Customer Reviews

Julie Johnson

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

****
I really enjoyed this movie for a variety of reasons. It was entertaining and fun, and the subject matter was also interesting to me, since I love both personal growth and intellectual learning. The plot of "Julie Johnson" centers around two women who leave difficult marriages, move in together, develop romantic feelings for each other, and around the effects of their decisions upon each other, their friends, and their children. Julie returns to school and discovers many things about herself that she missed out on since she had not ever graduated from high school and had always thought of herself as stupid, an opinion reinforced regularly by her brutish husband.

I was unsure if I would enjoy this movie, as I do not necessarily enjoy lesbian love stories, finding them generally caught up in the message of the acceptance of homosexuality more than a great plot, acting, directing, etc.

This movie is not like that; it is more about the awakening of a woman's potential at mid-age. It is about how when we grow personally, we can leave people behind, even people we dearly love. It is about the lines drawn between friendship and romantic love---how do we draw them and when? It is about how we decide to call the end to a romantic relationship. When we are adults and change dramatically, discovering something new about ourselves that revolutionizes our lives, how does this affect those around us? In this movie, for the main character Julie, it was not lesbianism that she discovered that mainly transformed her life, but a love for learning. When you are an adult and a life-long learner how do you cope in our society, which oftentimes tells you that this is "weird" behavior? (This last question is my favorite of all, and I related to this movie a lot, as often people who love to learn, study, and discuss ideas (like me) find themselves the targets of prejudice as being dull, boring, and "no fun".) All of these questions are explored in this story of two blue-collar lower middle-class homemakers and the challenges they face.

The lesbian lovemaking scenes are not explicit, they are in good taste, and they made sense within the context of the movie.

The actors in this movie are fabulous---Lili Taylor, Courtney Love, and the actors playing the children as well.

I did not think the movie was clichéd at all. The husbands were stereotyped and seemed in many ways like Neanderthals...but there were also men portrayed in positive ways, such as Julie's major professor. This is not an anti-male film.

Lovely, quality, unforgettable film.
****

Wow - what an excellent film! Great acting, directing and story. Sort of "Rainman meets Hoboken housewife meets lesbian love affair". I must admit, I was very leery of watching this, fearing it was going to be a Lesbian Love Story. I must admit, I am not a fan of the L-Word, bit I loved Queer As Folk.

I watched this because I had a copy of the movie, having done a DVD Release Party at the club I work at. Otherwise, it would have been very unlikely that I would have ever watched it. That said, I am very glad I did.

The 90 minute film packs a lot of punch, and the first 30 minutes zoom by, setting the storyline for the rest of the film, so watch carefully. Lili Taylor and Courtney Love, the leading ladies are both excellent in their roles as relatively unhappy Hoboken NJ housewives. Julie (played by Taylor) embarks on a mission to get her GED, against her husbands wishes. She eventually kicks him out.

Claire (played by Love), her best friend from High School, leaves her husband. With no place to go, Claire moves in with Julie and her 2 children. In the meantime, Julie begins her quest for knowledge, passing her GED and eventually turning her goals towards a college degree.

Notice, we still don't have much of a love story, do we? Midway through the film, that all changes - in a compassionate, yet confusing manner. Without giving away the entire story line (which includes a few very funny scenes amongst most of the drama), two women must come to terms with their feelings, for each other, and for themselves.

This is really a gem of a film, and (as I have said before), it is a shame this will not be seen by many --- some whom desperately need to see a story like this. If Brokeback Mountain and Transamerica can make the big screen, well then so should Julie Johnson. This is not a lesbian love story, this IS a story about relationships, and the journey most of us take to achieve happiness and love in our own lives.

Buy, rent or see Julie Johnson.

I saw Bob Gosse's "Julie Johnson" at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. Five years have passed, and it's coming to DVD in the next couple weeks! This is a very slight but effective film about a young New Jersey housewife (the illuminescent Lili Taylor) who endures a very repressive marriage to a testosterone-driven jerk (Noah Emmerich). When she sees classes at the local community college which capture her fancy, she decides to set out on a journey to better her life. This also involves discovering a sexual attraction to her best friend (Courtney Love, great actress and musician extraordinaire!).

The film features the late Spalding Gray as her teacher, and THE OC's Mischa Barton (don't remember her from 5 years ago!). It's a heartwarming, uplifting and emotionally charged tale of following ones dreams in the face of adversity and judgement. This is a brilliant film!

