New Cult Classic
Juno (2007)
Director: Jason Reitman
By Alex Watson
Late on in the awards season there is always a film that comes out of left field that no one expects. These film’s charm us and they are destined to be on people’s ‘films to watch’ list soon after! Jason Reitman’s indie film, Juno fits into this category. In its simplest form this is film which deals with the issue of teen pregnancy and the problems that arise from it. Usually when this subject rolls around the character is usually from some white trash background; Juno however, is the flip side of this story.
The story begins when smart, quirky Juno (Ellen Page) gets pregnant with her lifelong friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), because of this it means a premature descent into the world of adulthood, a world way beyond her super cool mannerisms. At first she at first considers abortion but then she sets out to find the perfect adoptive parents for her child and she finds them in the form of rich couple Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) and Mark (Jason Bateman) who both seem to be too good to be true. But then the problems begin to arise.
What makes this film so refreshing is that Juno is not presented as being some dumb kid who got drunk and then pregnant, but as a hip, intelligent teen from a loving but blue collar family who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In the beginning Juno has a seemingly blaze attitude towards her towards both her teenage years and her pregnancy in the beginning which exemplified in the scene where she informs her parents of her pregnancy and her plans to give the baby up, as she describes“And in what ah 30 or odd weeks we can just pretend that this never happened.” This shows just how young Juno really is and how she doesn’t seem to realize the risk of what she is prepared to do.
The young lady also possess a sly wit to her and seems to have a clever answer for just about every situation, but this is just a mask for Juno’s insecurities and how afraid she is to face the reality of the situation she’s in.
The main talking point of Juno that has divided the audience is the Oscar winning script by former stripper turned screenwriter Diablo Cody. The chatty and almost sarky dialogue was met with mixed praise where some hailed it for being clever and more alternative than other dialogues before. But some saw it as being merely an irritation and highly pretentious. In the early stages of the film the speech threatens to spoil the film before it’s got anywhere at all and seems to be maybe trying a little too hard to be original.
But through Cody’s impressive eye for speech it coaxes a different side to Juno and through it we begin to see someone who is sensitive, caring but yet tries just a little too hard to impress (this is represented through the scenes with the babies father). But overall the script is a minor gem possessing dialogue that is both different but at the same time very relevant.
Ellen Page gives a brilliant central performance in Juno, as the fore mention teen she is very off the wall and seems to take things a little too casual. But through Page she finds another side to Juno and we see how much this scenario has changed her and how much she is hurting! This performance is one the best and coolest that you will see in a long time.
Michael Cera is also impressive as Paulie, the boy who deep down truly loves her but tries to play it cool! Cera went on to impress in Scott Pilgrim Vs the World after this. But the real surprise is Jennifer Garner, her role and rich but incomplete Vanessa showed us another tender side to her acting post Alias, and her scenes with Jason Bateman are genuinely moving in the movie latter part.
Overall Juno may be cliqued as the ‘Little Film That Could’ but in my opinion it is something else entirely. Juno is not only a charming piece but it ticks the boxes of both the mainstream lovers and the more indie fans of cinema. It is a film which has a lot of reasons to watch it. The messages in Juno will devide opinion and maybe some may find this a little difficult to swallow, but you won’t find out unless you observe.
Closer to the Edge 