Juno

I can remember the days when taking Nathalie to the cinema during half term meant Rugrats, Finding Nemo or Toy Story2. How times change, the little girl who gripped my hand so hard during Rugrats that I thought my circulation would stop is a teenager and that means teenage films.

As previously mentioned on this blog we've seen Little Miss Sunshine which is one of those films that has the adjectives, quirky, ironic and knowing attached to it. Juno might also be saddled with those labels but it is much more than that, this is a great little movie and Ellen Page is an actress destined for big things, she has a screen prescence that reminds me of Natalie Portman. The story is about 16 year old Juno, played by Page, who gets pregnant the first time she has sex with her boyfriend and decides not to keep the baby. Okay, at this point if this was Ken Loach the film would suddenly take the turning marked ' catholic guilt' and we would have 90 minutes of social realism featuring back street abortions and septicaemia. Fortunately this film is directed by Jason Reitman and written by the wonderfully named Diablo Cody, (what we get is 90 minutes of great one liners, some real warmth from the characters and a great soundtrack.

Juno goes to a well woman type of clinic but whilst sitting in the waiting room completing the application form she undergoes one of those moments that is familiar to viewers of European cinema or low budget American movies where the sound of nails being tapped and scraped is exaggerated to the point of distraction. She runs out of the clinic and decides to keep the baby but put it up for adoption. The scene where she tells her father and step mother that she is pregnant is superbly done, funny, sad and poignant all at the same time, I have to admit that I could feel a tear of two forming at this point - something to do with being the father of a daughter rather than son I imagine. I won't spoil the story by revealing how it pans out except to say there are warning signs early on, when Juno meets the couple who will be adopting the baby, that things won't run smoothly all the way to the credits.

It's not just Ellen Page who is good, although she steals every scene she is in, but Michael Cera who plays her 'boyfriend', Olivia Thirlby who plays Leah her friend and J.K Simmons who plays Juno's Dad.

There are some criticisms of the film, it tries to be too clever in places, Juno is a real cultural know it all in some respects, although this may be because her character is essentially an outsider and it lacks some of the charm of Garden State. It's a film I would recommend to anybody with a teenage daughter as it deals with 'issues' that are relevant to them, the audience when we went was all mums and daughters except for yours truly, and to anybody who has just over an hour and a half to spend with some likeable characters and great one liners.

The soundtrack includes: The Kinks, Buddy Holly, Belle and Sebastian, Mott the Hoople, Sonic Youth and the final track is sung by the two lead actors.