This is the first of two posts on Juno. Initially, I have some fragments about the filmmaking, and then a response to David Reinhard's Sunday Oregonian column on the film.
First, even though it has already been well noted, Ellen Page is a wonder as the title character. This is mostly for her ability to convince me that this kid does, in fact, talk the way she does. That she loses hold of her ability to always have the right cultural reference lined up as the realities of her situation set in adds credibility to her performance, not to mention elevating Diablo Cody's script beyond comparable Indie Wood fare.
If anything in the film screams, ???Look at me! See how clever I am!???, it is the production design and costuming. If you're going to design a film so that it has a vaguely retro, slightly out of time, look and feel, make sure you enclose it in its own world. Do not drop in references which suggest that somehow the movie shares the same time and space as your audience. Doing so makes the mise-en-sc??ne more of a distraction and less of an enhancement or organic part of the film. Quite honestly, I spent a good part of the first half hour or so of Juno apologizing in my mind to Wes Anderson for bemoaning the lack of growth in his last two works. And, generally, The Darjeeling Limited (2007) had already been rising in my estimation as time passes.
(For another look at Juno and American indie conventions, see Chuck Tryon's review).
While Page leads to show, the film is uniformly well cast and acted. More particularly, even though her performance has largely gone unnoticed, just scan the excerpts and reviews at Rottentomatoes, Jennifer Garner is utterly heartbreaking as Vanessa, the ultimate adopter of Juno's baby. I am fairly certain that, initially, the audience is expected to hate her - after all, she's wealthy, uptight, uncool, and largely uncharmed by our little Juno - until she is rehabilitated by her husband's (Jason Bateman) jackassery. I don't know if this perception reflects Cody's or director Jason Reitman's actual intent, or if the rather sizable crowd at the Regal 9th Street in Corvallis bought into it, but based on other viewing experiences, including ones I'd rather forget, it seems reasonable, especially since the story turn with husband, Mark, seems overly extreme, even given his bonding with Juno.
Finally, I am unsure what to make of the ending. Does the film actually come down to Juno slowly admitting that she's found the love of her life at the age of sixteen? Or does it only seem that way to me?
Originally posted on:
Short-Circuit Signs