Junebug | |
---|---|
Directed by | Phil Morrison |
Written by | Angus MacLachlan |
Produced by | Mindy Goldberg Mike S. Ryan |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Peter Donahue |
Edited by | Joe Klotz |
Music by | Yo La Tengo |
Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 106 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1 million [1] |
Box office | $3.4 million [2] |
Junebug is a 2005 American comedy-drama film directed by Phil Morrison. Amy Adams received an Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in the film.
When art dealer Madeleine travels from Chicago to North Carolina to pursue a local, self-taught painter for her outsider art gallery, she is accompanied by her new husband, George, whose family lives in the area and she takes the opportunity to get acquainted with them. There is his mother Peg; his reserved, contemplative father Eugene; and his sullen, resentful, twenty-something brother Johnny, who, although married, still lives at home. He is studying for his high school equivalency certificate while working at Replacements, Ltd. as an order processor. Johnny is married to Ashley, who is pregnant. Relations between Johnny and Ashley are strained, but Ashley believes that a baby will solve their marital problems.
Madeleine and George stay in the expected baby's nursery, and Madeleine becomes friends with Ashley, who is very sweet and friendly, if somewhat naive and talkative. The family takes Madeleine to a church social, where George is asked to sing a hymn. Madeleine is not used to intense religious displays but makes no comment. She attends Ashley's baby shower and gives her sister-in-law an antique silver spoon, which stands out from the other gifts. Madeleine discovers that she does not know much about George, as they have been married only six months and had met just a week before their wedding.
Ashley goes into labor, and the family goes to the hospital with her. However, the artist Madeleine is pursuing is hesitant about signing with her gallery, so Madeleine leaves to meet with the artist and is able to convince him to sign with her gallery, which briefly makes George angry. Madeleine calls George to rave about the artist (she is impressed with his work, but shocked by his anti-Semitism) without asking about the baby. George interrupts her and informs her that Ashley's baby boy is stillborn, which causes Madeleine to double over with guilt. The artist and his sister drive Madeleine back to her in-laws' home, and she later sits with Eugene on the back porch and cries. Meanwhile, George supports Ashley at the hospital, who expresses that George is always there when Ashley needs him. George kisses Ashley on the forehead and leaves. George comes home and has a wordless encounter in the garage with his brother, Johnny, who throws a tool at him, injuring his forehead. George does nothing in response.
The next day, George and Madeleine prepare to leave. Johnny calls Ashley and suggests that they "try again," to which Ashley excitedly squeals. As George and Madeleine drive onto the highway and pick up speed, George remarks, "I'm so glad we're out of there" as Madeleine caresses George's neck with her left hand.
The film was shot on Super 16mm film stock. [3] [4]
The film premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, where Adams won a Special Jury Prize for her performance. [5] On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Junebug has an approval rating of 86% based on 135 reviews, and an average rating of 7.50/10. [6] The website's critical consensus states, "Aided and abetted by a wonderful cast, director Phil Morrison transforms familiar material into an understated and resonant comedy". [6] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [7]
Roger Ebert gave the film four stars and praised it as "a movie that understands, profoundly and with love and sadness, the world of small towns; it captures ways of talking and living I remember from my childhood, with the complexity and precision of great fiction". [8] Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph labeled the film a "rare treat" and a "small, quiet miracle". [9] There was particular praise for Amy Adams, who went on to earn her first of six Academy Award nominations. [10]
The film's score is made up of original music by Yo La Tengo, [11] as well as classical music by Haydn, Shostakovich, Schubert and Vivaldi. [12] The film begins and ends with the 1977 song "Harmour Love" performed by Syreeta Wright and written by Stevie Wonder. [13] During a scene where most of the characters are at a church social, George and two young men are featured singing the hymn "Softly and Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling" by Will Lamartine Thompson. [14]
In 2008, Yo La Tengo released some of the original music in a compilation of their soundtrack work titled They Shoot, We Score . [11]
The DVD was released on January 17, 2006, by Sony Pictures Entertainment. The release includes deleted scenes, audio commentary with Embeth Davidtz and Amy Adams, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and casting sessions. [15]
Chasing Amy is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jason Lee. The third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series, the film is about a male comic artist (Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian (Adams), to the displeasure of his best friend (Lee).
Embeth Jean Davidtz is an American-South African actress. Her screen roles include movies such as Army of Darkness, Schindler's List, Matilda, Fallen,Mansfield Park, Bicentennial Man, Bridget Jones's Diary,Junebug,Fracture,The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,The Amazing Spider-Man,The Amazing Spider-Man 2,Old, and Not Okay, and the television series In Treatment, Californication, Mad Men, Ray Donovan, and The Morning Show. She also guest-starred on Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Derek Shepherd's sister Nancy Shepherd.
Joey Lauren Adams is an American actress and director. Adams starred in Chasing Amy, for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and played smaller roles in other Kevin Smith View Askewniverse films.
Amy Beth Dziewiontkowski, known professionally as Amy Ryan, is an American actress of stage and screen. A graduate of New York's High School of Performing Arts, she is an Academy Award nominee and two-time Tony Award nominee.
The 4th San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in film for 2005, were given on 12 December 2005.
The 10th Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, given by the Florida Film Critics Circle on 24 December 2005, honored the best in film for 2005.
The 31st Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, honored the best in film for 2005.
The 18th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, given by the CFCA on January 9, 2006, honored the best in film for 2005.
The 9th Online Film Critics Society Awards, honoring the best in film for 2005, were given on 16 January 2006.
Amy Lou Adams is an American actress. Known for both her comedic and dramatic roles, she has been featured three times in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actresses. She has received various accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards, and has been nominated for six Academy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
The 4th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2005, were given on December 12, 2005.
The 6th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2005, were given on 7 February 2006.
Bicentennial Man is a 1999 American science fiction comedy-drama film starring Robin Williams, Sam Neill, Embeth Davidtz, Wendy Crewson, and Oliver Platt. Based on the 1992 novel The Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg, the plot explores issues of humanity, slavery, prejudice, maturity, intellectual freedom, conformity, sex, love, mortality, and immortality. The film, a co-production between Touchstone Pictures and Columbia Pictures, was directed by Chris Columbus. The title comes from the main character existing to the age of two hundred years.
Game 6 is a 2005 American comedy drama film directed by Michael Hoffman. It stars Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Bebe Neuwirth, Griffin Dunne, and Catherine O'Hara. The plot follows fictional playwright Nicky Rogan, who has a new stage play opening on the same day of the sixth game of the 1986 World Series. The screenplay, written in 1991, is Don DeLillo's first script to be made into a film. The soundtrack is written and performed by Yo La Tengo. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was given a limited theatrical release on March 10, 2006.
The 2nd St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards were given on January 8, 2006.
They Shoot, We Score is a compilation soundtrack album by the band Yo La Tengo, released on September 5, 2008.
3 Backyards is an independent drama film written and directed by Eric Mendelsohn and starring Embeth Davidtz, Edie Falco, and Elias Koteas. It premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Directing Prize, as did Mendelsohn's first feature, Judy Berlin; Mendelsohn is the only director to have won the prize twice.
Not Okay is a 2022 American satirical black comedy-drama film written and directed by Quinn Shephard. It stars Zoey Deutch as a young woman who desperately wants to be famous and beloved on the Internet, succeeding when she pretends to be a survivor of a bombing. It also stars Mia Isaac, Nadia Alexander, Embeth Davidtz, Karan Soni, and Dylan O'Brien.