2003--The Year in Review

This year, documentaries explode with excellence. There's Capturing the Friedmans, Andrew Jarecki's joltingly heartrending look at a family collectively accused of child molestation; The Fog of War, Errol Morris' ultimately Oscar-winning confessional for Kennedy-era Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara (side note: after seeing the film at the NY Film Festival that year, I told Mr. Morris that he'd win the 2003 Oscar for it; he gently but emphatically stated he didn't think the Academy would ever anoint him so); Ted Demme and Richard LaGravenese contributed a lovingly exhaustive overview of '70s cinema with A Decade Under The Influence, while modern social, political and financial constructs were harshly grilled in films like The Yes Men and The Corporation. But, after much back-and-forthing, I've joyfully found in favor of Thom Andersen's Los Angeles Plays Itself. It's a movie that, after hearing much acclaim, I finally discovered online in 2010. It's recently become easier to see via The Criterion Collection (who miraculously found a way to get clearance for the film's inclusion of hundreds of clips from studio works and indie obscurities). I emphatically recommend every movie lover check out this documentary--it's a mindblower. Film expert and USC professor Andersen has crafted an epic portrait of Los Angeles, framed simultaneously as his constantly-changing hometown, a setting for famous movies, an architectural marvel, and as a sullied jewel in the crown of American cities. Andersen's film gets your mind racing about scads of things at once, and though its three-hour-length might seem like a chore, it's nevertheless a constantly surprising work that appeals to your brain's better nature. It leaves me breathless. I can't even express how exciting it is, for instance, to hear low-key narrator Encke King (it's NOT Andersen, but he sounds like a perfect stand-in) as he exactingly delineates how H.B. Halicki's 1974 action film Gone in 60 Seconds highlighted a rarely-filmed side of Los Angeles (this is only one of a thousand moments like this). Los Angeles Plays Itself is an indomitable education into the city's layout and history, and the sheer diversity of clips here (everything from Laurel and Hardy's errant piano in The Music Box to the air-lifted city bus from Swordfish) keeps us absolutely captivated throughout. I like how the film's gears change at each hour mark, continually getting more detailed and personal as it goes along.

There are many narrative films I loved this year--Gus Van Sant's eerie, superbly constructed Columbine recreation Elephant; Sofia Coppola's gorgeous real-love-story Lost in Translation; David Gordon Green's similarly effusive All the Real Girls (led by the astonishing Paul Schneider and Zooey Deschanel); two very different but radically memorable action pieces in Park Chan-wook's Oldboy and Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; Terry Zwigoff's immutable cult film Bad Santa (I was THIS CLOSE to voting Billy Bob Thornton as Best Actor but at the last minute, I realized Murray really deserved it); Vincent Gallo's much-maligned The Brown Bunny (which I still see as one of the year's most graceful films); Lars Von Trier's stark, shocking Dogville; Ingmar Bergman's REAL final film Saraband; Sylvain Chomet's thrilling animated film The Triplets of Belleville; the genre-bending Harvey Pekar bio-pic American Splendor (so wonderfully acted); Billy Ray's tense account of journalistic delusion Shattered Glass; Normal, Jane Alexander's eloquent tale of a radically shifting family; Mike Nichols' regal HBO adaptation of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer-winning play Angels in America; and Lawrence Bridges' stunning, little-seen mini-L.A.-epic 12. Meanwhile, in 2003, the Academy over-emphatically paid tribute to Peter Jackson's brown-tinged, mega-hit Lord of the Rings series by handing 11 Oscars (even Best Song) to its final entry The Return of the King. Sorry, but I've never been a Tolkien fan, so I keep my wits about me here. Though I recognize Jackson's films ARE an achievement, I happily go another way in 2003. NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are only occasionally reflective of the selections made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka The Oscars). When available, the nominee that actually won the Oscar will be highlighted in bold.

