There has been much talk about the decline in movie theater attendance this summer – I’m still subscribing to Entertainment Weekly so I know - and I for one certainly haven’t been showing up at my usual rate. Granted I’ve been a bit down and budget conscious, but few of the major blockbuster and smaller films have been appealing to me lately. Oh, in a weak moment and as a means of escape from the heat while downtown, I did catch The Wedding Crashers but its cynicism and contrivances – not to mention the annoying Will Ferrell cameo - left me feeling sour. I did see Broken Flowers a couple of weeks ago - maybe out of some kind of lemming Jarmusch conditioning. I thought it was alright, like contemplating a haiku maybe and actually appreciated it more in retrospect after I spoke to a friend who is a independent film industry insider and player and learned a few trade secrets – did you know Bill Murray’s actual real-life son is in the picture? Murray, by the way, I feel has milked this phase of his career for a bit too long with this passive persona thing – its losing its charm and getting a little one-trick pony – its times for him to shake things up a bit and really surprise us. I’d like to see him play someone really aggressive, over-the-top, and all-around evil now!
As a birthday treat, I caught an opening day screening of newcomer Phil Morrison’s Junebug, a film I have actually been looking forward to for a long time. From all appearances, judging from the size of the crowd at the midday Friday matinee and the critical buzz, looks like Junebug will a sleeper indie hit, at least in DC. Haha… my folks are going this afternoon! Good luck getting a seat….its raining and the film is only playing at the Landmark theaters.
I appreciated and enjoyed much of Junebug. For starters, the ensemble cast is very solid; it was great to see Embeth Davidtz on the screen again, and Allesandro Nivola is always an appealing presence, but Amy Adams really shines as the heart and moral center of the film. The young actress just about stole the show in her brief but memorable firecracker appearance in Catch Me if You Can and Junebug allows her talents to blossom at full force. The girl has terrific timing, delivery, not to mention enormous amounts of charm, and has given one of the most vivid and memorable on-screen characterizations seen in a long time! Amy Adams is definitely one to look out for and I strongly suspect she will be this year’s It Girl. Look out Scarlett, Maggie, Zoey… um, Bill Murray!
The cultural aspects of Junebug hit close to home for me. My father left the South right after college and though its broad to say he never looked back certainly he raised us in completely different spheres. In fact, Davidtz’ diplomat’s daughter turned art dealer character made me cringe a bit in self-recognition. The film brings back some awkward moments for me during our sadly rare family visits with relatives in the South – or rural New England for that matter. When I’m away from my turf, its tricky for me to walk the line of being perceived and having been built up as the relative who is “exotic” and somewhat “cosmopolitan” and to indulge a sincere and heartfelt curiosity while at the same time wanting to get across that I’m just regular folk and my upbringing is simply a matter of circumstance.
How does one explain being born in Japan, Paris childhood, the monkeys in Malaysia, etc…I’m so absolutely petrified of coming off as a snob that it often hinders me in these situations!
And the fact of the matter is that I am just as fascinated and curious about my relatives’ lives and landscape. Phil Morrison does a fantastic job of capturing these visits for me. He hits just the right notes with the dynamics. And it is so refreshing to experience a film that is set in the region that isn’t dominated by the expected twangy soundtrack. (Although Will Oldham makes a cameo!)
When I leave DC and explore more rural, southern areas, I certainly don’t hear slide guitars and banjos.
Throughout Junebug, Morrison intersperces slow and silent but pregnant shots of the exteriors and interiors of houses, nature, and just everyday life. The audience is allowed to soak in the images like they are seeing them for the first time and fill in the blanks whether or not there is anything really to read into – that is the essence of travel for me. And when the music does come to fore, at a church meeting where Nivola’s Chicago-transplant character George reveals and pays loving reverence to his roots with a moving gospel hymn, the audience experiences one of life’s little miracles in profound and moving ways. I also appreciate the nuanced way the filmmaker shows the role that faith plays in communities, without hitting us over the head with it. Junebug is peppered with the idiosyncratic aspects of organized religion; to jaded filmgoers, Bluestaters, and non-believers, this way of thinking can seem questionable and sometimes jarring but, more often than not, in the case of this film, charming and funny and refreshing. However, Morrison, to his credit, shows audiences the strong but quiet power of faith as source of resolve and comfort in a difficult world.
Ay, the more I think about Junebug, the more I want to say… could go on but will spare you… so much food for thought but I’m off to Brunch. And then to North Carolina for a spell in a few days and I’m thoroughly looking forward to getting away.
Supernature, the new album by my fave 
