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JUNEBUG Send This Review to a Friend
It’s the atmosphere that reigns in director Phil Morrison’s quirky but likable “Junebug,” with a screenplay by Angus MacLachlan. The story takes us into North Carolina and a household that reflects how much of the American population lives in contrast to more sophisticated life in a big city. The film doesn’t so much as make judgments as provide revelations. It also benefits from a strong cast, with acting that tends to overcome parts of the plot and character behavior that one might find less than credible.
Embeth Davidtz plays British-born Madeleine, an art dealer who specializes in discovering and selling works by regional artists who reflect a kind of Americana and stretch the boundaries of what can be considered art. She sets out from Chicago to convince such a painter (Frank Hoyt Taylor) to make a deal with her. It is hard to believe that what the painter does would excite anybody, but that’s the contemporary art world. The artist in question has his own ideas of a basis for making any deal.
The plot thickens with Madeleine’s new and younger husband George, who is played by Allesandro Nivola. The trip provides the occasion for George to introduce Madeleine to his family, and there is where cultures clash and the efforts to form bonds are tested. Madeleine comes on much too strong in her effort to fit in an environment in which she is regarded with suspicion. Most responsive to her is the pregnant Ashley, George’s sister-in-law portrayed most sympathetically and affectingly by talented Amy Adams. Her husband Johnny (Benjamin McKenzie), filled with anger and resentment at his brother George, behaves like a jerk toward everyone, and especially Ashley, for whom we can feel sorry.
George’s parents, Eugene and Peg, are played by Scott Wilson and Celia Weston, and in their way epitomize the type of society in which they live, a sort of down home pattern build around local attitudes, churchgoing and the way folk spend their time, which big city dwellers might condescendingly find boring.
The screenplay heads toward characters being tested in the face of personal crises, and although the contrivances are glaring, “Junebug” succeeds in making an impression because it captures a regional feeling and defines life for the respective individuals depicted on both sides of the divide. That’s an achievement in itself. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
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