PICTURE: LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF (US, Thom Andersen)
(2nd: Elephant (US, Gus Van Sant)
followed by: Lost in Translation (US, Sofia Coppola)
All the Real Girls (US, David Gordon Green)
Oldboy (South Korea, Park Chan-wook)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (US, Peter Weir)
12 (US, Lawrence Bridges)
Bad Santa (US, Terry Zwigoff)
Capturing the Friedmans (US, Andrew Jarecki)
The Brown Bunny (US, Vincent Gallo)
Saraband (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
The Triplets of Belleville (France, Sylvain Chomet)
Dogville (Denmark/UK, Lars Von Trier)
The Fog of War (US, Errol Morris)
American Splendor (US, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini)
Shattered Glass (US, Billy Ray)
Angels in America (US, Mike Nichols)
House of Sand and Fog (US, Vadim Perelman)
Normal (US, Jane Anderson)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (US/New Zealand, Peter Jackson)
The Dreamers (France/US, Bernardo Bertolucci)
Gerry (US, Gus Van Sant)
Jimmy’s Story (US, Billy Yeager)
The Inheritance (Denmark, Per Fly)
The Barbarian Invasions (Canada, Denys Arcand)
21 Grams (US/Mexico, Alejandro González Iñárritu)
Mystic River (US, Clint Eastwood)
A Decade Under The Influence (US, Ted Demme and Richard LaGravenese)
Down with Love (US, Peyton Reed)
School of Rock (US, Richard Linklater)
Kill Bill (US, Quentin Tarantino, both parts included)
Shelter Dogs (US, Cynthia Wade)
The Five Obstructions (Denmark, Lars Von Trier and Jorgen Leth)
Swimming Pool (France, François Ozon)
The Corporation (US, Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott)
My Architect (US, Nathaniel Kahn)
Girl With a Pearl Earring (UK, Peter Webber)
Blind Shaft (China, Yang Li)
The Cooler (US, Wayne Kramer)
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (US, Judy Irving)
Open Range (US, Kevin Costner)
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (US, Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill)
My Life Without Me (Spain/Canada, Isabel Coixet)
The Best of Youth (Italy, Marco Tullio Giordano)
Good Morning, Night (Italy, Marco Belluchio)
Coffee and Cigarettes (US, Jim Jarmusch)
Holes (US, Andrew Davis)
Monster (US, Patty Jenkins)
End of the Century (US, Jim Fields and Michael Gramaglia)
Finding Nemo (US, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)
Dark Blue (US, Ron Shelton)
The Movie Hero (US, Brad T. Gottfred)
Touching the Void (UK, Kevin MacDonald)
Intolerable Cruelty (US, Joel Coen)
The Station Agent (US, Tom McCarthy)
A Mighty Wind (US, Christopher Guest)
Big Fish (US, Tim Burton)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (US, Jonathan Mostow)
Cold Mountain (US, Anthony Minghella)



ACTOR: Bill Murray, LOST IN TRANSLATION (2nd: Billy Bob Thornton, Bad Santa, followed by: Paul Giamatti, American Splendor; Tom Wilkinson, Normal; Choi Min-sik, Oldboy; Al Pacino, Angels in America; Paul Schneider, All The Real Girls)

ACTRESS: Zooey Deschanel, ALL THE REAL GIRLS (2nd: Nicole Kidman, Dogville, followed by: Liv Ullmann, Saraband; Charlize Theron, Monster; Jessica Lange, Normal; Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation; Jennifer Connelly, House of Sand and Fog)



SUPPORTING ACTOR: Tim Robbins, MYSTIC RIVER (2nd: Peter Sarsgaard, Shattered Glass, followed by: Tony Cox, Bad Santa; Benicio Del Toro, 21 Grams; Judah Friedlander, American Splendor; Jeffrey Wright, Angels in America; Alec Baldwin, The Cooler)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Hope Davis, AMERICAN SPLENDOR (2nd: Lauren Graham, Bad Santa, followed by: Meryl Streep, Angels in America; Shohreh Ashdashloo, House of Sand and Fog; Marcia Gay Harden, Mystic River; Christina Ricci, Monster; Hayden Pantierre, Normal)

DIRECTOR: Gus Van Sant, ELEPHANT (2nd: Thom Andersen, Los Angeles Plays Itself, followed by: Park Chan-wook, Oldboy; Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation; David Gordon Green, All The Real Girls; Jane Anderson, Normal; Vincent Gallo, The Brown Bunny)

NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: OLDBOY (South Korea, Park Chan-wook) (2nd: The Triplets of Belleville (France, Sylvain Chomet), followed by: Saraband (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman); The Inheritance (Denmark, Per Fly); The Barbarian Invasions (Canada, Denys Arcand); Blind Shaft (China, Yang Li); The Best of Youth (Italy, Marco Tullio Giordano); Good Morning, Night (Italy, Marco Belluchio))

