I was fortunate enough to attend a free preview screening of Juno tonight. It isn’t being released, and then in selected theaters, for about another month. 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.
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 I can only write about and have it sound cheesy 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 just the right amount of 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 type of gently sweet and mildly downbeat. From The Velvet Underground’s “I’m Sticking With You” to The Moldy Peaches' “Anyone Else But You,” all of the cues are spot on.
I’m refraining from giving away the plot, as I usually do, simply because it’s a new film and people deserve to see it fresh. Juno is an affecting, honest, and nice new little indie movie. Go see it when it comes out.
