Juno (2007)

By AMERSON LIANG

What do you do with something you can’t handle? There has always been the typical flight or fight response, where you leave the problem all together or face it head-on and deal with it directly. But what if the issue was an unborn child inside of you, while you are still a high school student? Juno, the 2007 acclaimed coming-to-age film, illustrates this situation. Spoilers ahead. 

The movie starts with Fall, as the character Juno Macguff, played by Elliot Page, stares at the sofa chair she had intercourse on with her classmate, Paul Bleaker, played by Micheal Cera. This cuts to a flashback of their foreplay as inexperienced teenagers. Then the scene is interrupted with a dog barking at her, transitioning into the beginning credits, as Juno walks down to the convenience store to buy another pregnancy test, while guzzling Sunny D’s. As names pop up during a montage of Juno walking, “All I Want is You” by Barry Louis Polisar plays in the background. The movie enhances many of these montages and transition points by utilizing acoustic songs with primarily guitar and singing, like an old country tune. It adds to the feeling of connection between characters, may it be between Bleaker and Juno or the relationship with her parents. 

This section of the movie, Fall, is focused on the beginning stages of pregnancy. After taking the last test and it coming out as positive, Juno calls her friend, figuring out what she should do. The only things she can do is abortion or just have the baby herself. So filled up with indecisiveness and bursting with emotion, she sets up a living room furniture outside of Bleaker’s house, and tells him the news. Bleaker, unaware of this prior knowledge, is taken aback, and equally confused, but Juno leaves him, without further conversation. Bleaker doesn’t get a lot of screen time in the movie as the father of the child, but the director does this intentionally. Remember, the story isn’t about Bleaker and his dilemma about getting a girl pregnant, but rather, Juno’s search in doing what’s best for herself, and the unborn child. 

After seeing Bleaker and everyone at school in the next scene, she visits an abortion clinic to finally have everything over and done with. But with everything happening, and the human repercussions of killing off a life without even giving it a shot, Juno runs out of the clinic, stressed and worried, portraying how hard it must be to go through with somethings and displaying a perspective that might not be seen by bystanders. 

Juno then goes and talks with her friend about it and decides that she would give birth to the baby, but instead of taking the kid up as her own, giving it off to another family who aren’t able to conceive. The reasoning behind this is that the kid still gets a chance to have a full and happy life, and Juno can continue to live her life as a student without the burden of motherhood. With the plan, Juno comes to her father and step-mother with the idea. The pair aren’t happy about the circumstance, but have no other option to go along with it and support her through this period in her life. 

The father and Juno visit the family that will adopt the child, and speak with them about the procedure. As they meet the family, it is apparent that they are well-off, being able to host a child, yet haven’t had one. The wife is very uptight, while the husband is more loose, interested in music and the like. But in the end, both parties are satisfied and look hopeful toward the future. 

This is how the beginning section of the movie is played out. As a review, I am now going to discuss how the movie delivers the plot. I find the cinematography to be top-notch, angles pointing focus onto characters and how they see the world. In the scene preceding Juno’s confession to her parents, they focus on how the two talk to each other after learning the news. Furthermore, the setting is exceptionally put together, with the house very obviously lived in which juxtaposes with the neat nature of the adoptive parents, lacking in children. Finally, I can’t go on and talk about the movie without touching upon the music again. Referencing back to the abortion clinic scene, noise is stacked up onto each other, scratching, tapping, the like, which beautifully crescendos into Juno’s racing mind as she is called for her appointment, and gets up running to leave. This action is highlighted with song, as the camera is pointed far away from the clinic, while Juno runs past. 

But at the end of the day, the movie fulfills its purpose. Juno the movie, describes and portrays a perspective not usually seen and often frowned upon. The camerawork, music, and acting, all come together, to create a real, yet dramatic account of what one can do, when dealt with this situation. The characters convene, creating a feeling of love for each other, very romanticized without much anger, but in all honesty, the right way of going about it. It shows the viewer that what’s really important is to show up for those around you, and to support them when things are hard. I only summarized the first section, out of four, in the hope that you, as a reader, would watch the movie, so please do yourself the favor, and watch.