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF (US, Thom Andersen) (2nd: Capturing the Friedmans (US, Andrew Jarecki), followed by: The Fog of War (US, Errol Morris); The Yes Men (US, Dan Ollman, Sarah Price and Chris Smith); A Decade Under The Influence (US, Ted Demme and Richard LaGravenese); The Corporation (US, Jennifer Abbott and Mark Achbar); My Architect (US, Nathanial Kahn); Shelter Dogs (US, Cynthia Wade); Jimmy’s Story (US, Billy Yeager))

ANIMATED FEATURE: THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE (France, Sylvain Chomet) (2nd: Finding Nemo (US, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich))



LIVE ACTION SHORT: CHERNOBYL HEART (Russia/US, Maryann DeLeo, won as Documentary Short) (2nd: Competition (Poland, Maciaj Ademek), followed by: Aspara (UK/India, Colin McGreal); In/Out (US, Daryll Woon)



ANIMATED SHORT: DESTINO (France/US, Dominique Monfrey) (2nd: Ward 13 (Australia, Peter Cornwell, followed by: Harvie Krumpet (US, Adam Elliot))



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Sofia Coppola, LOST IN TRANSLATION (2nd: Glenn Ficara and John Requa, Bad Santa, followed by: David Gordon Green, All The Real Girls; Thom Andersen, Los Angeles Plays Itself; Denys Arcand, The Barbarian Invasions)



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Billy Ray, SHATTERED GLASS (2nd: Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, American Splendor, followed by: Hwang Jo-yun, Lim Chun-hywong, Lim Joon-hyung, and Park Chan-wook, Oldboy; Jane Anderson, Normal; Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)



CINEMATOGRAPHY: Harris Savides, ELEPHANT (2nd: Russell Boyd, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, followed by: Vincent Gallo, The Brown Bunny; Chung Chung-hoon, Oldboy; Harris Savides, Gerry)

ART DIRECTION: GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING, Down With Love, Dogville, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World 

COSTUME DESIGN: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Down With Love, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, The Last Samurai

FILM EDITING: LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF, Elephant, Kill Bill, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Oldboy

SOUND: ELEPHANT, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Oldboy, Gerry



SOUND EFFECTS: MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Finding Nemo



ORIGINAL SCORE: Howard Shore, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, followed by: Alexander Desplat, Girl with the Pearl Earring; Thomas Newman, Finding Nemo; Gabriel Yared, Cold Mountain; Danny Elfman, Big Fish)



ORIGINAL SONG: “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow” from A MIGHTY WIND (Music and lyrics by Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole) (2nd: “Belleville Rendezvous” from The Triplets of Belleville (Music by Benoit Charest, lyrics by Sylvain Chomet), followed by: “You Will Be My Ain True Love” from Cold Mountain (Music and lyrics by Sting); “Into the West” from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Music and lyrics by Fran Walsh, Annie Lennox and Howard Shore))

SPECIAL EFFECTS: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

MAKEUP: MONSTER, Angels in America, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

My 20 Favorite Actresses

In taking Tony Dayoub of Cinema Viewfinder up on his invitation for me to join the 20 Favorite Actresses meme started by Nathaniel at Film Experience, I tried hard to balance my love of these ladies' acting ability equally with my adoration of their feminine wiles. I also attempted to make my list an appreciation of actresses from all different eras--from the 1920s to now. I think I've done quite well on both fronts. At any rate, here are my current favorites:

Emily Watson (key films: Breaking the Waves, Punch-Drunk Love, Synecdoche NY, Hillary and Jackie, Angela's Ashes, The Proposition, Gosford Park, The Boxer, War Horse. Cradle Will Rock, Corpse Bride, Anna Karinina, The Book Thief)

Meryl Streep (key films: Kramer Vs. Kramer, Sophie's Choice, Manhattan, A Cry in the Dark, The Devil Wears Prada, Silkwood, Julia, Adaptation, A Prairie Home Companion, Doubt, Ironweed, Defending Your Life, Mamma Mia, Julie and Julia, Out of Africa, One True Thing, The Bridges of Madison County, The Hours, Angels in America, Holocaust, The Deer Hunter, The Iron Lady, Hope Springs, August: Osage County, The Homesman, Into the Woods)

