Life as an art form

There are some movies that come along that make you glad that you're alive in this particular moment in time, because you got to experience something fabulous and that feeling will be there only for this particular moment.

Lars and the Real Girl is one of those movies.

When you read that statement, your mind might jump, like my dad's did, and you say out loud, "Isn't that the movie about the guy and the doll?" And yes, Dad, it is. More importantly, it is a movie about a man with a mental illness (in an Oscar-worthy performance by Ryan Gosling), specifically delusional disorder, who believes that a doll that he orders off the internet is real and his new girlfriend (there is no sexual overtone to this relationship at any point, just in case you were wondering). And it is the story about the people that love him, his brother and sister-in-law (played perfectly by Paul Schneider and Emily Mortimer), and the people from the small town where he lives, who all embrace the doll and treat her like she is a real girl, all because they have so much love for this man that they will do anything to make him feel loved and accepted. The doll is a vehicle for him to be able to do things that he hasn't done, for him to express feelings that he couldn't express. And it is beautiful. I laughed out loud, with the rest of the audience in the theater, and I cried like a baby, like the woman next to me, who kept grabbing new Kleenexes out of her purse. It is a truly moving, and lovely experience.

But don't go see this movie, if you, like the Tribune movie critic and other various morons, are in the mood to be cynical or make fun of someone with mental illness. Because there is not a drop of that sentiment in this movie, and the pure beauty and love that is found in relationships that are imperfect at best is the core of this movie, and the core of our lives. So if you're not ready to deal with that, then stay far away from this movie, because you'll just taint it for the rest of us who can sit there and be moved. And get yourself to some therapy, because you, more than Lars, need to work out your issues with reality.

The rest of you, go see this movie. Now. And I hope you love it half as much as I do.