The story takes place in a middle class world of friends and family with average intelligence and no college educations among them. The main character (Julie) breaks out and away by moving into the academic world and her intellect becomes apparent. Resentment and alienation follows (especially from her blue collar husband). When her "attraction" to her best friend emerges, and they both act on their feelings, the alienation from their friends and families for both of them deepens; Julie handles it, the best friend can't. I wish the audience had been a little more "let in" all along on how Julie was feeling about her friend. The story involving everyone around them and how it effects them all is compelling; you stay interested in all of the characters. Interesting choice in Courtney Love, but she really pulls this off well. Lili Taylor is always great to watch, I LOVED her as a lesbian; very believable!

JULIE JOHNSON is a quiet little film that deals with the frustrations facing a New Jersey housewife and mother who married and birthed before she graduated high school and finds herself in a rigid relationship, longing for knowledge to change things. She considers herself stupid, sneaks Science magazines to read when her overbearing husband isn't around, and finally gathers the courage (while staring at the stars one night) to change her plight. She takes a computer course, passes her GED and with the constant support of her dearest girlfriend gathers the courage to get out of the stifling marriage with her husband and study to improve her lot in life. Along the way she discovers other secrets about herself, buried in the facade of a life she has led. She changes, relates to the world in a different way, and refuses to settle for returning to 'the old life' when her husband returns promising her change. Her relationship with her girlfriend proceeds to intimate levels, but in the end this friendship cannot last, as her girlfriend doesn't have the same goals.

The story is simple, but in the hands of the writers Wendy Hammond and Bob Gosse and with Gosse's fine direction, the entire cast gives us an ensemble of disparate characters in whom we can all believe. Lili Taylor plays the lead with extraordinary skill and as her girlfriend Courtney Love gives a bravura performance. The remainder of the cast (Spalding Gray, Noah Emmerich, Gideon Jacobs, Mischa Barton, et al) is likewise strong. But it is Taylor's film and she offers one of her most poignant performances of her career. A thoughtful, sensitive, engrossing film. Grady Harp, September 06

Why this movie never hit the big screen, I'll never know. Perhaps because Courtney Love was having problems by the time is was released, or most likely the reason is the subject matter - bisexuality. Lili Taylor plays a housewife who is unhappy in her marriage to a very chauvanistic husband and Courtney Love plays her best friend. Lili's character and Courtney begin an intimate relationship which gives her the strength to leave her overbearing husband, must to the unhappiness of her two adolescent children. Soon, their relationship becomes obvious to their friends, spouses, and children and the pressure begins to mount. Their children are teased about their mother's orientation, and Courtney, fearing the social ostracism that she is enduring, has to make a decision about whether to stay in the relationship or return to her own husband. The outcome is a bit of a surprise.

The acting by Ms.Taylor and Ms. Love is wonderfully convincing, with Lili Taylor's character being the stronger of the two, not because of actinig skills - Courtney showed her acting chops again, but because her character was simply written stronger.

This is a wonderful and thought-provoking movie. Highly recommended.

The main reason I really liked this movie (aside from the wonderful performances on the part of the two leading actresses) was because it realistically portrayed how devastating homophobia can be to a new relationship. I think that a lot of gay and lesbian themed movies and TV shows turn out to either be in an unrealistic setting with an extraordinary amount of gay and lesbian characters in them, or they tend to get too preachy about "acceptance." "Julie Johnson" is just heartbreaking. Had it not been for all the homophobia and isolation surrounding them, the characters of Julie and Claire might have felt entitled to continue their relationship. But the homophobia in the movie is REALISTIC. In the particular setting of blue collar New Jersey, the womens' relationship would have been misunderstood and the women would have been isolated by their former friends, and a source of embarrassment to the children. It's really no surprise that one of the women would have felt the need to return to a life of comfortable acceptance.

I just think that it would have been a much more powerful movie if they would have FOCUSED on that relationship. The fact that Julie Johnson wanted to return to school was fine, and it gave the movie a nice theme about a woman throwing off the shackles that bound her, but I thought that it was kind of unnecessary to throw in the fact that Julie Johnson was some kind of repressed genius. Here's a woman who starts off sneaking Scientific American journals, but by the end of the movie cannot stop talking in scientific gibberish. This understandably alienates her even more from her old friends, from her old friend and new lover Claire, and confuses the direction the movie is going in. By the end of the movie, Julie is more interested in class and hanging out with her new intellectual friends than in helping Claire (and herself) feel comfortable with the transition in their relationship.

