Day 123: Juno

"Hi, I'm calling to procure a hasty abortion..."

Back in 2007, I was fortunate enough to attend a free preview screening of Juno. It stars Ellen Page, who you wouldn’t even recognize from her turn as a vicious vixen in Hard Candy, as a high schooler who gets pregnant. It is a quiet love story, an eccentric comedy, and a mature second feature from Jason Reitman, director of Thank You for Smoking and Up in the Air.

Everything about the movie is good, but the writing in particular is of note. It was written by first timer Diablo Cody, an ex-stripper. Juno is her first venture into scriptwriting, and wow, what an entrance. The dialogue of Juno and her friends is of over-educated and slightly displaced teenagers who are struggling to match their emotions with their IQ’s. There are many laugh out loud moments in the film, with Juno’s penchant for blunt quips that get to the heart of things. The film is endlessly quotable and extremely clever.

The fact that it sounds cheesy when I write about it is to the film’s credit that it pulls everything off without seeming overdone in the least. The characters are fully fleshed, even in minor roles, and acting is spectacular all around. The editing gets a little flashy, but never enough to be distracting, quite on the contrary to Thank You for Smoking’s fiasco. Reitman understood that this story is too pure to need stylistic fireworks.

The structure of it, going from autumn round to summer is telling. Though decidedly not Hollywood in any sense, it is an uplifting film. There was a perfect balance between the tragic and comic moments in the film, often intermingled. And one of the best elements of the whole film was the soundtrack. The music is diverse and interesting, but all fits a very specific mood of gently sweet and mildly downbeat. From The Velvet Underground’s “I’m Sticking With You” to The Moldy Peach’s “Anyone Else But You,” all of the cues are spot on.

I’m refraining from giving away the plot simply because people deserve to see it fresh. Juno is an affecting, honest, and nice little indie movie. Give it a rent if you haven’t seen it yet.