re:mote voices

Title: All the Real Girls
Cast: Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, Shea Whigham, Danny McBride, Maurice Compte
Director: David Gordon Green

all the real girls is the second film by david gordon green. the first, george washington, was one i had mixed feelings about. again there is a young cast, but at least this time the characters being in their 20's it comes over as more believable than the hyper-angst of george washington's teens.

paul and tip are womanizers. they have been through most of the women of the same general age that they can. drinking, fucking, having a good time without much concern about the consequences. to some degree this film is about those consequences, and finally having to face up to the real world.

noel is tip's sister. she has been a boarding school since she was 12, but now she is back in town and all grown up. paul is immediately attracted. tip is immediately defencive. tip knows how he and paul have treated women over the years. but now that it is his sister in the firing line he can't let her be hurt. strangely though paul seems to be genuine, seems to regard noel as someone special. with that paul actually does turn down the first chance he gets to have sex with noel, but it isn't enough to stop tip falling out with him. meanwhile this is the first relationship noel has ever been in, having been in a girl's school all this time. so she is quickly caught up in the rush of emotion, but also confused.

inevitably things can't go well. but rather than paul being the problem it is noel. which brings paul's life to a car crash halt. leaves him reeling in the wake of his emotions, feelings that he has never really felt before, realisations he has never made before. the flounderings and turmoil that result from this is where the film's conclusion lies.

all the real girls, like george washington before it, is small scale, small town drama. there is a scene where paul and tip and friends are walking along the railway line and i get such a flash of george washington that i am taken a back. the scenery often lingers on the nature of the place, but also the factory, the industry, the heart of this community. the dialogue is personal, at times hesitant, and with that there are some casual gems thrown out there. lines, which in other circumstances could so easily have been cheesy, but here are striking and important.

all the real girls is entirely understated, and quite memorable with that.