This film was a truly pleasant surprise when it hit theaters three years ago. Its plot is a teenage girl gets pregnant at age 16 and this movie manages to handle a very serious subject in a hilarious way. “Juno,”
This film was a truly pleasant surprise when it hit theaters three years ago. Its plot is a teenage girl gets pregnant at age 16 and this movie manages to handle a very serious subject in a hilarious way. “Juno,” played perfectly by Ellen Page (“Hard Candy”), scored a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
The movie is about what Juno goes through as she faces the social stigma of what has happened to her, as well as a sub-plot of her experiences with her choice of what she will do with the baby … don’t want to spoil the plot.
I think this film was a smash hit and has an even bigger following on DVD because it was completely original. It was the arrival of film director Jason Reitman, who had only one feature on DVD, “Thank you for Smoking” (which is a great film). Yes, for you true movie buffs, Jason Reitman is the son of famed ‘80s film director Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters”). Respectfully, Jason Reitman is such an amazing director at age 29 (now 33) because he was hanging out on film sets since age 8. He followed up “Juno” with the George Clooney movie “Up in the Air,” for which Reitman earned a Best Director Oscar nomination.
“Juno” is a sweet little film that was produced by Hollywood but plays like an indie film. If you didn’t see big names like Jason Bateman (“The Kingdom”) or Emmy-winner Allison Janney (“The West-Wing”), you’d never know there was money behind it. What makes Reitman such a special director and the next great of his generation is that he simply tells the story. He doesn’t use flashy editing or effects, or kill us with sub-plots or rely on the star power he had alongside his unknown Canadian star Ellen Page (“Inception”).
There is a great soundtrack, poignant moments through an Oscar-winning script by Diablo Cody, who admits the film borrows from ‘80s films like “Sixteen Candles.” The other significant thing about “Juno” is that the Academy very seldom nominates Comedies for Best Picture” I can’t think of five that have been nominated in the last 20 years, other than the classic “Little Miss Sunshine” starring Steve Carrell, Alan Alda (nabbed an Oscar for the movie) and Greg Kinnear. It’s another movie I highly recommend.
Although “Juno” has some adult themes, it’s a fun one for almost all ages. It’d be very interesting to know how Reitman took something that isn’t funny at all and made it one of the best comedies to date.
Remember the name Jason Reitman; he’s the director that will carry good films into the future. Yes, the elder greats (Scorsese, Spielberg) are still making films, and the ‘90s wave of directors like Wes Andersen (“The Royal Tennenbaums”), Paul Thomas Anderson (“Magnolia”) and Alexander Payne (“Sideways”) are still directing, but Reitman is the young filmmaker with many more movies to delight us.
Year: 2007
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Ellen Page, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Gardner
Oscars: 3 Nominations (including Best Picture) and 1 win
Presents: ‘Shall We Dance’ (American Version)
6:30 P.M., February 16th
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