Grace Kelly (Key films: Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, High Society, High Noon, Dial M for Murder, Mogambo, The Country Girl, The Bridges at Toko-Ri)

Greta Garbo (Key films: Queen Christina, Ninochka, The Flesh and The Devil, Camille, Grand Hotel, The Painted Veil, Anna Christie, Anna Karinina, Mata Hari, Conquest)

Diane Keaton (Key films: Annie Hall, Reds, Manhattan, Play It Again Sam, The Godfather, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Interiors, Love and Death, Sleeper, Lovers and Other Strangers, The Godfather Part II, Shoot the Moon, The Good Mother, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Something's Gotta Give, Marvin's Room, Crimes of the Heart, Sister Mary Explains It All)

Vivian Leigh (key films: Gone With The Wind, That Hamilton Woman, A Streetcar Named Desire, Ship of Fools, Waterloo Bridge, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, A Yank at Oxford, Anna Karinena, Fire Over England)

Audrey Hepburn (key films: Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Two for the Road, Wait Until Dark, Roman Holiday, The Nun's Story, Sabrina, Love in the Afternoon, They All Laughed, Robin and Marian, Always, The Children's Hour, Charade, How to Steal a Million, My Fair Lady)

Jean Arthur (key films: The More The Merrier, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Shane, The Talk of the Town, The Devil and Miss Jones, Only Angels Have Wings, Easy Living, You Can't Take It With You, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, The Plainsman, History is Made at Night)

Kirsten Dunst (key films: Bring It On, Little Women, Interview With A Vampire, Spiderman, Crazy/Beautiful, Levity, Marie Antoinette, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Cat's Meow, Spiderman II, Dick, The Virgin Suicides, Wag the Dog, Melancholia, Bachelorette, Fargo (TV))

Zooey Deschanel (key films: All The Real Girls, (500) Days of Summer, The Good Girl, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Tin Man, Live Free or Die, Almost Famous, Mumford, Elf, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, New Girl (TV))

Myrna Loy (key films: the Thin Man series, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Thin Man, After The Thin Man, The Mask of Fu Manchu, The Great Ziegfeld, Manhattan Melodrama, Another Thin Man, The Rains Came, The End, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, Cheaper by the Dozen, Shadow of the Thin Man, Lonleyhearts, Midnight Lace)

Helen Mirren (key films: O Lucky Man, The Tempest, Excalibur, The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover, Red, The Queen, The Mosquito Coast, Caligula, Gosford Park, The Madness of King George, Age of Consent, Cal, Prime Suspect, Elizabeth I, The Long Good Friday, Hitchcock, The Last Station, Phil Spector, The Hundred Foot Journey)

Ann-Margret (key films: Tommy, Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Swinger, Carnal Knowledge, The Cincinnati Kid, State Fair, The Villain, The Cheap Detective, Magic, Twice in a Lifetime, Kitten with a Whip, 52 Pick Up, Who Will Love My Children?, Pocketful of Miracles, The Train Robbers, Joseph Andrews, Grumpy Old Men, The Break-Up, Any Given Sunday)

Virginie Ledoyen (key films: A Single Girl, La Ceremonie, 8 Women, The Beach, Late August Early September, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries)

Greta Gerwig (Key films: Hannah Takes The Stairs, Baghead, The House of the Devil, Nights and Weekends, Greenberg, Arthur, Lola Versus, Damsels in Distress, To Rome With Love, Frances Ha, The Humbling, Eden, Mistress America, Lady Bird (as writer/director))

Diane Lane (key films: A Little Romance, Six Pack, Unfaithful, The Outsiders, A Walk on the Moon, Streets of Fire, Touched by Love, Secretariat, Cinema Verite, Ladies and Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains, Rumblefish, The Cotton Club, Wild Bill, My Dog Skip, Virtuosity, Hollywoodland)

Marisa Tomei (key films: My Cousin Vinny, The Wrestler, Oscar, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, In The Bedroom, Untamed Heart, Factotum, Cyrus, Happy Accidents, The Slums of Beverly Hills, Crazy Stupid Love, The Ides of March, Love is Strange)

Chantal Goya (key film: Masculin/Feminin)

Catherine Deneuve (key films: Repulsion, Belle De Jour, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Indochine, 8 Women, Dancer in the Dark, The Young Girls of Roquefort, Hustle, The Last Metro, The Hunger, A Christmas Tale, East-West, Scene of the Crime, Persepolis, A Christmas Tale, On My Way)

