juno

i have noticed a depressing tendency for "independent" films to become somewhat homgenous:
1. a coming of age story ehere the protaginist' intellegence and/or artistic sensitivity is brutalised/ignored
2. a quirky or repressive family
3. a soundtrack featuring songs by obscure alt-rock/folk bands
4. a vaguely episodic plot structure
5. pacing based on thne speed that paint dries

gone are the people who have their own vision like lynch or who can put a new spin on an old genre like the cohens. where are the dazed and confuseds, the pis, the happinessess? the films that have an edge.

these days it seems like the back stories of the fimmakers are more important than the film itself

for instance, late last year i saw waitress. a pleasant enough film which i enjoyed at the time, but which i would have to go back to imdb to remind me of the best lines. i think that much of its critical success was because the writer-director adrienne shelley was murdered just before the film's release.

similarly with juno. arguabbly the first thing that anyone knows about this is that it was written by an (ex) stripper, diablo cody. are we taliking about the susan boyle effect here?

ok, i have to admit that she wrote some good lines and the cast, especially lead ellen page (who was so much better in hard candy) delivered them well. and there was a good solid support cast. but its not all good. rainn wilson's cameo was trying too hard to be hip and the film was trying too hard to be wryly funny.

i didn't hate it (but then i'm still suffering post traumatic stress disorder from seeing meet the spartans; any film looks good after that) and i'd say that it is worth a look, but its never going to make my top ten