A movie you should see

Lars & The Real Girl:
The premise is definitely a little odd - a young man, Lars, who lives in his married brother's garage apartment begins a delusional, yet chaste courtship with a life-size sex doll that he ordered online. Now, I know this sounds like it would end up being one of those gross, ridiculously over-the-top comedies, but it is so far removed from that. Instead, this film is one of the sweetest, most uniquely poignant stories I've seen in a long time. Lars (played by Ryan Gosling) is in his late twenties, living a rather solitary life and cannot stand to be touched. His sister-in-law tries to reach out to him, but his way of coping with life leads him to develop a delusional relationship with a life-size doll. The spectacular part of the film is how the entire town begins to participate with him in his delusion in an effort to help him see that he is loved and does not need this created/imagined relationship - that it is safe for him to interact with the community without her.

As I watched it for the second time this evening, it seemed to me a great picture of how the body of Christ should also respond to the lost and to those who have wandered away. Just as Lars was unable to hear the truth about his delusion in the beginning, so often those who are far from God cannot hear the truth of Him. They have been wounded, neglected, abandoned most likely by the very people who want to bring them the truth. However, building relationships and allowing people to experience the grace and love of Christ opens them up to hearing the truth in love.

Ryan Gosling continues to make his mark as an incredible actor. In this film, he and the entire cast communicated with this inanimate object so well that you often have to remind yourself that Bianca is in fact a doll and not a real person. Add it to your Netflix queue! It's cute, clean, and charming - and a little quirky, but we all need a little quirkiness now and then :-)