In a previous entry, I started a list of "unendable" movies. The first two films I listed were Good Bye Lenin! and The Parent Trap. In this entry, I will continue with the next 2 titles on the list.
---
3. Speak
Above: Melinda Sordino (played by Kristen Stewart) releases her emotional pain through an art piece consisting of turkey bones, much to the discomfort of her former best friend and her eccentric art teacher.Melinda: [voiceover] All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. No one really cares what you have to say.
Heather: So here's the plan. We join 5 clubs. One for every day of the week. Not like Latin club, but cool stuff. What do you wanna join? Hey, maybe we can tutor kids at the elementary school. What about your friends from last year? Don't you know Nicole?
Melinda: [voiceover] I wonder how long it would take for anyone to notice if I just stopped talking.
Based on a novel by Laurie Halse Anderson (who is excellent at writing fiction about teenage angst and drama, by the way), this movie tells the story of Melinda Sordino, a high school student who was raped at a house party. In the resulting distress, she phones the police and is quickly blamed by everyone at her school for being a snitch.
Call it sadism, if you must, but there is something beautiful in Melinda's suffering, in both the movie and the novel. In the movie, she is portrayed by Kristen Stewart (known more nowadays for playing Bella in the Twilight movies). The title is an indicator of what Melinda cannot do after the incident; she stops speaking to anyone, save for a phrase here and there, and because of this lack of information, one can't help but be curious about what happened to her.
Despite the suffering and emotional turmoil that Melinda goes through, there is also a surprising amount of sarcastic wit and humor in the writing (something that the book also has). Even when you get the feeling that Melinda isn't trying to be funny, the dry wit in the words and the acting of Kristen Stewart makes everything seem like a joke without making you forget that Melinda is still in anguish. It's a beautiful mix.
As the movie goes along, it becomes clear through her art and her interactions (or even lack thereof) that her suffering is also causing her to grow as a person, which is something that is so difficult to show in any movie, let alone a movie about someone who is giving the world the silent treatment. Even when the movie concludes, it is difficult to let go of Melinda because you can't help but get the feeling that there's so much more we can learn about her.
---
4. Juno
Above: Ellen Page as Juno and Michael Cera as Bleeker in Juno.Juno: You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events.
Now, I know this is a cliche nowadays. Juno this, Juno that. And granted, I'm a little biased towards this movie because a) I was already an Ellen Page fan from her performance in Hard Candy and b) this is a Vancouver-made film. But there is also something in the character of Juno, underneath that smart-ass exterior.
Juno is an utterly unrealistic character. This is not up for debate. While some people in real life do talk like her (ie. myself), real-life teenagers are unlikely to have the vast cultural database that Juno has. It is not that aspect of the character or film that intrigues me. What does intrigue me, however, is what lurks beneath the sarcastic exteriors of Juno, as well as the peachy and overly innocent setting of Dancing Elk, Minnesota.
Juno is a smart-ass. That much is obvious. But the better question is, why is she a smart-ass? At the end of the film, she destroys that persona completely while in the arms of Bleek in the hospital room. She turns from this 14-going-on-41 character to what she actually is -- a teenage girl in a world littered with adult issues. If you look carefully, it is clear that she uses sarcastic wit to cope with her problems, and that it is merely a facade to her real character.
The setting is also interesting. It is not urban or rural or even suburban. It is just your average town in the middle of America. It is not a complicated place; it is a rather simple place with a school and community. There aren't a whole lot of things to it. It almost seems too perfect. In fact, it seems that its outside innocence is similar to Juno's facade -- by maintaining such an innocent-looking place, the town seems to be dealing with troubles it can't handle by acting like a clean perfect community. You can practically wonder if the setting could be an influence for Juno putting up the character facade.
The ending shows just a small glimpse of what could be the real Juno. While the movie ends quite neatly, you almost want to see it continue so we can really get to know her instead of only knowing the fake side of her. With that said, I'm one of those people who thinks that Diablo Cody is a total genius in this particular screenplay. She pulled off an amazing character.
---
That's what I have for the first two titles on my unendable movies list. The list will be continued next time, with 2 more on the way.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment