Juno

A fairy tale come true

"Juno", the latest success of the American independent cinema, is a very entertaining and passionate movie. Combining the aesthetics of comics with cinematic language, it is the product of creative art directorship and a powerful screenplay. It is no surprise that “Juno” was rewarded the Academy Award for the Best Original Screenplay.

An absurd teen movie
Written by Diablo Cody, directed by Jason Reitman, this is a small budget film that contains both comic and tragic elements and tells an absurd story of youth which fortunately does not fall prey to the cliches of the genre. The ordinary moviegoer knows Jason Reitman from his first long film “Thank You for Smoking” of 2005 which he directed like the devil’s advocate. It was an above average movie, though not as remarkable as “Juno, that was once again inspired by the aesthetics of comics. “Juno” clearly shows that Reitman is on the right track...
The plot of the movie is as follows: As many of her peers update their profiles on Facebook or march up and down the shopping centres, Juno (Ellen Page), an intelligent girl from Minnesota, is living her life according to her own principles. During a usual, boring afternoon, she decides to have sex with her boyfriend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Juno gets pregnant, decides to have the baby and makes a plan for the child’s adoption. She meets the couple Mark and Vannessa Loring who want to have a child. After learning that their daughter had sex with Bleeker, Juno’s parents are briefly shocked, but then they start doing their best to help her...

The aesthetics of comics
Juno’s costumes represent a visual richness, reminding the viewer of the Wes Anderson movie "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” which was one of the leading examples of the aesthetics of comics within the American independent cinematic tradition. Especially Bleeker who never removes his training clothes is a good representative of the movie's aesthetic approach.
The aesthetics of comics inside the movie is not simply due to the costumes and the colourful shooting techniques, but also because of the story-telling technique. Juno’s antiheroism is emphasized through the story of a pregnant superhero in a Japanese magna.
Juno, portrayed as a typical “Gemini” adolescent with narcissist and even nihilist characteristics, is trying to deal with the problems of an unborn child, getting the best out of her stepmother and father, and, most absurd of it all, having a child whose father is an insecure and clumsy adolescent frequently eating candies.

Music is just great
Behind this surrealist touch in the story-telling approach lies a harsh critique of the lifestyle represented by the American higher middle class. The colourful, messy, sincere and “real” nature of Juno’s middle class suburban home is contrasted with the pale, snow white regularity, fragility and artificiality of the home of the Loring couple. The wearisome smile on Vanessa Loring's face is a concrete example of this fake happiness.
This world is so fake that it does not deserve a real pregnancy and a real, living baby. Nevertheless, this fake picture gets smashed when Mark Loring, (probably yesterday’s hippie and today’s yuppie) who earns his livelihood by selling his dreams and freedom to advertisement jingles, breaks up with his wife.
Juno gets rid of her burden, a physical excess in her body and a symbol of her approaching adulthood, by giving the baby to Vanessa, whereas the audience happily gets carried with the surrealist vision and great soundtrack of a 96 minute long fairy tale come true...

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