So, in conclusion, if this movie would have only been about a woman realizing her dream to go to school and her dream of pursuing a relationship with her best friend, it would have been an absolutely amazing movie. If it would have been about a woman (gay or straight) who finally realizes her intellectual potential later in life, and winds up alienating her friends and family because of it, then it would also have been a good movie. But the two concepts should not have been mixed together!!

Still, I'd recommend seeing this movie. The acting is superb and the love scene is so tastefully done that it's not even really a scene at all. I'd just maybe recommend a rental, or a bargain buy.

Julie Johnson for me was good but had more potential. Nice movie to rent but wouldn't rush out and buy if I had my time over. Liked the way it portrayed how it is possible for two close friends to fall in love and have a relationship but also how for one of the woman it was merely an experiment or phase. I did like the way Julie Johnson turned her life around and became the woman she always wanted to be and stood up to her husband.

Julie Johnson is a harried, blue-collar housewife, living in New Jersey with her husband and children. Julie's bored and overwhelmed, but she has an intense interest in science. She subscribes to science mags, which she keeps hidden from her narrow-minded, domineering husband. Seems that he just can't fathom Julie's interest, in computers and science.

One day, Julie decides that she wants to take the High school Equivilency Exam, so that she can receive her High school diploma. Meanwhile, she also decides to enroll in computer courses at the local community college. Julie even encourages her best friend Claire, to enroll in the computer courses with her. Claire does so mainly to appease Julie, rather than out of any real interest in computers.

Julie's instructors discover that she has an innate talent for math and science. So much so, that they encourage Julie to apply to some elite colleges, after she passes her High school Equivalency Exam. Julie's Neanderthal husband, forbids Julie to enroll in school. She enrolls anyhow, without telling him. After he finds out, he goes ballistic. So does Julie, who boots him out of their home, during a ferocious argument between them.

Inspired by Julie's boldness when she dumps her caveman hubby, Claire runs away from her own stifling spouse. With no other place to go, she winds-up living with Julie and her kids. Claire and Julie gradually deepen their friendship, which evolves into a romantic relationship. The two consummate their romance in Julie's bed one night. Their lesbian relationship, causes Julie and Claire problems with their judgmental neighbors, friends, and Julie's disapproving children.

Claire and Julie have many ups and downs in their relationship. Julie seems to have more invested in it than Claire does. Julie urges Claire to become educated, and Claire resents Julie's insistence that she upgrade her status in society. Claire feels that Julie is just too intellectual, to understand her point of view. The two must decide if their differences can be bridged, in order to salvage their relationship.

Though this film is progressive, in that it depicts a mature lesbian romance between two women, much about the plot-line is rather anachronistic. First of all, though it's 2001, Julie and Claire's spouses act like it's the 1950s. Back then, men could still rule over their wives and kids. It's utterly absurd, that Julie feels the need to hide her science magazines from her husband, like a daughter would hide dirty magazines from her father.

Also, if Julie was so gifted in math and science, why didn't her teachers encourage her when she was still a young student? And why did Julie have to feel so ashamed of being a woman with intellectual interests, in this day and age? These are a few of the things about the overall plot premise, that just don't ad up.

The chemistry between Lili Taylor as Julie, and Courtney Love as Claire, is erotically charged from the get-go. Though she's reluctant initially to have a sexual relationship with Julie, Claire admits to having had the hots for Julie when they were teenagers. Their lovemaking sessions together, are sensual and romantic. Julie and Claire both enjoy their sexual trysts. But their relationship is also bogged-down with guilt, and internalized homophobia.

The best thing about this film, is the spunkiness of Julie. She's determined to pursue her educational goal and lesbian love affair, despite the resistance of those around her. The question is, why did the creators make a movie that is so obviously out-of-step with contemporary society, regarding it's attitudes towards lesbianism, and female empowerment?? If this movie had been made before 1970, it would've been cutting-edge. By today's standards, this film comes off as being very 'dated', regarding lesbians, and women in general.

I'm no big fan of gay or lesbian films. I only bought this DVD bcuz I'm a huge Lili Taylor admirer. So i wasn't expecting very much from it. But while watching this movie I couldn't believe my eyes how great and touching this story was. I especially liked the scene with Lili and Courtney sitting in park, and yearning to touch each other but they couldn't do it and instead they touched themselves in their minds. Another great drama point was Courtneys and Lilis alienation because of Lilis high devotion to her studies. I highly recommend this DVD to anyone who loves great Drama. you won't be disappointed.