Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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63 of 74 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Roots, August 15, 2005
How much are we a product of our environment and upbringing? And does moving away from home, changing our lives supposedly for the better, guarantee that we will/ we can / we really want to forget our roots?
These are a couple of the themes working/being investigated in Phil Morrison's "Junebug."
Embeth Davidtz (painfully thin but beautiful) as Chicago art gallery owner, Madeline and Allesandro Nivola (in a rare turn as a good guy) as George arrive in North Carolina, George's home, to try and sign on as a client, an "outsider" artist David Wark (Frank Hoyt Taylor). And since Wark lives a half hour away from George's family, they also decide to give them a visit, which may or may not be a mistake as George has written a memoir about his North Carolina home that is felt to be unflattering to both his family and their neighbors; though George's intention was quite the opposite.
Mother (Celia Weston in a wise but world-weary performance), Father (Scott Wilson: quiet, strong), Brother (Benjamin McKenzie in a tour de force performance that blows away the perception of him as a nice guy on "The OC") and Sister-in-Law (Amy Adams, whose goofiness and frantic performance almost steals the movie) form a kind of Greek chorus, in front of whom, George and Madeline enact their lives in essence, go about the process of getting to know each other...for you see they married after knowing each other for only one week.
Nivola has made a number of movies ("Face/Off," "Mansfield Park") but he's never given such an appealing and thoughtful performance. His George loves his family without question and more importantly, without embarrassment or judgment. His love of both Madeline and his family is all about acceptance and unencumbered love. He is the prince, the one who "got out," but he's also a mensch: a good guy who gives his love and caring wholeheartedly and who receives it back in kind.
Davidtz has been making movies for a while: remember her in "Schindler's List?" Her Madeline is wide-open, full of understanding and wide-eyed innocence; and like George never, ever judgmental. Madeline, of course is looked at by the family as an interloper and her being English, sophisticated, educated and a workingwoman only makes her more suspect. But to director Morrison's credit, this is no pearl-among-the-swine story as Madeline is never represented as anyone's better and this makes "Junebug" even more refreshing and attractive.
"Junebug" is a sly, resonant and irrepressibly adult film. That it seemingly comes out of no where only makes it more of a joy to behold as a welcomed palliative to all the bombast and failed mega Summertime movies.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Where would I be if I was a screwdriver?", April 21, 2006
The story opens in Chicago, where ultra-chic gallery owner Madeline (Embeth Davidtz) has just discovered a primitive painter she wants to represent. She and her husband George (Alessandro Nivola) drive down to North Carolina to meet him and then stay with George's family who live nearby. In that house, Mom runs the show, Dad is invisible to everyone, and son Johnny is mad at the world in general and at his very pregnant wife Ashley (Amy Adams) in particular.
This slice-of-life story takes us into the everyday life of the Johnsten family as seen through the eyes of an outsider. Madeline is the fish-out-of-water in Bible-belt country; the most important thing in life to her is her gallery, but slowly her priorities change. Embeth Davidtz makes a lovely Madeline and Amy Adams easily steals all of her scenes as the sweet and silly Ashley. George's character isn't developed, perhaps to leave more time to get to know his family. They do come across as real people and we come to care about them all. It's a sweet, insightful little story about people who could very well be the family next door, just living their lives. Very enjoyable.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Refreshingly unadorned, honest filmmaking, April 30, 2006
I was a little wary of this film going in. Any film that basically sends a Yankee woman down South can easily turn in to something that ridicules Southerners - and not only did this film take place in the South, it came right here to my own Tar Heel backyard. Starting things off with some footage of the state's annual hollerin' contest seemed a bad omen, but - much to my delight (and relief) - I found nothing to really complain about here. Sure, there are some stereotypes in the mix - but these are only on the surface (with the exception of the painter character) and Junebug goes far beyond skin deep. It's an unusual film, to say the least. Refreshingly different, this film brings together a wonderful myriad of public and private, deeply personal moments, allowing the actors to truly become their characters rather than having their characters imposed upon them. Some folks won't enjoy this film at all, I'm sure, finding the silent moments others of us find uncommonly compelling to be - well - boring. This isn't an action film or a comedy or even a drama in the common sense - although there are certainly a number of funny and dramatic moments encompassed in the story. Those who truly appreciate the art of moviemaking, I believe, will find Junebug an uplifting experience. It's worth seeing just for Amy Adams' performance alone - she's utterly fantastic.
Newlyweds George (Alessandro Nivola) and Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz) apparently had a small, private wedding because she has never met his family. When they find themselves traveling to North Carolina in order for Madeleine, an art gallery owner in Chicago, to court a promising folk artist, they naturally swing by to meet the folks. It's quite a family. There's Dad (Scott Wilson), the strong, silent type who spends most of his time in the basement, woodworking and looking for his screwdriver; Mom (Celia Weston), the enigmatic, direct, suspicious mother; Johnny (Benjamin McKenzie), George's moody, taciturn, stand-offish brother; and Johnny's wife Ashley (Amy Adams), who literally lights up the screen with her over-excitable, spontaneous personality (she's also the only major actor in the film to speak anything like a native North Carolinian). Ashley's the type who would drive many a person completely up the wall with her inability to ever stop talking and her immense wonder at everything in the world, but I quite fell in love with her from the very start. It's pretty obvious that part of her behavior is a front for some sadness, even desperation, in her life, and it's not hard to find the source - the uncommunicative Johnny, who seems to want nothing to do with anybody - especially George. Speaking of George, he sort of just disappears early on, leaving his fish-out-of-water wife to tackle all of his relatives on her own.
With no major happenings other than the impending arrival of Ashley's baby and Madeleine's frantic efforts to land the soon-to-be famous folk artist David Wark (Frank Hoyt Taylor), much of the focus is on the interrelationships of the family members, the issues and common bonds that make them a family. Some of the issues boil up to the surface largely because of Madeleine's presence. A look oftentimes says more than an extended scene of dialogue, and we do see some way into the souls of most of these individuals. There's no real sense of cloture at the end, but I suppose that is only natural since there is no real ending to family life itself. Things are always changing, for better or for worst. I certainly wonder what the future holds for these people - those I liked, anyway.
I have not seen The Constant Gardener, but that isn't going to stop me from saying that Amy Adams deserved the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress over Rachel Weisz (and, seemingly, every film body other than the Academy agreed with me). Ashley is as captivating a character as I've come across in a long time, and Adams' performance runs the whole gamut from childlike glee to heart-breaking tragedy.
I would note that Junebug does not really capture the Tar Heel or Southern spirit - although pieces of it are there. I also can't imagine that David Wark's artwork would go over big in the South at all - anyone who draws the thing he draws on Robert E. Lee (and every other character in his War Between the States-themed work) won't be met by many open arms down here.
I only have one minor complaint about this film, and it concerns the director's sense of direction. It was interesting when he sidestepped away from a conversation to show us empty rooms with the muffled conversation continuing in the background, and some of his isolated shots of different little scenes were all well and good, but I think he just took it a bit too far at one point, making it look a little too much like he was just trying to be artsy-fartsy about the whole thing. That's truly a miniscule issue, however - certainly not enough to keep me from giving this refreshingly real film five stars.
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