Juno Review
In recent years, there has been this “indie darling” film that comes along and captures the imagination of audiences. Lost in Translation and Little Miss Sunshine are the two that really come to mind, and Juno is no exception. Juno manages to capitalize on this weird balance between artistic vision and Hollywood billing, not unlike the aforementioned, with great preformances and a charming story. Put into basics: This is how movies should have been made.
It occurs to me after watching this, that while Juno is a very good movie, were it made in a time where movies with heart were made, it might rank toward the bottom of that list. Which brings up a problem with my logic in that 1. It’s unfair to do that and 2. Makes me sound pretentious by claiming that a movie has a “heart”. I’m ok with the first one, as being a reviewer requires me to make bold statements and backing them up by using past experiences. I’m not ok with the second one however, because who am I to give that perception of heart?
Well fuck it, I’m doing it anyways. Juno has heart and a lot of it. While it tinges on the side of sappy and idealistic as opposed to realistic, it’s easily overlooked with how the movie flows and feels. I have tried to not judge preformances as a basis of my judgement on movies anymore, but Ellen Paige is a brilliant young actress and really shines in this movie. The writing is hysterical to begin with and I can’t imagine many other actresses at her age being able to effectively encapsulate the character that Juno McGuff is with such ease and grace.
The movie does border itself on “lovely” indie movie fare: the uber-unique protagonist, the pastelly,arty visual tone and soundtrack. While this certainly doesn’t hurt the film, I think it does a dis-service to Jason Reitman, who’s made a fine film. I’d love to see him develop his sense of visual style to compliment his great storytelling ability instead of relying on heavy conventions of a budding genre.
What worked for me through the few scratches and itches was the relationships with the characters. This movie achieves this in so easily a manner, that it feels conversative to the audience, in that through the lingo a message is being delivered. The message isn’t clear, but there are moments of true romantic power (i.e. the Jiffy lube bill) that really made an impact with me. I liked trying to figure what the movie was about rather than being fed it’s meaning. Which isn’t to say that every movie should be ambiguous or hard to obtain meaning, but attempt at sub-text, a feat Juno manages quite well. Juno is a true balance that Hollywood should seek to emulate and frankly a film that you should see. This get’s a 9 out of 10 Bones for being truely entertaining, touching and charming.
RATING: 