Movie shorthand

One of the most important things when writing a film script, I’ve read, is to show rather than tell. In other words, don’t waste the script on explaining the actors’ feelings or motivations or the development of the narrative—make the actors’ expressions and body language, the setting, and the action express the film’s interior, emotional movement. I’ve been thinking about a scene in the almost universally lauded Juno that does a fantastic job at this. The mechanism? Dogs.

(If you haven't seen Juno yet, stop reading and go see it!)

It’s the end sequence, when Juno’s on her way to play guitar with Bleeker. She passes her step-mom, Bren (played by Allison Janney), who is canoodling ecstatically with two Weimaraner dogs. The beauty of this is that earlier in the film, in one of my favourite exchanges, Bren angrily tells Juno over a copy of Dog Fancy that when Juno moves out, she’s getting two Weimaraners (Bren believes Juno is allergic to dogs’ saliva). This prompts one of Juno’s best zingers: “Whoa! Dream big!” Funny, yes, but at the same time there’s no mistaking the darker truth that at this point in the film, Bren and Juno’s relationship is fragile and sometimes tense. That Bren has the Weimaraners in the last scene tells us in a split second how far she and Juno have come over the course of the pregnancy; so far that Juno has clearly confessed that she never even had an allergy. It’s all done in a campy but sweet way that culminates with Juno and Bleeker singing a corny duet together in front of his house with their guitars—a cute alternative to an earnest kiss or other convenient wrap up.

The Weimaraners at the end make me think of all the things I loved about Juno other than Ellen Page. As indisputably good as Page is, I think there are a lot of other bits of magic about Juno that are getting ignored in the stampede to crown her the next big thing in Hollywood. Ergo, the other superb performances in Juno:

1. Jason Bateman as Mark, the confused man-child who seems cool when we first meet him but whose dangerous weakness gradually surfaces with every subsequent scene. He does funny, creepy, and lost in the span of the film, seemingly effortlessly.
2. Jennifer Garner as Vanessa, Mark’s infertile wife whose clenched-jaw control is so off-putting for the first half of the film. Like Bateman, Garner exhibits remarkable patience in performing her character’s evolution, in this case into a vulnerable and beautiful woman who’s terrified of feeling too much, but desperate to do just that. A daring and excellent choice for Garner, who’s often treacley sweet.
3. Olivia Thilby as Leah, Juno’s best friend. Thilby adds a needed dose of normal teenaged goofiness and immaturity to the film. Juno’s wise-beyond-her-years, sardonic take on things threatens to cross over into the realm of the unbelievable at times; Leah serves as a nice grounder.
4. Micheal Cera as Paulie Bleeker, the knocker-upper. Cera’s mild, restrained performance underlines his confidence as an actor. He’s secure enough to let the story inform him rather than the other way around. Amazing for a guy this young.
5. J. K. Simmons, Juno’s dad, who is both sensitive and oblivious. I won’t soon forget Simmons’s silly smile when he reflects on his (mistaken) assumption that Juno is referring to him when she says she thinks she’s already met someone special (she’s thinking romantically, unbeknownst to him).
6. Finally, the fabulous Allison Janney playing Bren, she of the Weimaraner fixation. Janney keeps up just fine with Page in delivering screenwriter Diablo Cody’s hopped-up dialogue, and adds depth to a character that could have been a caricature in other hands.

Lots to think about with Juno, some of it not so good (esp. the ultrasound scene with egregious casting of a non-white woman as the insensitive technician and the script’s occasional teetering on the brink of glibness), but so much of it so, so good. Good enough that I’d name it my favourite film of 2007, followed closely by The Lives of Others, Waitress, and Ratatouille.

Comments

[Nicole]

What a great post. I loved this movie (admittedly the only one I have seen in the last five months) and I love it even more after reading your excellent critique. That last sequence really did get away with being incredibly sappy.