Sunday Best: Movie 2007

JUNO

I loved this movie. From start to finish, I loved it. The story felt fresh and the conclusion was at the same time unexpected and inevitable. I loved that it wasn’t preachy about the sacredness of life, but instead showed the audience the beauty of and humanity of the unborn. I loved the fact that the main character is flawed and that she has to overcome those flaws, not embrace them like they do in most independent movies. Juno, played perfectly by Ellen Paige, is too smart to know that she is not smart in many ways. She does not appreciate how her action affect the people in her life. Her journey must involve her either flipping the finger to life and making people conform to her needs (as we saw in Jason Reitman's later film Young Adult) or embrace compassion and look to making others happy.

It was quirky from the first line of dialogue to the Kimya Dawson soundtrack. All of the characters were 3 dimensional, funny, and fun to watch. And the directing was not simply cookie-cutter Hollywood, nor rough and

tumble independent fare.  It was not like anything out there.  It was better.