Amy Adams (key films: Junebug, The Fighter, Catch Me If You Can, Enchanted, Doubt, Charlie Wilson's War, Sunshine Cleaners, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Psycho Beach Party, The Master, Her, American Hustle, Big Eyes. Arrival)

There are so many actresses I painfully had to leave out. So MY 20 RUNNERS-UP are Jill Clayburgh, Ingrid Bergman, Thelma Ritter, Julianne Moore, Liv Ullmann, Veronica Lake, Natalie Wood, Michelle Williams, Ruth Gordon, Barbara Stanwyck, Ginger Rogers, Charlotte Rampling, Scarlett Johansson, Naomi Watts, Elizabeth Taylor, Isabelle Huppert, Maria Falconetti, Lili Taylor, Sissy Spacek, and Jessica Harper.

Film #85: All The Real Girls

The following is an interview conducted by the excellent DarkCityDame on her website Noirish City as part of our examination of my 30 favorite movies of the 2000s. She's given me permission to reprint a few interviews as part of filmicability, so here's a look at my 29th favorite film of the decade All The Real Girls.

DarkCityDame: Okay! First of all, I did watch the film All Real Girls last night.

Dean: Cool. I watched it, too. It was only my second time seeing it I think I might have appreciated it even more this time. Knowing the pace and style of the movie beforehand is probably beneficial to a second viewing. Tell me what you thought about it.

DarkCityDame: It was very interesting! It really focused on life in that small community in detail.

Dean: Yeah, it’s set in a North Carolina mill town. That’s where the director and the lead actor are originally from. It's does have a wide scope in terms of its characters--there are about 10 main characters in it, and about 20 secondary ones. But its main focus is on the beginning of this romance between the two leads, Paul and Noel, played by Paul Schnieder and Zooey Deschanel.

DarkCityDame: Why did you select this film to be included as one of your top 30 films from the 2000s?

Dean: Well, I was a big fan of writer/director David Gordon Green's first feature George Washington, made in 2000. But I found that 2003's All The Real Girls touched me more deeply. In most love stories that Hollywood makes, the two characters meet and just immediately fall in love. There's no time taken to see WHY they fall for each other. It's just assumed that, because they're both so hot or whatever, that, hey, OF COURSE they'd be lovers. But in All The Real Girls, we get a captivating, very natural progression of a romance, from its initiation, to its flowering, its conflict, and its shaky but ultimately firm continuation. Let's put on top of that the incredible ensemble cast, the gorgeous cinematography by Tim Orr, and the moody score by Michael Linnen and David Wingo, and you've got quite a film. I find that to be enough for me to include it as not only one of the best movies of the 2000s, but as one of the best romances ever to hit the screen. I mean, have you ever seen a movie that treated a love affair with such attention to detail?

DarkCityDame: In a word: No!
Dean: Yeah, I mean, right from the first scene, where we see Paul (Paul Schnieder) and Noel (Zooey Deschanel) struggling over their first kiss, we know we're gonna see something special. I love how he says he's afraid to kiss her, and she says “Well I don’t wanna be with someone who’s afraid to be with me.” And then she offers her hand to him to kiss first, and he nervously looks around to see if anyone is watching and he blows on her palm, wipes it off and kisses it gently. It's so incredibly sweet.

DarkCityDame: But it seems all the characters have past issues to deal with, too…

Dean: This is true. Everybody in it carries some sort of crippling fear along with them. Paul’s afraid of commitment (he's been with every girl in town), Noel fears her inexperience, Paul's best friend Tip (Shea Wigham) fears growing up, Paul's mother (Patricia Clarkson) fears getting older and being alone, there’s a mechanic who seems to fear death. It's as much a movie about dread as it is about romance. I feel that's extremely real and creative. Again, another choice that the average romantic film wouldn’t take.

DarkCityDame: But I also wonder by the end of the film, were their problems truly addressed?

Dean: Well, the conclusion is a bit open-ended...

DarkCityDame: Yeah, I thought so!

Dean: I think the viewer has to read between the lines and come to their own conclusions as to where this relationship is going. I personally felt that it was going to all be okay--that these two characters had really clicked with each other and that they were really sincere about working hard on their faults so that their love could succeed. You know, you’ll find that I tend to like open-ended movies, mainly because life itself is open-ended. It doesn't end...until it does, know what I mean?

