Green No More: A second offering of Southern lives in progress
Was George Washington a fluke? No, it represented a genuine cultural momentthe small miracle of young, white filmmaker David Gordon Green connecting his artistic ambitions to the lives of poor, rural black and white kids. Green (perfect name) looked inside the souls of those forgotten souls. It was a wonderful discovery, anticipating the astonishing communion of white pop with r&b on Justin Timberlakes Justified album. Our media doesnt know what to do with such gentle instances of social and spiritual integration. This may explain the more rapturous acclaim for All the Real Girls, Greens follow-up movie, which is much like George Washington except that it excludes black faces from the screen.
All the Real Girls young-adult love story is overtrodden territory; the magic just doesnt happen. When 18-year-old Noel (Zooey Deschanel) confides to 22-year-old Paul (Paul Schneider), "I like you cuz I can say whats awn my mind," it seems labored rather than revelatory. Yet this white Southern romance has been hailed by reviewers who were uncomfortableor disorientedwhen looking at black screen figures. (For them to finally see the poetry in Greens private, allusive method takes back the advance of George Washington and reinstates the usual solipsism of indie film culture.) They applaud Greens feel for American youths shy pulse like it was typical mainstream romanticism.
Staying aloof from pop culture, Green saved his first feature from repeating cliches of black teens as social reprobates. Now, he (unavoidably) competes with pop cultures emphasis on young peoples exploitable sex lives. All the Real Girls mill-town characters differ from those in Porkys or American Pie only because they speak in Greens awkward, lyrical codea kind of reverse slang that (even in Pauls friendship with Noels jealous brother Tip) says nothing new. Greens a private artist; his introspection led to George Washingtons amazing multiracial empathy, but here it just feels sentimental. Paul and Noels yearnings dont connect to anything beyond themselves. (And Noels female perspective is overwhelmed by Pauls heartache.) In George Washington, Greens poetic awkwardnesses and philosophical flights were justified by the vibrant, documentary-like performances. But here, in a terribly strained melodramatic scene, Paul argues with his mother (Patricia Clarkson) who works as a clown in a hospitals childrens ward, and the mothers sexual resentment erupts in tears. Tears in clown make-up! No caring producer would have let Green get away with such a mawkish embarrassment. The intergenerational confrontation recalls but doesnt match the startling scene in Red Sky at Morning when mother and son (Claire Bloom and Richard Thomas) clashed, showing both the Experienced and the Innocent in a dual rite of passage.
It seems Green did not get the guidance he needed to sharpen his poetic gestures or move his spiritual inquiry past naivete into the sublime realm of Wild Reeds, Say Anything or George Washington. (When Nasia asks Buddy to say he loves her, the scenes wonder comes from seeing this profound need rise out of two young beings.) Pauls courtly Southern gesturekissing the palm of Noels handis sweet, but it lacks genius. Thats what Justin Timberlake (and his co-writer/producer Timbaland) achieve, consciously remaking the ardent profundity of an earlier generations love call. In Timberlake/Timbalands awesome single "Cry Me a River"a remake so complete its a brand-new testimonythe songs cascading sadness makes an elegant display of male heartbreak. ("You told me you loved me/Why did you leave me/All alone?") They take the melodically similar 2001 Aaliyah track "We Need a Resolution" and revise Timbalands tough, subversive backing vocals into a fresh realization of masculine tenderness. This gets us somewherepast hiphops proverbial stud posturing, nearer to what Jean-Pierre Leaud felt in Godards Masculine Feminine and that tongue-tied lad in Mike Leighs All or Nothing who scrawled a girls initial into his own chest. In All the Real Girls, sexually experienced Paul courts virginal Noel like a guy closed off from any worldly experience or influence; hes a player without a rule bookor a Walkman.
Green has mistimed this romance past the true moment of first love (or lust). He may be divulging his and Schneiders own diary secrets but interweaving moody scenes of North Carolina loneliness and industrial indifference makes a less interesting contrast than the signs of unsinkable spirit (and faith) in George Washington. And he doesnt remake our understanding of the modern romantic condition as Timberlake does. (They use gorgeous soundscapes instead of portentous landscapes.) "Cry Me a River" perfects the similar saga of a young man learning to feel; its defensive, but it has a callow essence that is true to todays sex-stressed youthand that distinguishes it from the saucy cabaret standard "Cry Me a River" of the 1950s. Timberlake reveals what some white boys have lately grasped from black pops romantic traditionnot cockiness but a fearless acceptance of their own sensitivity. Timbalands aural effect of an engine running down depicts machismo breaking down, subtly exposing Justins hurting heartthe very effect Green is after with Paul.
Green almost taps into this sorrow but Pauls revelations remain largely inchoate. Collaborating with Schneider (a classmate at the North Carolina School of the Arts), Green means to be confessional. But despite Schneiders self-revealing performance, the effect of their teamwork feels banalway behind Timberlake/Timbalands realization of male desire. On "Nothin Else," Justin sings, "I even been askin everybody what they think/But I dont know why because they dont know you/Been askin other guys what theyd say/But I dont know why cuz they dont do what I do." Hes like the soloist in a doo-wop group vouchsafing his soul to the public. Timberlake and Timbaland work past pops cynicism (now distilled in 50 Cent, "Im in there having sex/Im not into making love") so that as the chorus of "Cry Me a River" repeatsand burrows into your subconsciousit leaves no doubt as to whos crying.
Schneider strives to be as poignant and comes close thanks to cinematographer Tim Orrs use of an intimate, captured-by-snapshot quality for his close-ups. Paul is frequently unfocused so that only his accent and some eccentric comic expressions ("strong as a bird, fast as a coat," "just come on back") give him country-boy definition. Not radiant like the kids in George Washington, his dark eyebrows rise almost from the center of his full-cheeked face. Hes the kind of regular guy girls say they really likenot pretty, but plain handsome (therefore deadly), his smile an open door to a winning nature. Schneider reminds us of how far model types like Brad Pitt distract us from life. Paul hasnt got a gym body, but even more than the long-haired, beer-guzzling Tip (Shea Whigham) and the other friends who ride bikes and spit tobacco, hes a real piece of boy, as the saying goesproof that Green is onto something.
All the Real Girls quotidian etudes offer life in progress, while the "story" happens underneath. Thats the basis of Greens artinesstoo bad it expresses the anguish of love less potently than the best pop music. Pauls dancing The Running Man behind Noels back dimly evokes the influence of black culture on white revelry, yet the scene also feels like the phony poetry in Punch-Drunk Love. Green flirts with date-movie whimsythose dangerous, often racially restricted tropes, in which romantic fantasy is disconnected from politics. To a large degree, thats been the shameless history of Hollywoods white-centered movies, and its what makes them meaningless (as in everything Nora Ephron touches). Such movies dont weigh on our consciousness or imagination; they merely flatter the mainstreams vanity. Green should have learned to fight, defy and transcend those conventions as Timberlake does so beautifully.
At a George Washington Q&A, Green described the end of childhood: "You reach an age where politics and your parents hostilities come into play." The overly poetic All the Real Girls is disappointing because Green seems to have forgotten that that awareness was his strength. />