Juno Film review
The film Juno opens up with an internal dialogue by our protagonist, aptly named Juno. This dialogue sets the style of this film, centered within the thoughts and feelings of the main character as she develops throughout the story. The film continues its intro into an almost cartoon animation style with Juno walking around town drinking from a giant jug of Sunny D. Juno is a film about a girl who gets pregnant in High School and decides to keep the child and give it up for adoption. The timeline of pregnancy creates a story timeline that spans 7 months of her pregnancy, as she is 2 months pregnant in the opening of the film. This timeline spans across all four seasons, and as the seasons change, so does the color pallet and set of the film.
This seasonal set is also aided by a set design and costume design that often almost floods the scene with visual information. Take the image above, which contains a patterned sweater and bright red hoodie on Juno, an orange hamburger phone, a quilt on her bed, and an abundance of posters and pictures in the background. The opening scene animation (pictured above with title Juno) has a lot less of this background visuals, but seeks to emphasize her bright hoodie, which comes up multiple times throughout the film. This artistic use of color and frame follows throughout the film for the most part, but breaks the pattern when Juno visits the house of the to-be parents. Their house has white walls, fairly desolate accessories, and very plain clothing on the parents. Juno even see's some pictures on her way up the stairs with the couple dressed completely in white to match the almost sterile environment of the home. This seems to be message the writer and director are trying to use to portray the couple as a reliable, trustworthy, and most importantly, rich family. They live in the suburbs with a nice two story house with plenty of room for another member of the family. In scenes inside of Juno's house, we get a different story. The teen comes from a background of less money, but with much more character in her home life. Her parents are more interesting characters, they have more attitude, and they have a better attention to what looks cool rather than what seems to portray cleanliness and wealth.
Juno's clothing throughout the film is a great example of her inner character, it seems like everything she owns is bought for some reason other than just to have a sweater or a new shirt. The bright colors and funky designs on her clothing allows her to stick out like a sore thumb, even when its not yet evident that she is pregnant.
One of the most prominent and important themes of the movie, all the way from the changing of the seasons to the changing of her stomach, is the progression of Juno through a great journey. The movie never centers on any characters other than Juno and her interaction with her friends, or in some cases just the general populace of High School in two scenes showing the contrast in how her fellow students treat her before and after she is obviously pregnant. She is required by her pregnancy to pass through a variety of obstacles and challenges that present themselves for the benefit of the film as a story. The character follows a path similar to the hero's journey. She is taken out of her world of comfort with her pregnancy, she is tempted to terminate the pregnancy and stop the journey right off the bat. She goes through a very obvious atonement of the father, as she is seeking his approval for a majority of the film. The climax of the movie comes when Juno finally has the child, and the new mother comes to hold it, we see the resolution of the film come to fruition. The last season is brought out as a metaphor for a new start, and a better life. Juno gets to be with her new boyfriend without a child, and the world has grown back its leaves. It is almost as if the more the world dies, the more the child grows.
This film can be analyzed down to the most miniscule details, but in the end Juno is a quaint indie movie made to make us laugh and applaud. There is a huge attention to detail, but the director never tries to use tricks of lighting on a characters face or very implicit metaphors, the movie is meant to be enjoyed.
One of the most prominent and important themes of the movie, all the way from the changing of the seasons to the changing of her stomach, is the progression of Juno through a great journey. The movie never centers on any characters other than Juno and her interaction with her friends, or in some cases just the general populace of High School in two scenes showing the contrast in how her fellow students treat her before and after she is obviously pregnant. She is required by her pregnancy to pass through a variety of obstacles and challenges that present themselves for the benefit of the film as a story. The character follows a path similar to the hero's journey. She is taken out of her world of comfort with her pregnancy, she is tempted to terminate the pregnancy and stop the journey right off the bat. She goes through a very obvious atonement of the father, as she is seeking his approval for a majority of the film. The climax of the movie comes when Juno finally has the child, and the new mother comes to hold it, we see the resolution of the film come to fruition. The last season is brought out as a metaphor for a new start, and a better life. Juno gets to be with her new boyfriend without a child, and the world has grown back its leaves. It is almost as if the more the world dies, the more the child grows.
This film can be analyzed down to the most miniscule details, but in the end Juno is a quaint indie movie made to make us laugh and applaud. There is a huge attention to detail, but the director never tries to use tricks of lighting on a characters face or very implicit metaphors, the movie is meant to be enjoyed.
Bibliography
http://nicholasishandsome.blogspot.com/2008/02/juno-review.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0SKf0K3bxg
http://georgedevereauxasmedia.blogspot.com/2010/11/research-analysis-of-opening-of-juno.html
http://www.ugo.com/movies/diablo-cody-to-begin-directing-with-lamb-of-god
http://moviefilmreviews.co.uk/2012/02/05/retrospective-juno-2007/
http://nicholasishandsome.blogspot.com/2008/02/juno-review.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0SKf0K3bxg
http://georgedevereauxasmedia.blogspot.com/2010/11/research-analysis-of-opening-of-juno.html
http://www.ugo.com/movies/diablo-cody-to-begin-directing-with-lamb-of-god
http://moviefilmreviews.co.uk/2012/02/05/retrospective-juno-2007/