All The Real Girls

David Gordon Green’s follow-up to George Washington charts the development and eventual souring of an illicit love affair in a small North Carolina logging town, betwe... more >

David Gordon Green’s follow-up to George Washington charts the development and eventual souring of an illicit love affair in a small North Carolina logging town, between two young adults trying to establish or redeem themselves as human beings. Noel (Zooey Deschanel) has just returned from boarding school, knowing not what the future holds; Paul (Paul Schneider) has something of a reputation as the town bad boy, but falls honestly and openly in love with her.

As in his debut, the director strings up a series of vignettes and allows the viewer simply to hang out with his characters. The camera rarely ventures indoors: Green was clearly allowed to play out late a lot during his formative years, and this manifests itself now in a film shot almost entirely at the magic hour, with the sun about to go down on a defining period in its characters’ lives. It’s a cherishably fragile aesthetic – to undersell it, one part Norman Rockwell to two parts Jack Daniels commercial – one so delicate you may choose to lock the DVD in a lead box to keep cynics away.

Choosing his location, Green went for a town where “there wasn’t a Burger King or Wal-Mart in sight”. That’s ultimately what distinguishes his movie: that it’s as far removed from a franchise as it’s possible to be these days. The understanding is there won’t be a sequel, neither to the film nor to the love affair depicted within it; that there will never be another moment like this again. So many American releases either peddle conservative messages or assert that the more the numbers change on the end of a movie’s title, the more these movies’ essential formulae stay the same. Not here, though. In a truly independent, stand-alone work such as All The Real Girls, time really does march on.
< less

View all 124 of Mike McCahill’s reviews

All the Real Girls, the latest film by David Gordon Green (George Washington), is about young people with little prospects in an economically depressed mill town in No... more >

All the Real Girls, the latest film by David Gordon Green (George Washington), is about young people with little prospects in an economically depressed mill town in North Carolina that has the quality of a dream, often impeccably authentic; other times drifting in a sea of poetics. Paul, a 22 year-old played by Paul Schneider, has a reputation as a womanizer and claims he has slept with 26 women. He is friends with Noel (Zooey Deschanel), a vulnerable and inexperienced 18-year old girl who has just returned from six years at a girl's boarding school. Uncomfortable about his past sexual conquests, Paul tries to prove that Noel is different from all the other girls by refusing to have sex with her, but this just adds another layer of tension.

Paul works for his Uncle Leland (Ben Mouton) in his garage but spends most of his spare time hanging out with buddies Tip (Shea Whigham), Bo (Maurice Compte) and Bust-Ass (Danny McBride). His mother Elvira (Patricia Clarkson) loves him but he reminds her too much of all the men in her life who came and went. As the film progresses, Paul and Noel work slowly toward establishing a level of trust, engaging in conversations about their family, their past, and hopes for the future but the trust is threatened when the relationship stumbles into unfamiliar territory.

Though the characters are frustratingly inarticulate, there is honesty in the way Green perceives them that is miles from typical Hollywood cynicism. With gorgeous scenery and a moody indie-rock soundtrack, Green has a way of drawing us into his world of the quirky and offbeat and the film beautifully captures the uncertainty and fears of first love.
< less

View all 113 of Howard Schumann’s reviews

DVD Extras

• Director & Cast Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Evolution Featurette, Theatrical Trailer.

Film Details

Cast

Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel

Technical Details

Other Versions & Formats