You Should Watch It

If you were raised in the rural South, I hope you've seen Junebug. I just finished watching it, and it was a fantastic film. I was really amazed at how it perfectly captured the charm, the quirks, and the annoyances of small, Southern communities. Not only were the characters dead-on, but so was the location. I mean, for me, it looked like they filmed it right down the road from where I live.

In spite of that direct connection, though, I most loved how the film depicted the duality of people striving for both moments of isolation and moments of community. It said so much about how individuals use 1) times of isolation to be considerate to others, 2) times of isolation to be inconsiderate to others, 3) times of community to be considerate to others, and 4) times of community to be inconsiderate to others. I don’t know of many films that give adequate depiction of all four of those scenarios, but in real life, they certainly all happen. Anyway, it's the lushness of all these different situations that makes me suggest that all of you (even those not as familiar with the setting) rent the film.

I also appreciated that Junebug was more optimistic than pessimistic about the hearts of people. I don’t know about all of you, but I like giving mankind the benefit of the doubt. It disappoints me that the world we live in doesn’t configure its reward system that way. It rewards pragmatism, which would prefer that people bring a hefty level of skepticism into their relationships. But hey, I’m supposed to be talking about a movie! ;)

I rented Capote and Good Night, and Good Luck as well. We’ll see if I have something to say about them when I get around to watching them.