by Vinoo
Language : English
Director : Jason Reitman
A teenage girl, Juno, named so after a Greek goddess, becomes pregnant as a teenager. A school-going teenager’s life takes a new turn with news of the pregnancy. She weighs her options. She looks at abortion as an option and then considers bringing the kid up as her own before she takes the mature decision of finding the kid adopted parents because she is ‘ill-equipped’ to bring up the kid herself. The pregnancy is from a ‘frivolous’ evening spent between two teenagers i.e. Juno and her admirer and long-time friend Bleeker. Juno takes the bold decision of giving her kid for adoption. After the kid is given up for adoption Juno continues life as a school-going teenager and then decides to live a life with the same person who was responsible for her pregnancy cos she figures he always admired and loved her but she didn’t give him a chance. Juno’s father and step-mom play their characters so very well and both come across as amazing relationships. Juno discovers her family when she is going through this phase as a teenage mother to be. What makes this movie brilliant is that a sensitive subject like teenage pregnancy has been handled so very well and in a very novel way. Becoming pregnant is not the end of the world for Juno. The film is light and at the same time so mature in its handling of the issue.
Ellen Page who played Juno, and the director Jason Reitman, were also nominated for respective Oscars. Jason Reitman also directed ‘Thank you for Smoking’.
Also watched Santosh Sivan’s ‘Tahaan’. Shot brilliantly but a serious subject like terrorism is taken a little too lightly. Doesn’t work for me. Watched Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Che’ (Part 2 : Guerilla, Part 1 : Argentine) without subtitles since I couldn’t wait J. Will send out a review after I have watched it with subtitles. You have to see Richard Fleischer’s ‘Che’, which is really bad but for Omar Sharif playing the title role so you know how much superior the almost documentary-like ‘Che’ from Soderbergh is. Also watched a brilliant documentary, which is yet to release. Watch this space for a review soon.
Useless trivia : Diablo Cody is the nickname under which Brook Busey wrote the screenplay for ‘Juno’ and it won her the Best Original Screenplay Oscar. It was originally written as a sample to prove her worth as a Screenplay writer, and is based on her experiences and interactions in school.
Also songs performed by Kimya Dawson became part of the soundtrack on Ellen Page’s suggestion to the Director as to what kind of music Juno listens to. 900 hand-cut images were composited onto a background to create the brilliant opening title sequence of ‘Juno’.
Leave a Reply