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Film favorites of '07: Lars tops the list

By the time the credits began to roll for Lars and the Real Girl, the movie was at the head of my list of top movies of 2007. Writer Nancy Oliver and director Craig Gillespie deliver a sensitive portrait of Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling), a young man so gripped by shyness that the only companion he dares relate to is a life-size silicon doll. The doll becomes his constant (nonsexual) companion. Lars imagines a life story for Bianca, who speaks a language only he can understand, and aids her with a wheelchair because she is unable to walk.