Juno

[sandik]

I saw Juno this week, and think it is all-around excellent. Very well written, dialog and otherwise, clean acting from everyone, very deft touch with a potentially bathetic premise. I saw it with my 13 y.o., and was glad of the conversation we had after, but even without that I would have been very impressed. We've been spending the time since then trying to remember bits of dialog and humming the songs.

[Treefrog]

This is a sweet, sweet film.

[mmded]

I saw Juno too and also really enjoyed it with my daughters. I came home and bought the soundtrack for my ipod and and then found more songs by Kimya Dawson on my Napster service!

[dirac]

Thank you for starting the topic, sandik, and to all of you for posting.

I confess I'm not rushing out to see this one as I have become increasingly wary of indie pictures characterized with the favorable language I've seen in the reviews of 'Juno' and the characters are described as 'quirky,' but you reassure me that if I do go the experience won't be painful and I might even like it.

[Treefrog]

Bear in mind that my reaction is that of a relatively infrequent movie-goer -- not a film buff, not an afficionado.

However, I thought all the characterizations were wonderful and true to life. Juno is a quirky kid, but very straightforward and refreshing. And when you see her dad and stepmom, you understand exactly how she got to be that way. The family dynamics are consistent with the characters. Juno is quirky only in the sense that she doesn't suffer fools gladly, she is self-assured, and she marches to her own drummer -- this is quirky for a teen, but in such a lovely way! A couple of times the film flirts with the possibility that Juno is not all she seems to be -- that underneath, she is as insecure as any other teen and her character is only the kind of facade that teens put on to impress, or push away, or just try on. I think one of the strengths of the film is seeing what happens to Juno in these times.

[dirac]

Bear in mind that my reaction is that of a relatively infrequent movie-goer -- not a film buff, not an afficionado.

You don't have to be a 'buff' to know a good film when you see it.

[Treefrog]

Not at all ... but sometimes buffs look for different things than amateurs. For all I know, the cinematography or lighting or editing is horrid! At any rate, the movie suited my tastes nicely. If you are at all interested in adolescent development or characterization, or family dynamics, or how people deal with emotional dilemmas, give this one a try. And then let us know what you thought!

[PK]

The actress playing Juno is quite special. It's worth looking at her work in the film "Hard Candy." I like that Juno feels it could be a great play with it's few characters and great dialog.

[dirac]

Thank you, PK. I hear Ellen Page is indeed very good. Probably in another era Juno would have been a play first.

[vagansmom]

I'm afraid of indie movies with "quirky" characters too because so often, we end up with the stereotypical unique character. I work with a 17 year old boy who expressed this phenomenon quite well in his college essay when he said that living in a small private boarding high school can be tough to get through if you're one of the handful characterized by the larger group as an "individual." He basically says "to hell with the individual" in this situation because everyone's views of someone as an individual only pegs that person into an even tighter slot with less acceptance of one's free expression than those who've not been so crowned. He's expected to be the caricature of type. Indie films - well, all too many movies for that matter - often do this too. "Here's our resident quirky character" or "Here's our black best friend of the star of the show," etc.

But I liked "Juno" despite the quirky character. In fact, I loved the film more for the other characters than for the one Ellen Page portrayed. Juno is wise-cracking, too much so for me, as are her two friends though to a slightly lesser degree. That Page can give her character texture despite all the language Juno's hiding behind is a great credit to her acting ability. I'd love to see her in another movie though; I need to see if she can draw me more into her inner world. I was very uncomfortable with her dry-eyed crying in one scene; I'm surprised the director chose to leave it so. But it was the other characters who grabbed my attention: her dad, her step-mom (Alison Janney - what a delight!), and the young couple, especially the young couple. I started out a little disinterested and my affection for the movie grew as the minutes passed. Without giving away the story, I will merely say I am happy with its ending.

[dirac]

I'm afraid of indie movies with "quirky" characters too because so often, we end up with the stereotypical unique character.

Thank you for posting, vagansmom. I'm inclined to agree with you about the 'quirky' independent picture, it's almost become a genre to itself, and I have a few problems with it. I still have not seen Juno but it seems to be one of the better ones.

(I haven't put up a thread about it, but 'The Savages' is a movie about family matters that may serve as a grim but healthful corrective. Contrast the passing of Philip Bosco in "The Savages" with that of Alan Arkin in "Little Miss Sunshine" and you'll see what I mean.)

[cubanmiamiboy]

(I haven't put up a thread about it, but 'The Savages' is a movie about family matters that may serve as a grim but healthful corrective. Contrast the passing of Philip Bosco in "The Savages" with that of Alan Arkin in "Little Miss Sunshine" and you'll see what I mean.)

Please, open one...i saw it and loved its dinamic and language...Linney was excelent on it too...

About "Juno", i found it easy to digest. Page was a total natural, fluent, clever with great control...(I really hope to see her in future films...)

[Helene]

Linney was excelent on it too...

A tangent, I know, but I wanted to for Laura Linney, who is one of my all-time favorite actresses and repeatedly brilliant in a wide range of roles. I last saw her in "The Hottest State" when some friends rented it, and in the small role of the protagonist's mother, she lit up the film. (As, in another way, did Sonia Braga as the mother of the protagonist's girlfriend.)

As it turns out, according to IMDB, it is her 44th birthday today!

[dirac]

(I haven't put up a thread about it, but 'The Savages' is a movie about family matters that may serve as a grim but healthful corrective. Contrast the passing of Philip Bosco in "The Savages" with that of Alan Arkin in "Little Miss Sunshine" and you'll see what I mean.)

Please, open one...i saw it and loved its dinamic and language...Linney was excelent on it too...

About "Juno", i found it easy to digest. Page was a total natural, fluent, clever with great control...(I really hope to see her in future films...)

I'd be happy to open one, cubanmiamiboy, but in future you should also feel free to start one of your own - new discussions are always welcome!

[dirac]

Moving this post of Helene's to this thread:

The DVD of "Juno" came yesterday, and I found the movie as delightful as when I saw it about four times on a plane. I have no idea how it holds up on a large screen, never having seen it on one.

The cut scenes were interesting. There's one in which Jennifer Garner's character has a scene flossing her teeth having a discussion with Jason Bateman's character (her husband), in which she pretty much says in shorthand what the ultra sound technician says to Juno, her friend Leah, and her stepmother, Brenda. If that scene had been left in, I think it would have turned most of the audience dead against her.

I think that almost every scene that was left out was the correct decision, but one: there is an extended scene when Juno visits Bleeker in his bedroom, and she goes on more and more about Mark (Jason Bateman's character), much to Bleeker's chagrin, which makes her epiphany that he should take Katrina de Voort to the prom that much more painful. It's much clearer in the scene that she's got a crush on Mark Loring -- to both the audience and Bleeker -- and this is before the slow dance scene.

Also, there are screen tests in the DVD. It was such a coup to get Allison Janney, because whoever was doing the screen test -- and it could have been someone who was sitting in, not trying out -- was so much less of a great character than Janney. J.K. Simmons almost obliterated the screen test woman, whereas Janney was his equal. You could see how much of the character of Mac was formed by the time of the screen test.

What I loved most about the movie was the relationship between Mac and Brenda. It was clear that he lived by his motto: to find someone who loves you for everything you are, warts, quirks, and all. Because both of them had warts, quirks, and all.