Movie Maven

Junebug (2005)
Starring: Embeth Davidtz, Alessandro Nivola, Benjamin McKenzie, Amy Adams
Written by: Angus MacLachlan
Directed by: Phil Morrison
Official Website

Left: Embeth Davidtz and Alessandro Nivola in Junebug (www.cinemaeye.com) Right: Benjamin McKenzie (www.yahoo.movies.com)

In a Hollywood dazzled by CGI, and based almost entirely on film’s value as a product rather than as a work of art, it is a rare pleasure to find a movie that’s understated and genuine, and almost devoid of “star power.” And that is precisely what Junebug is- a movie about the beauty, joy and heartache that can be found in simple, everyday things.

The film centers around art dealer Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz) and her new husband George (Alessandro Nivola) who travel to backwater North Carolina, both to see a brilliant but eccentric folk artist (Frank Hoyt Taylor) and to meet George’s family. At face value it seems like a very ordinary plot: the family attends a church social and a holds a baby shower for George’s sister-in-law Ashley (Amy Adams). Madeleine tries to convince the artist to sell his art to her. George’s surly brother Johnny (The OC’s Benjamin McKenzie) goes to work. Ashley goes into labor. But the plot becomes riveting purely by the characters that inhabit it.

Much of the cast are relative unknowns, and their on-screen chemistry with each other is terrific. But while Davidtz and Nivola may play the film’s protagonists, it is Adams and McKenzie that steal the show. You can’t take your eyes off of Adams as sweet, naive Ashley, nor McKenzie as seething, explosive Johnny. Their presence completely draws you in. McKenzie’s movements are especially captivating- his tense, jerky motions and shuffling stance show a man uncomfortable in his own skin and surroundings. George’s parents, played by Celia Weston and Scott Wilson are similarly suited to their roles. Weston plays the dubious mother-in-law with subtlety and ease, never beating the viewer over the head with her character.

The simplistic nature of the film is obtained by cinematographer Peter Donahue. The individual shots are longer than usual for a modern film, allowing the viewer to ruminate on the visual, and they create a sense of a slow deliberate existence. There’s also an emphasis on environment- shots of the house where they’re staying are used as ellipses between the scenes, as well as shots of the quiet neighborhood outside. The shots outside are especially wide and inviting, a view of an America uninterrupted, noisy only with the world of the woods beyond their back door.

What also really struck me was how familiar all of these scenes were to me. The scene at the church social brought me back to my own dry, florescent-lighted church basement, permeated with the smell of cheesy potatoes and rolls bought in bulk at Gordon Food Service. And I also know that house, covered in kitschy knick-knacks like porcelain birds on the walls and stuffed ducks on the old worn couch. A place drowning in Americana which is both absurd and yet strangely comforting. Junebug brings everything that’s wonderful, and terrible, about family and small-town life into sharp, inescapable focus.