I just saw Juno and it was great. I really appreciated the character construction and normalcy in emotional range. Film and TV tend to over dramatize (which in turn affects how we as a society relate to one another) and it was nice to see a film that pulled in the opposite direction. The acting was also superb. Very moving in general.
I also saw a preview for Be Kind Rewind, which looks to be amazing and i am seriously excited for (but I will reserve judgment until after seeing it):
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Juno is the first glimpse of the commercialization of independent films. Studios have realized that a certain type of person goes to indie films, and in turn, all one has to do in order to create a successful indie film is to stuff the film with as much “alternativeness” as possible (i.e. Bateman and Page’s talk of obscure musical tastes, zombie films, and comic books).
Never–in the relatively small amount of time I’ve been watching movies–have I seen a movie so blatantly play to its intended audience.
Which brings me to my main point: the defense of “Dan in Real Life,” a film eschewed by most of my peers because–I’m assuming–it doesn’t feature discussions about zombie films and comic books, but is rather a tone perfect romantic comedy by Peter Hedges (writer of “What’s eating Gilbert Grape”).
I agree that Juno plays to the tropes of indie-film quite cunningly (let us not forget the all-loved Michael Cera and the Kimya Dawson heavy soundtrack). I found the film to be most profound outside of these instances, although its saturation cannot be denied.
I’ve never seen “Dan in real Life”. Maybe you and I can NetFlix it. I’ll bring the popcorn.