DarkCityDame: Oh, yeah!

Dean: So I liked that David Gordon Green didn't tie everything up with a nice little bow. DarkCityDame: I agree. People don't usually live happily ever after!

Dean: No, there's always something tough for us to work on.

DarkCityDame: Well, at least, the characters in the films certainly exhibited that!

Dean: Yeah, Paul particularly has some difficult things to deal with--his heart is pretty tender, since he'd never given of himself enough in any relationship to allow it to be broken. So when it gets taxed, as it does in the film, he has a tendency to not know how to react except through self-destruction. DarkCityDame: I noticed that. For instance, near the end of the picture when Paul dresses up nice in order to go and visit Noel and find her in a friendly situation of just cooking macaroni with one of his friends. He goes outside and smashes his hand through his car window.

Dean: Yeah, he just can't handle his own jealousy, which we have to point out, is a feeling he's never experienced before, since he's never really cared about a woman enough to be jealous over her. In a way, he's as inexperienced in romance as Noel is. Noel, on the other hand, has to deal with her lack of experience with men and the notion that she hasn't been around that much, and now that she finds herself in true love, that means she might have to give up on the kinds of wild experiences she sees her friends getting into. So they're both innocents.

DarkCityDame: I agree.

Dean: How did you like the performances in it?

DarkCityDame: I thought that they were quite natural and down to earth! Dean: Very much so. I'm a big fan of both of the two leads. I have a huge crush on Zooey Deschanel as a result of the movie. I first noticed her in The Good Girl with Jennifer Anniston and Jake Gyllenhall. I thought she was hilarious in that. And I've paid special attention to Paul Schneider since this film. He's gone on to be in The Assassination of Jesse James, Elizabethtown, Lars and the Real Girl, and he'll have two movies out in 2009, one by Sam Mendes and another by Jane Campion. And I found the film very funny at times too. One of Paul's friends is named Bust-Ass, and he's played by an actor named Danny McBride. McBride's in Pineapple Express, the comedy with Seth Rogen and James Franco (also directed by David Gordon Green), and is the writer/director of The Foot-Fist Way, a big indie hit on the festival circuit that you can probably find on DVD these days. His few scenes--he's the one Noel is making macaroni with--are, I think, quite humorous. Like, I love the one where he's trying to hit on Noel, asking her if Paul wasn't around, who would she go out with. She's like "Why couldn't I just be alone?" and he's all "Well, you can't have Paul and you can't be alone. Who would it be?" It's a very childish way of propositioning someone.

DarkCityDame: He appeared to me to be brutally honest, but in a very hilarious way!

Dean: It's true. I also liked the scene where Paul has to dress up like a clown to accompany his mother to a gig (she's a clown performer for kids parties and such). But it's Zooey's performance that really hits me in the gut in this movie. She should have been nominated for an Oscar. She's that good. DarkCityDame: It's not that I am dense, but I’m not really familiar with Zooey Deschanel’s past work.

Dean: She's definitely been underused in movies. I think the highest-profile film she's been in was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which was, in itself, not seen very widely. She's really a cult actress, and I think she's quite choosy about her roles. But she always brings a surprising take on whatever she's asked to do in any movie. She’s got a moxie that I really like. I loved it in All The Real Girls when she's talking with Paul on the mountaintop and she stops and says "Shhhh!" and tells him that she likes to pretend sometimes that she only has 10 seconds to live. She puts her hands over her eyes and she starts the countdown, and he's like "Huh?"

DarkCityDame: Yeah! Some of their scenes together were just serene and beautiful!

Dean: Yeah, you could just feel it deep in your bones that they were perfect for each other, and not just because they were both attractive people, but because they had similar sensibilities.

DarkCityDame: Yeah! I could tell their relationship went beyond aesthetics and was more emotional.

Dean: They make each other laugh, they make each other honest, they make each other responsible, and they make each other aroused. Isn't this what we all look for in a relationship?

DarkCityDame: Well, Dean it’s really difficult for me to answer this question right now, since I’m not in a relationship at this time, but when I do find Mr. Dark City Dude, (since I am Dark City Dame—ha!), then I’ll come back and answer that question.

Dean: Hahahaha. Don’t worry—he’s out there wandering around somewhere. You’ll find him!!