Rating of
2.5/4
"Juno" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/20/12
Juno is a sixteen year old high school girl who sleeps with her geeky boyfriend and winds up pregnant, so she decides to put her unborn child up for adoption. I'm sure there are plenty of film-makers out there who think making indie movies is easy; just a case of the emperor's new clothes. If you make it LOOK like it's being clever, people will just assume that it is. But the fact is, the indie film is one of the great bullshit detectors of the cinematic medium. There are no special effects, no car chases or action to hide behind. If the script is no good, the film will suck. Full stop. Juno has a script full of characters that feel like real people having real conversations, and even the most unsympathetic ones are shown to have qualities that you can understand or relate to. It's warm and gentle and has a nicely non-judgmental approach to the subject of teen pregnancy. It's never exactly hilarious, but it is always pleasantly amusing and the cast are all very good. The opening scenes are little self-conscious and pretentious but stick with it and there's a nice little film to enjoy here.
