lot (I hope I retain it), and perhaps, I may have started down a new path to a new hobby in electronics. I hope I can stick with it and not get frustrated and move on to something else.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

the over all look and feel of Lars and the Real Girl reminded me a lot of Mozart and the Whale (Josh Hartnett plays a character resembling Ryan Gosling’s), it's very much about acceptance and unconditional love as well

cyen said...

thanks Patrick, I've added the movie to my netflix queue.