juno

If you haven’t seen it yet, you have a very joyful experience ahead of you. Acute, acerbic, idiosyncratic and enigmatic, Juno – the film and the girl - is all of these and more. This wonderful film made me want to shout “Yes!” for Juno’s awkwardness, her individuality, her oddity. The exception to the rule about most American films – its intelligent, low-key, very funny and moving. It has been labelled an “issue” movie because teen pregnancy is the basis of the story. But that is, I think, a small part of a film which celebrates the weird and simple humanity of a sixteen year old who may be pregnant but is as yet uncorrupted by the world around her. She’s a worldy-wise ingénue, with a profoundly graceful attitude to the many quirks of that strange beast, the human race.

I got doubly lucky when I went to see the film. It was an afternoon showing and the large cinema was almost empty with individuals, couples and small groups scattered sparsely around the auditorium. At the final scene, when Juno and boyfriend are singing their lovely little duet, I glanced down to the front of the cinema and saw a group of about six or seven kids, about thirteen or fourteen years of age, waving their hands above their heads from side to side in unison with the song. It was a truly magical moment. The eternal hope and freedom of youth and the ability of music to engender a sense of joy in the world - all on a wet Friday in Glasgow.

Juno – its beautiful!