Juno
Fox Searchlight has either done a great job of picking up indie films over the past few years or they've done a great job of intentionally producing "indie-ish" films over the years. Either way, I've really enjoyed the stuff they've been putting out of late. Juno is the tale of an oddball high schooler who gets pregnant and decides to go through with the pregnancy and give her little sea monkey up for adoption (good for her). Juno is one of those special kinds of people who speaks in a never ending stream of witticisms and poetic sarcasm and yet after a few minutes it feels natural... somehow. What I most appreciated about Juno was the dedication to imperfect, weird characters. No one gets a pass. The would-be suburbanite parents Juno wants to give her baby to are much more broken and odd than appearances first let on. The husband, Mark, is a failed musician writing jingles for commercials who still has aspirations to become a rock superstar. His wife, Vanessa, has become a one-woman religion dedicating herself to "becoming a mother." Her devotion to this task borders on creepy at times. Juno and her baby-daddy, Paulie Bleeker (played by Michael Cera) have plenty of their own coming-of age issues to work out in the midst of bringing a baby into the world and seeing if they might dive dating a second chance (or first, depending on who you ask). It's a touching film without feeling contrived or sentimental.
Labels: Film
posted by Charlie at 2:14 PM
4 Comments:
I laughed hard and cried for real. It's that sweet. That's an unusual movie for me.
Oh, and Charlie, I downloaded [Free] 2 songs from the movie. The little love one they sing at the end makes me think of YOU!
Without qualifying this, I will say that this is the finest review you've written on a film yet. Kudos.
gotta agree with you, Charlie. great movie. at the beginning the language felt really annoying but somehow it began to work. my favorite character was juno's dad. and i appreciated the short but sweet cameo from rain wilson.
i loved this movie, but the 'jargon' bugged me throughout. i feel like it reduced some scenes that could have packed more emotional effect. i was keenly aware of the script, instead of the whole.
It's interesting that this movie, like Knocked Up, is being held up as part of the abortion debate. Some of the ire directed at the characters' choices is misplaced: if Juno or Knocked Up's Alison had aborted their babies, there wouldn't have been a story to tell. It's kind of a 'duh' thing, but that doesn't seem to stop fuss in the blogosphere. Oddly, an article in Entertainment Weekly has bigwigs on both sides of the issue praising Juno, which, i can say from experience, is damn near impossible.
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