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Junebug [2006] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
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Subtle, Bittersweet and Moving
Review date: 2008-03-01 Rating: 10 out of 10
Junebug is a film that takes its time. It moves slowly through its simple narrative - a young woman who is newly married meets her husband's family for the first time while trying to negotiate an art deal close their home - and builds up its characters and their thoughts and feelings effectively.
Embeth Davidtz stars as Madeleine, an art dealer who marries George, a man from North Carolina. Six months later, she is trying to negotiate a deal with an eccentric painter from her husband's home town. The pair decide to kill two birds with one stone and visit the in-laws for the first time. This proves to be a daunting experience for Madeleine as the family seem uncaring about the visit and everyone apart from her awe struck sister-in-law Ashley (Amy Adams) is uninterested in her.
Ashley is nine months pregnant and ready to burst, although her husband Johnny does not seem to care about her or the baby. He is distracted and rude and it is soon revealed that he is still trying to pass high school - despite being married and in his early twenties - and get his diploma. Madeleine tries to help him but he soon echoes the rest of the family's feelings that she is an outsider trying to barge in to the family and flaunt her superior intellect and breeding.
The film is a wonderful snapshot of southern life and is so intimate and real that it is easy to forget that these are actors and not genuine people. The most realistic portrayal can be found in Ashley, who is played brilliantly by Amy Adams, who has recently found fame as Giselle in Enchanted.
The film centres around her wonderful supporting performance as the pregnant Ashley, who is married to the obnoxious and resentful Johnny. She is the heart of the film, always happy and smiling despite her husband - and the rest of his prickly family's - shortcomings. She is enchanted by Madeleine from the moment of her arrival, constantly asking questions and proclaiming that the two will be best friends forever.
Adams' was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance but lost out to Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener. She is so endearing and tragic and seems to represent everything that the rest of the family would like to be: open, chatty and happy. It is a wonder that the film was not nominated for Best Original Screenplay too, as it is a skilful observation of life in a fragile family and a true gem of a film.
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Reviews
Wierd, unsettling, ultimately confusing, strangely worthwhile
Review date: 2006-07-10 Rating: 8 out of 10
This film takes you to a strange place. It conjures that silent feeling you get when you step back into your childhood home and you feel as though you've been re-inserted into a reel of film you left behind. I had no idea how the film-makers wanted me to relate to these characters and to be quite frank, none of the plot made sense. That said, when one brother smacked the other on the forehead with a monkey wrench wholly unexpectedly, it felt right. Somehow, he was taking revenge on every smug bugger who ever left home and came back sanctimonious. I'm glad I saw Junebug, since it was a take on Southern American Christian life that had texture and deep complexity, and that in itself was a refreshing holiday from most Hollywood representation. But what this film was intending is anyone's guess. One last thing- the way they made the trees still and then imperceptibly begin gently tossing in the wind was sublime. It was as transcendent as the plastic bag shots in American Beauty, gorgeous visual metaphor.
"Where would I be if I was a screwdriver?"
Review date: 2006-04-21 Rating: 10 out of 10
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 is 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.
A Sleeper In The Wrong Sense
Review date: 2006-03-17 Rating: 6 out of 10
Junebug falls into the category of a likable, uncomplicated character study film. Madeleine (an art dealer form Chicago) and her new husband George (from North Carolina), takes her to visit his quirky family. His mother is a no-nonsense, bristly monarch and his father seems like he is terminally depressed. George’s brother is a lazy grump unhappily married to an extremely immature, naive and animated girl named Ashley (Amy Adams). Adams can be both irritating and entertaining and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (2005). George gets little screen time and Madeleine is annoying nice to everyone. It’s not believable. The only fun aspect of this film is the always good Celia Weston as the mother and Amy Adams as the sister-in-law. Other than that, there really are no revelations or social comments in this film to warrant more than a forced viewing on a boring afternoon.
One interesting aspect of this film was that it was released on DVD the same day as it premiered in theaters. Was this an act of immediate availability or a stunt for attention?
Watch this movie and know why Amy Adams should win the Oscar
Review date: 2006-03-04 Rating: 8 out of 10
Watch this movie and know why Amy Adams should win the Oscar, March 3, 2006
Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz) is an art dealer in Chicago who meets and marries George (Alessandro Nivola). His family lives in North Carolina and none of them show up for the wedding. Six months later Madeleine is on the trail of a folk artist by the name of David Wark (Frank Hoyt Taylor) who happens to live in the same neck of the woods as George's family down by Winston-Salem. So how hard can it be to travel with George back to his home, meet his family, and sign Wark to a contract? Oh, Lordy, you have no idea.
George's mom, Peg (Celia Weston), rules the roost, and if Madeline overhears her verdict that George's wife is a dangerous combination of good looks and intelligence, well that is just too damn bad. Her husband, Eugene (Scott Wilson), does not have much to say and when he is not sitting in his basement carving wood he is trying to figure out where his Philips head screwdriver is hiding. Then there is George's younger brother, Johnny (Ben McKenzie), who stops working under his car so he can study the Cliffs Notes for "Huckleberry Finn." George has married his high school sweetheart, Ashley (Amy Adams), who talks more than every body else in the movie put together and is nine months pregnant.
Besides whether or not Madeleine can sign Wark, a decidedly eccentric fellow who dreams poetry and paints slaves with white faces because he claims he has never met a black man, the driving question of "Junebug" is whether chatterbox Ashley is for real. Madeleine is left to fend for herself with her new in-laws for most of the visit as she finds out what George was apparently happy to leave behind, and her chief strategy is to smile a lot and try and roll with the punches. But it is Adams, whose Oscar nomination for Supporting Actress was a no-brainer given all the critic awards she has received (including the special jury dramatic prize at Sundance), who steals this movie from start to finish. I have seen all five of the nominees in her category and I think Adams should win (not that she will, but she should).
Director Phil Morrison and screenwriter Angus MacLachlan have been working together since 1990's "Tater Tomater." With "Junebug" they bring together a bunch of characters and let them percolate. After all, this is the south and being in a hurry is not the way people are supposed to be living their lives. Through most of the movie we keep thinking that Ashley is some kind of joke; here she is, nine months pregnant, eating only a hot dog (boiled not grilled) with mustard (no bun) so she can watch her weight. But she is the character who has married into this family who has depth and heart, and who touches us the most in the end. When Madeleine and George return to Chicago, it is Ashley that we are sad to leave behind.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Alessandro Nivola
David Kuhn
Embeth Davidtz
Jerry Minor
Alicia Van Couvering
Creators:
Embeth Davidtz (Primary Contributor)
Alessandro Nivola (Primary Contributor)
Bryan Thomas (Producer)
Daniel Rappaport (Producer)
Dany Wolf (Producer)
Ethan D. Leder (Producer)
Mark P. Clein (Producer)
Director(s):
Recording label: Columbia TriStar
Manufacturer: Columbia TriStar
EAN: 9781404991422
Binding: DVD
ISBN: 1404991425
Number of items: 1
Format: AC-3, Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC,
Release date: 2006-01-17
Universal product code (UPC): 043396119390
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 106 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2005
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: French (Subtitled)