Ok, so I tried to make some bold and sweeping comment about the film I saw last night, Juno….how it is the best film of the season and possibly the year–but in the midst of an otherwise fairly poopie run of recent films, there are two standouts….and not just small improvements on the otherwise fairly dreary filmscape…but movies that achieve excellence in their own right without needing to be compared to their lackluster alternatives.
So, as I said…Juno…ah-may-zing….Really, there is nothing more that can be said. I have to admit that going in I was a little nervous because, as regular movie goers, we have probably seen the same gosh darn preview for this film somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 times. “That ain’t no etch-a-sketch. That’s one doodle that can’t be undid, Home-skillet.” Said by Rainn Wilson in his guest appearance as the nosey convenience store clerk where Juno acquires her three pregnancy tests and gallon of Sunny D to generate enough pee to take said tests. I would have to say that I agree with most of the reviews that say that the Gilmore Girlesque exchanges in the beginning of the fim are a little intellectually taxing and what’s more, we’ve seen them all…to the point that we could probably quote the entire beginning of the movie without ever having seen it in its entirety.
However, that being said…the dialogue is quick and concise…and although a bit overblown at times, quite purposeful. But, no matter how smart or how fast the exchanges are between characters, it is the things that aren’t said that tug at your heart…there is no screaming or yelling when Juno announces she is pregnant, disappointment? sure, but that’s to be expected….actually, it went over rather well considering….there wasn’t any soapbox anti-abortion message but, rather (as one reviewer aptly put it) there was the conveyance of the idea that there is a right to choose, not a right to make only one choice…
And what’s more, there is humor and sensitivity and warmth…not the exchanges between characters…but in the quiet spaces….and I would have to say that those moments of quietness…the ones where the only thing that can be said are the things for which there are no words….those are like daggers (for better or worse) straight to the heart….and it is done with such skill and such art, that you half expect to leave the theatre and be able to call Juno on the phone…she feels so real…everyone feels so real….and that’s a nice touch considering that most of the films now are about superheroes and superhumans….sometimes, it is really nice to just be able to relate.
Now, I don’t have a ton of time to discuss Enchanted…however…there isn’t a whole lot to discuss. It’s a film for all ages, cute for the little ones (except for the big scary monter at the end) and hysterically funny for the big kids. A cartoon princess and the love of her life (for the last day) have found each other and are to be wed but for the wily ways of the wicked step-mother…who lures the princess to the edge of a well and pushes her in, where down she falls straight through space and time and the universe, only to come out on the other end as a real person in the middle of New York City….her prince finds out about the scheme and comes looking for her….promptly followed by the wicked step-mother…and the three embark on a comical game of go-seek in the big city….
I think the film’s most clever move is contrasting the ideals of the cartoon character with that of the average New Yorker….where, for many…New York is a “magical place”…anyone who has stayed there long enough to see the dirt and grime and crime realize that, for all of its legitimate charms, it is not one big Disneyland….but…for those of you seeking the fairy tale ending, it’s there…it is probably just not what you might expect.
Well, that’s all…both are in theatres and when they aren’t in theatres anymore you can order them On Demand or through Netflix or whatever you do nowadays.
