Anyone blown away by David Gordon Green's George Washington will be thrilled to learn his latest, All the Real Girls, features the same rural North Carolina backdrop, the same magnificent photography, the same leisurely pace, and the same hazy, dream-like vibe as The Virgin Suicides.  But Girls also has a much sharper focus than Washington (which was a little too much like Gummo, structure-wise), making it a more accomplished picture.  It's no surprise the Sundance jury awarded Girls a special prize this past January.

Girls opens with an uncomfortable long shot that shows its two leads, twenty-something Paul (Paul Schneider) and 18-year-old boarding school grad-slash-virgin Noel (Zooey Deschanel), nervously talking about kissing each other for the first time.  It's clear almost immediately that the two are attracted to each other, though Paul is very hesitant to take the plunge for a couple of very good reasons.  For starters, this is the first time the small-town Lothario has had real feelings of romance, but nearly as important, Noel happens to be the off-limits younger sister of his lifelong best friend (Shea Whigham).  In a town tiny enough for everyone to know everybody else's business, the potential for things to go awry are limitless.

Green directs like he's Terrence Malick channeling Walt Whitman, perfectly capturing the awkwardness of Paul and Noel's relationship, especially their inability to properly express their emotions.  This isn't your typical Hollywood film about kids trying to get laid.  There aren't any clichés, or predictability, or bullshit Cinderella nonsense, and the things Paul and Noel say to each other never once seem trivial.  Schneider is a dead-ringer for a young Dennis Quaid, while Deschanel, who has been stealing scenes left and right in The Good Girl, Abandon, Big Trouble and Almost Famous, is simply amazing as her Noel seems so assured, yet so vulnerable.

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for language and some sexuality