Junebug
by Phil Morrison (II)
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DVD details
Actor: Alessandro Nivola, Alicia Van Couvering, David Kuhn, Embeth Davidtz, Jerry MinorDirector: Phil Morrison (II)
Brand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-01-17
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures
DVD Reviews of Junebug
DVD Review: Love it
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is wonderful. It really left me thinking for days, and it wasn't long before I watched it again. DVD Review: Indispensable Viewing
Summary: 5 Stars
The portrayal of the "outsider artist" is in and of its self worth the price of admission. Every character in this film is spot on. The overall effect is sublime absurdity.DVD Review: Like a Root Canal For Your Eyes
Summary: 1 Stars
If you are like most normal Americans, you probably find invasive dental procedures, such as a root canal, to be profoundly unpleasant. If, however, you are the type who, given the choice, would actually pay for the pleasure of sitting through a root canal, I believe I have a movie I can recommend to you.
I can't help but feel like the fact that this movie was made in my hometown in suburban North Carolina obligates me to say glowing things about it. Sadly, that is something I cannot do. I found it to be a perfectly horrible movie with absolutely no likeable characters or sympathetic situations.
In a nutshell, "Junebug" is about a self-important and completely uninteresting art dealer who takes a trip to the south, where she proceeds to Not Have a Very Good Time. That's pretty much it.
"This is no fun" is really the underlying theme of the movie. And it is equally true both for the characters in the movie and the audience. The overall tone of the movie is bleak, alternating between long, unenviable, boring stretches, interspersed with periodic bursts of highly unlikeable people behaving in highly unlikealbe ways. (Not the good, interesting kind of unlikeable, such murderous or creepy, but a thoroughly unengaging sort of unlikeable, such as contempt and downright crankiness). Fifteen minutes into "Junebug", buoyed between overwhelming boredom and moderate discomfort (you know how you feel sitting through an ungodly, two-hour long mandatory sales meeting while combatting diarrhea? Or getting motion sickness in the back seat of your parents' car during a long drive to grandma's house? That kind of feeling.), I began to enumerate ways of spending my time that might be less fun than sitting through this godawful burden of a movie. And it was during this blessed distraction that I began to notice that "Junebug" has far more in common with a root canal than with an enjoyable cinematic experience.
Your more pretentious viewers might describe this movie as "honest" (invariably adding the words "beautiful" and, of course, "indie" to their description, as though the latter unquestionably justifies use of the former). A root canal is also a startlingly honest experience, during which one can scarcely fail to comprehend the enormity of "a piece of my body has begun to rot and decay, the throbbing, abcessed nerve endings of which must now be extracted with a drill". The fact that it is honest, however, does not make it good. While dripping with its indie-film brand of faux-honesty, Junebug is just as nauseatingly unpleasant. As for whether "Junebug" is in fact, honest, I can only say that if I felt my life was accurately reflected in that miserable heap of suffering-artist, indie-film garbage, I would have committed suicide sometime in my teens, a decade and a half ago.
Also like a root canal, this movie is really only bearable if experienced under heavy anesthetics.
As for the performances of the cast, I suppose they are all just fine, though, again, there is little that is praiseworthy to be said about the ability to convincingly portray Uninteresting, Comptemptible, Dislikable, and Generally Unpleasant.
A far cry from "beautiful" or "moving," this load of utter crap is not even able to achieve "interesting". If you are bored on a Saturday afternoon, I would suggest that you spend it lying on the couch in your dank apartment, watching the flies attempt to mate for 106 minutes... or even just boring holes into your more sensitive tissues. Ultimately you will feel just as satisfied with the use of your time as you would have if you had watchedwatching this movie, though you will have made a much more sound financial decision.
DVD Review: It's rare to find a film this honest...
Summary: 5 Stars
I wasn't expecting to adore `Junebug' as much as I did, but in all honesty I was, and still am, in love with this film. It is one of those tender and compassionate films that grow on you the more you embrace it, and I've seen this film a good ten times now and it continues to swell my heart.
`Junebug' tells the story of Madeleine and George, a newly married couple who spawn from two different backgrounds that discover themselves while visiting George's family in North Carolina. Madeleine owns an art gallery in Chicago that specializes in self taught small time artists, and when she gets a whiff of one living near her in-laws she drags her husband along in order to seal the deal, and meet her new family. It is apparent from the very beginning that George's family is not to enthralled with Madeleine, at least not his mother and younger brother. His father seems somewhat indifferent, but his very pregnant sister-in-law Ashley is thrilled. She immediately becomes attached to Madeleine, swapping stories and desiring to know all that there is to know about her new sister.
`Junebug' may not on the outset seem like it tells too deep of a story, but beneath the rich character development is a beautiful story of family and the need to feel needed. In each of the characters there is an innate desire to belong somewhere, to escape their current predicament and find solace in a new place.
Madeleine is arguably the star or main character, and her character is truly the one that goes through the most changes. She is far from a cold of superior type of individual, but she is undoubtedly awkward when face to face with her new in-laws who are far from her social status. Their less than warm welcome is also a factor in Madeleine's development of character as she struggles to make them pleased with her without losing herself in the process. George is also met with a catalyst in his relationship with Madeleine as he sees her interact with his family for the first time, seeing just how different she is from her family, and even how much different he's become.
And then there is George's family.
Peg, his mother, is obviously unsettled about his decision to marry someone like Madeleine, who is too cultured for her. George's brother Johnny is depressed with his lot in life, always living in the more impressive shadow of his older brother, and thus finds George's visit to be nothing more than a chore. His wife, the perky Ashley, is also lost within her own existence, but she never allows it to weigh her down. She longs for something more but is content with living vicariously through her newfound sister than actually to allow her aspirations to depress and restrict her. She just wants Johnny to love her again like he did in high school, and she hopes that when their child is born (her little Junebug) that her husband will embrace her again.
The acting is really what elevates this film though, proving to provide the film with that much needed heart and soul. Embeth Davidtz is beautifully complete as Madeleine, keeping her character open and exposed to the audience. Alessandro Nivola in contrast keeps himself guarded, hiding his real feelings as he floats in and out each scene. Scott Wilson is touching as the quite Eugene and Celia Weston is cold and effectively indifferent as Peg. The real stars here are Benjamin McKenzie and Amy Adams, both of which develop very strong and very real characters. McKenzie creates a very secluded and broken young man, tortured by his own inadequacies and his own hatred for his decisions. He wants something he can never attain, or at least something he won't allow himself to attain. Adams is a revelation as Ashley, infecting the audience with her natural charm and grace, elevating scenes that could have come across clich?d or generic into scenes that reach us deeper than any other film could. Her final scene alone is the most impressive and heart touching scene in any film that given year.
Such a powerhouse performance.
In the end I must urge you to drop what you are doing and watch this beautiful little film. `Junebug' is one of the most honest and real films about family and the divisions we build that I have seen in a very long time. With rich and moving performances, a realistic and touching script and a pace that allows for one to feel invested in the film from start to finish, `Junebug' may very well be one of the best films of 2005.
DVD Review: Amy Adams was robbed of an Oscar
Summary: 5 Stars
She gave an incredible performance. The characters all feel real, and complex. In fact, I think Amy Adams' Ashley was a much more beautiful character than any of the others. Although, Ben MacKenzie's character has a scene where he attempts to record a meerkat special for Ashley, seeing as how they're her favorite animals, and it's both heart-wrenching and heartwarming. And, eventually, heartbreaking.
A fine film. One of my new favorites.
Description of Junebug
Rising stars Amy Adams and Ben McKenzie light up the screen in this award-winning comedy about love family ambition and the choices that come with each. When worldly art dealer Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz) meets her new Southern in-laws she finds herself questioning the things she values most in this powerful and funny hit that critics call "one of the best pictures of the year!" (Andrew Sarris The New York Observer)System Requirements:Running Time: 106Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?DRAMA Rating:?R UPC:?043396119390 Manufacturer No:?11939Junebug spotlights some big fat culture clashes--small town vs. city ways, art-world bohemian vs. church-going folk--yet social commentary never overwhelms a delightful, emotionally rich portrait of family life. When Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz, Schindler's List), a chic art gallery owner from Chicago, meets with an outsider artist in North Carolina she's eager to represent, she and her new husband George (Alessandro Nivola, Laurel Canyon) take a side trip to visit George's family. The visit sends everyone spinning: George's mother (Celia Weston, The Village) doubts the suitability of the marriage; his brother Johnny (Ben McKenzie, The O. C.) quietly seethes at being overshadowed again by his older sibling; and Johnny's very pregnant wife Ashley (Amy Adams, Catch Me If You Can) fixates on Madeleine, seeking in her a companionship that she can't find in her normal life. Junebug's unexpected rhythms slowly and subtly tease out the past; few movies are as eloquent about the mysteries of family--the hidden rules and resentments, the shifting alliances, the emotional pushes and pulls. Adams' justly praised performance lights up every scene she's in, flowing from comic to heartrending without missing a beat, but the rest of the cast delivers complex and mesmerizing character portraits as well. Junebug will resonate with you long after it's over. --Bret Fetzer
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