I rented the movie Junebug this weekend and really enjoyed it. I have to admit though that it’s my kind of film: indie feel, character based, great dialogue and a subject that looks « small » but that manages to surprise me in the way it’s treated. There was much said about the performance of Amy Adams – who was nominated for an Academy Award earlier this month. It is correct to say that her acting makes the movie worth watching – she truly is amazing – but it wouldn’t be doing justice to this great first feature and all the other good actors in it.
As I always do after I watch a movie, I spent some time online reading about the production and the artists behind it. I found a really interesting interview with the director, Phil Morrison. This passage in particular grabbed my attention because it showed an unusual vision from a filmmaker:
I always wanted you to know that you’re watching a movie. That this story was a product of these people making the movie, hoping to convey something about what people are like. To me, the idea that a movie is better if you forget that it’s a movie, that’s not my idea. I’m not into that. I don’t share that opinion. I think there’s a lot of good movies that are that way, but I think watching something and being moved by it while with the simultaneous awareness that it’s happening is a real kind of transcendent experience. And it’s one that’s really exciting to me. My very favorite movies that I’m moved by, I can’t say that « Oh, I got so lost in them that I forgot I was watching a movie. » No. I am constantly thrilled that this was a movie.
I think you can get caught up in an experience and it can become almost a spiritual experience. But I don’t ever say « I was so caught up in church, I forgot I was in church », or « that painting was so beautiful that I forgot it was a painting. » I don’t have that experience. I’m thrilled by the fact that another human being created that painting, and that’s moving to me.
I understand what he’s talking about. Sometimes I sit through an entire movie with a big grin on my face, even when the movie is telling a sad story! I’m just so thrilled by the craftsmanship that I can’t help smiling. It’s a fantastic experience when I can be moved by the emotions triggered by the story AND at the same time be moved by the fact that I am watching something really, really well put together.
I wasn’t the only one feeling that way about Junebug. My beau was so excited that he kept talking during the movie, pointing great elements to my attention, an attitude that was forcing me to press the pause button. We had to agree to wait until the movie was over to talk about it. ;-)
Omigod! I just finished watching Junebug as well. I totally agree that there was an obvious sense of the writer’s and director’s craftsmanship throughout the whole film. You could sense the choices they made to move the story along…or not. Because of this, I think there was a heightened complexity in the characters and their interrelationships that I found intriguing and touching.
I think the thing I noticed most–other than the carefully crafted narrative drive–was the set dressing and costume design. It was so « true » that it brought me out of the story and back to the living rooms of my suburban childhood. Being drawn out of the story was a good thing.