Junebug Movie Review:


This intriguing and insightful look at both rural America and more universal concepts of family and connection is almost undone by its wilful quirkiness. But it's so engaging that it wins us over.

Madeleine (Davidtz) is a high-powered Chicago art gallery owner who combines business with family on a trip to North Carolina, visiting an offbeat local artist (Taylor) and then dropping in to meet the family of her new husband George (Nivola): involved mother (Weston), quietly industrious dad (Wilson), bitter brother (McKenzie) and chatty, heavily pregnant sister-in-law (Adams). Madeleine fines her new relatives almost as baffling as they find her, especially as deep-seated family and community issues begin to show themselves.

The script is a beautiful, sensitive exploration of the strings that hold people together and the relationships that make us who we are. It never pokes fun at anyone; the bucolic earnestness is real, even if it feels utterly alien to the urban Madeleine. Everything is here, from religion and denial to repression and machismo, all deep-seated and woven into the fabric of life, rather than mere movie issues. And Morrison directs it with a bracing naturalism that impeccably catches the local colour.

All of the performances are intricately balanced, letting truth seep out of the characters' pores. Davidtz and Nivola are a remarkable on-screen couple, completely realistic, sexy, intriguingly matched and subtly exploring situations to understand each other better. Wilson and McKenzie both speak mostly in their silences. Weston delivers yet another remarkably powerful, restrained, heart-felt performance. And Adams creates a staggeringly unforgettable character, a chirpy optimist who takes a genuine interest in everyone and calls her unborn child Junebug even before she knows whether it's a boy or girl.

The most intriguing thing about this film, compared with similar movies about strained families and visiting outsiders, is its overwhelming hopefulness. Through several incredibly powerful scenes, the filmmakers allow us to laugh (and cry) at the outrageousness of it all. Instead of merely highlighting the problems, this story is actually celebrating them as the building blocks of humanity, recognising that our secrets and our minor transgressions are actually good things.

Rich Cline

 

“Junebug” really knows its characters. It never toys with them or mocks them, although it has every opportunity to. Instead, it seems to be listening in on real dialogue. It’s what is often referred to as a ‘small’ movie, but it deals with big subjects in its own way. It had the feel, to me, of early Robert Altman; it uses a plot that could easily be formulaic but here is used merely as a tool for uncovering the depths of the characters.

Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz), an art dealer, travels from Chicago to North Carolina with her new husband George (Alessandro Nivola). Her main reason for going is to see an autistic artist who paints there, but it also provides an opportunity for Madeleine to meet her new in-laws, who live nearby.

The first impressions are somewhat mixed. George’s mother, Peg (Celia Weston) is not someone to beat about the bush, and she seems to have a few reservations about Madeleine, whose background includes being born in Japan and growing up in South Africa. George’s brother, Johnny (Benjamin McKenzie) has similar feelings, and has a certain resentment for George and Madeleine because he feels that they act above him. Johnny is married to Ashley (Amy Adams), who is pregnant with their child, and can’t stop enthusiastically asking Madeleine questions about herself, asking another before she has time to answer the first. George’s father, Eugene (Scott Wilson) mainly keeps himself to himself, spending a lot of time working on his woodcraft.

This could easily all lead to a typical big city versus small town comedy, with either the city as a big corrupt place, or the town as being full of country bumpkins. “Junebug” isn’t interested in being such a movie though. Instead, it slowly lets the relationships between the characters rise to the surface, and what could have been caricatures become people with real problems that we care about. The performances are all very good, and all the actors have clearly given a lot of thought to their characters. The family feels like a real family; you sense things that don’t need to be said, and relationships that are strained, and histories that are troubling.

Director Phil Morrison and writer Angus MacLachlan let these things develop slowly and subtly, and with no shortage of humour. Ashley is a particularly funny character, but she’s not a target; she’s sympathetic and sweet. There are moments when the laughs come through recognition, as the characters discuss exactly the things that they might discuss. I felt the movie could have had just slightly more closure, and I could have done without the Bergman-esque empty shots of the house exteriors and interiors between scenes. But “Junebug” is rare in that it cares deeply for its characters. There is a moment where Ashley tells Johnny, who is being awkward, ‘God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way.’ Ashley might say the same thing about everyone in the movie, who all learn something from the experience, but don’t have a message imposed upon them by the writer. He lets them get on with it.

Adam Whyte

Site Contents Copyright© The Z Review, unless used with permission.This site has no intention to infringe on the rights of the film owners of Junebug and intellectual copyright holders of the movies mentioned herein & hold copyright over the movie, characters, merchandise & storyline.