Juno

Well, I failed on all of my promises, and writing for the last week. Briefly: eating aforementioned food (Pierre Hermé stuff: incredible; Verlet coffee: good, but not as good as Café Richard's Sumatran; Poilâne: underwhelming, probably because I prefer white bread; Quatrehomme cheese: good), going to the Louvre (huge, a lot of boring political art, though it's all very meticulously created), some other things, watching a lot of TV and movies, cooking a little (pepe, tiny ball-like pasta, with soft goat cheese and pepper being the best, but also mexican rice because there's no good mexican here), going to church (odd; there's some weird dynamics with language and religion, perhaps to be explored later).

Lately of note, though, is my viewing of Juno. If you don't know anything about it, go here to watch the trailer and familiarize yourself with it if you plan to continue reading. Obviously it has been getting fantastic reviews, and it has a lot of actors and actresses I am fond of, so I really wanted to see it, but somehow didn't until yesterday.

Acting
I feel that Jennifer Garner has a lot of talent which as of yet has not fully been put to use, partially due to being stuck in with the Afflecks and Kevin Smith and that lot (though perhaps Casey will prove me wrong and Gone Baby Gone was not terrible). If Alias had skipped all the Rambaldi crap and been a bit less formulaic in its writing, she would've gone a lot farther. Plus, she seems a lot smarter than the average actress. She is perfectly cast in Juno with her noted introverted, perfectionist personality with a noted passion for family as a perfectionist upper middle class suburban mom, but missing the kids. You spend the movie scared that she'll be too strict with her adopted kid, but knowing that she really cares and ultimately won't screw up, even if her kids will hate her as teenagers unless she relaxes significantly.

I loved Arrested Development for its comedy even despite perhaps being politically colored in its location on Fox, who longs to show us that Republicans can be funny, even if they are corrupt. Jason Bateman did a fantastic job there as a voice of reason, and a fantastic job here in a completely different role as a suburban husband stuck in his 20's. It's good to see he's got some range, even if his emotional depth is more average.

Obviously Arrested Development was also the source of Michael Cera, who has recently enjoyed a jump to stardom with the rise of awkward comedy, particularly in Superbad. It is really nice to see that in Juno he does not get presented as a loser, even if he is.

J.K. Simmons gives what I would say is his best performance to date, as Juno's caring blue collar father. While obviously a stock character, I found him one of my favorite actors in the otherwise pretty unbearable Spiderman series.

Awkward Comedy
Napoleon Dynamite started the recent movement towards awkward comedy in a very love it/hate it indy film that made it big. Since then, it has progressed somewhat to a slightly more realistic, more friendly sort of style. The Office brought it to television; Little Miss Sunshine brought it to the family; Judd Apatow injected it with his own fraternalism theme in his small awkward empire crowned with Knocked Up. I would like to argue, however, that awkwardness has thus far been best utilized in Juno, which not only uses its awkwardness for comedy (a bit of an acquired taste, admittedly), but also to make a social commentary on why it's awkward, as worlds collide (Juno's slightly smart but loserish teenagerness, her school, her parents lower to middle middle classness, her classmate outside the clinic, the clinic, Vanessa's suburban perfection, Mark's elongated 20's). The problem is that while this is effective, the awkwardness is overwhelming to the point of painfulness.

Direction: Broad-Stroked Realism
Jason Reitman did a fantastic job of using very broad strokes while maintaining very deep color in his direction. It's a bit like a very sweeping waltz, with arc after arc, never showing too much, but still creating deep, dynamic characters. He leaves us in serious doubt about Juno's plans by not showing us her note to Vanessa until the very end, framed on the wall, in very Juno-esque language, on the back of an oil change receipt, on the wall of an immaculate baby's room. Coupled with shots like that of Juno reaching into the backseat of her minivan, looking for something to write on in such a manner as to leave us slightly worried for the baby, Reitman manages to fully engage the audience in the plot while keeping a strong sense of reality.

The oddity of it is that after the film, I was still left feeling slightly unconnected with Juno. I am convinced that this is only in relation with other films, and this is not actually a weakness, but a stylistic point. I have no desire to be Juno, though I do not dislike her, but I did remain very connected to the story as a whole. This is a little different perspective than usual, as I do not attach myself to the protagonist, but do remain attached to her choices which make up the story. Reitman used awkwardness to make this possible, but I think it could be done with other styles, if well enough made. The director must avoid, however, creating a protagonist that the audience does not like (a particular risk of awkward comedy which for me killed the first season of The Office and 40 Year Old Virgin, along with a number of otherwise crappy films/series/books/etc.). This masterful manipulation while maintaining a kind of Rodin-like unfinished surface with striking realism is what makes this film great, despite being so awkward I literally needed a break in the middle.