I watched this film with absolutely no expectations, only renting it on the basis that I had seen a review of Undertow on BBC Talking Movies and while waiting for Undertow to get a British release, was intrigued to see a film made by the same director. I was totally overwhelmed by what a fantastic and moving film this is. Writer and director David Gordon Green has managed to do something rarely seen in American cinema, in All The Real Girls, he has created a film which totally reflects real life; the way real people talk, the way real people think, and the way real people relate to one another. This is a film which will be instantly familiar to anyone who has ever fallen in love, but at the same time is so completely void of the usually Hollywood style cliches. The look and feel of the film has a certain dream like quality, set in a dead end working class industrial town nestled within the shadow of the mountains of North Carolina, you get a sense that director David Gordon Green is a man in total command of his film and not one to sacrifice the force of his story or characters to satisfy current fashions in editing or audience expectations. Don't be fooled, there is a plot and story to be told. However, as the viewer you are so totally engrossed by the characters within the film, that the plot is something to think about long after the film ends. The whole film encapsulates the feelings of both falling in and out of love; you're so consumed by a person while it's happening that it's not until long after it’s over that you look back and piece together the story of how you fell in love. Peppered with a great soundtrack, stunning cinematography and superb acting from Zooey Deschanel and Paul Schneider, All the Real Girls is quite honestly one of the best indie films I have ever seen.
As a romantic drama it achieves its ambition. Three awards is generous. The pace is slow to match the rural American setting but this does not make it particularly watchable. Petty rivalries jealousies and competitiveness do not make for great cinema. Watch if romantic drama is your genre but not otherwise.