Juno is about a girl named Juno (Ellen Page) who gets pregnant by her best friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). The movie covers the time of her pregnancy and the arrangements she makes to have the baby adopted by Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), whom she hopes will actually care for it. Of course, being 16 and full of hormones, it's all difficult for her, as she tries to work out the relationship she has with Paulie and with the adoptive parents.
The different situations that Juno, Paulie, and the Lorings live in can be clearly seen in their homes. Juno lives in a small cluttered house, full of warm colors. It seems like a home full of love and comfort.
Paulie's room is more childlike. It's small and painted blue and still has stars painted all over. It seems like his bed is shaped like a car. This reflects his relative innocence.
Mark and Vanessa's home is large and opulent. They clearly have a lot of money, but there is a lot of open space. It's all very stark and white, with only a couple of rooms as an exception.
Mark has his work room/man cave which does have color to it. The coloring, however, is remarkably similar to Paulie's room. Sure, there's a bit more space, but that's only to be expected in a house that large. Both Paulie and Mark play their guitars alone in their room, surrounded by things only they really like. This brings Paulie and Mark to a similar level and might explain why Juno likes Mark so much. This also illustrates, however, Marks emotional immaturity. He's not ready to raise a child, just like Paulie isn't.
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| That is a jar full of matchbooks, by the way. I want it so much. |
I spent most of the movie thinking that Mark is a total creeper. He and Vanessa have a lot of space between them, that only grows as the movie progresses.
Here they are in a nearly blank room and they are surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. The wall behind them has that nook in it, creating even more space. Juno's walls are plastered all over with her personality, but these walls have nothing. Vanessa is trying to decorate what will eventually be the baby's room, but Mark doesn't want to, saying that it was too early at that point. Vanessa wants to fill this space, but Mark is resisting, and letting this space between and around them exist.
The most creepy thing, though, is his actions toward Juno.
This is Mark taking up a lot of space, stretched out, and Juno not taking all that much space. Sure, they look comfortable and like friends (the look on Juno's face is because of the gory horror movie they're watching), but keep in mind that he's a married man and she's a 16-year-old pregnant girl he's known for a couple of months and has spoken to less than a handful of times. There should be a bit more propriety there. Though I could just be being a prude. It could happen. If that were true, though, then why was Mark's first reaction to Vanessa coming home after that shot "Oh, snap! I've gotta get this girl outta the house!" I mean, if it's innocent, he didn't need to react like that.
But there's more! The last time Juno goes to see him we get this extreme angle when he answers the door.
That emphasizes the space of the house and how alone they are. Then they go down to the basement, which is pretty dark and just a little bit sketchy. But whatever! Juno likes a little sketch in her life!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand then there is inappropriate closeness.
Tell me that isn't full of creepy. At this point, Mark tells Juno of his plans to divorce Vanessa and move to a loft in the city and I think get the band back together. Because that's responsible adult thing to do.
If you're curious, that last shot was just one of many shots of Juno's lower torso. This movie is all about Juno's body and almost separating it from Juno herself.
Eventually, Juno gives birth and gives the baby to Vanessa. Though I'm not sure that would actually still work with Vanessa recently divorced. Adoption laws: I am not well versed in them.
I watched Juno with the sound off, on an airplane (I watched 3 movies that way, and followed all of them fine - why can't I do that with foreign-language films?) so I missed all the sparkling dialogue.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Vanessa comes off better with dialogue, but the sense I had of her character from body language alone was that she was way too tightly wound to handle the mess and disorder that comes with babies.