LOVE OBJECT (2003)

Love Object is the story of Kenneth Winslow, an insecure and introverted technical writer. One day at work, Kenneth's coworkers show him a picture of an extremely, real-life looking sex doll. Ken becomes infatuated with the picture and decides to order a doll for himself. Shortly after, Kenneth develops a crush on his coworker Lisa Bellmer. Too shy and afraid to approach her at first, Kenneth starts to make his sex doll up to look like Lisa. As he gathers more details on Lisa's physical characteristics and other information such as the clothing she wears, he adds these things to the doll to make it even more 'real'. Eventually he is able to start a genuine relationship with Lisa and puts the doll to one side for the time being. But after awhile, the doll becomes jealous and starts to drive Kenneth mad, or is Kenneth just insane to begin with?
This is the basis for writer/director Robert Parigi's wonderfully entertaining horror/dark comedy film. Everything about the film works and works pretty damn well. Desmond Harrington is truly excellent as the lowly and shy Kenneth. His scenes where he interacts with the sex doll are fantastic. He has arguments with the doll as a boyfriend would have with a real life girlfriend, and some of these scenes are absolutely hilarious. Then at other times he makes the scenes downright creepy as he comes off as a deranged perverted madman at points. And then there's the love scenes between Kenneth and the doll which are just perfectly done. This is the type of material which has to be perfect, and if you don't hit your intended vision, you will fail very badly and have a complete disaster on yours hands and egg on your face.

But Robert Parigi's script and direction are completely sure handed and competent throughout the whole film. The dialogue is very good and everything is executed in a completely believable fashion. The direction is not overly ornate and is calm and surreal in places, but it works perfectly for the atmosphere the movie conveys. Parigi also knows how to get the proper performances out of his actors as the entire cast is superb. Udo Kier and Rip Torn are very amusing in their supporting roles and as I mentioned before Desmond Harrington is just fantastic. Melissa Sagemiller is great as Ken's real life love interest Lisa Bellmer. These two show real chemistry together here which helps with the developing relationship between their characters.
Some like to make comparisons between Love Object and another movie involving a doll entitled May. This is just not credible as the two movies are very different and also because Love Object is superior to May in every shape and form. Love Object just works extremely well on its different story levels and themes and it switches between these differing principles with ease. At one point it's a story about isolation and loneliness and then without fumbling it turns much darker and more twisted as Kenneth's grasp on reality slowly slithers away. The only shortcomings of the film are it's low budget, and there are some scenes with the the doll "moving on it's own" that seem a little awkward. Towards the end of the film some things become a little too obvious, but it does manage to hold on to a few little surprises.

Love Object is simply just a well made movie. It's an interesting story that's done in a clever and tasteful manner. And I say tasteful not because I'm against lewdness, but simply because the temptation to cheapen the production by adding in unnecessary nudity has been resisted with the end result being a well rounded and entertaining film which will reside in the memory for a good while after its over.