Juno is a small film, but it's a small film with a big, big heart. And it deals with a big subject. The biggest, in fact. Life. The propagation of the race of men, in all it's messy glorious unpredictability. Unplanned pregnancy, to be exact. Is there any other kind? It would have been easy for a film like this to descend into cliche (as I did in my opening sentence), but instead Canadian director Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking) and first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody continually confound and challenge our expectations.
The film is held together by a marvelous, sweet (in the best way) performance by Ellen Page, playing the heroine Juno MacGuff. Whether a scene calls for broad comedy or finely pitched emotion, Page never falters. Not surprisingly, there's plenty of on target satire in Juno: of high school life, mixed families (Juno lives with her dad, stepmom and half-sister) and the baby industry. Much of the satire revolves around the characters of Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), an affluent professional couple "desperately seeking spawn" to fill their lives and massive home in the aptly-named Glacial Valley Estates. Mark and Vanessa's angst is genuine though, and cuts close to home for some of us. One of the things I loved about this film is that satire never turns into parody and these characters turn out to be more complicated, and human, than they first appear.
Abortion comes up in Juno. It's dealt with in a matter-of-fact, and I think, truthful way. I have strong convictions on the subject (see Psalm 139:13 and Ephesians 5:11 for starters) so I'm not entirely comfortable with treating it matter-of-factly. On reflection though, and without giving anything away, I believe the way the issue is treated here should prompt discomfort among those who are ardently pro-choice. Sometimes comedic truthfulness sheds more light than propaganda.
Finally. Juno features a delightfully quirky soundtrack that may make Wes Anderson green with envy!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Juno
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2 comments:
thanks for the positive review! when roger ebert wrote on his site that this was his favorite movie of 2007 (and he saw it in december, which means he saw TONS of movies prior to that!) i figured it should make it on my see/rent list. :) i made a movie date with a friend at the end of the month, so i think i know which one we'll be seeing!! :)
This is the sort of movie where you can wear out adjectives like "wonderful" and "warm" and "truthful", but they all apply to JUNO. It manages to take a delicate subject and make it, by turns, riotously funny and richly emotional without resorting to syrupy sentiment. Kinda sounds like Juno herself!
Props to the entire cast, with a special nod to Jennifer Garner, as the potential adoptive mother. I was impressed by her genuine performance. Easily her best work so far.
Definitely worth a trip to the theater.
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