All hail the Tiny Canadian!

Posted by Movie_Maven

September 4, 2008 |

After seeing “Hard Candy” during my 3 months of free Showtime since DirecTv failed to send me my free dvd player for signing up and I raised not only Cain, but Abel too, I was immediately taken by the diminutive Ellen Page and immediately went to imdb.com to find out more about her.

Therefore, I recently rented “An American Crime” - which I have wanted to see since studying this horrific case during my college career - and “Juno” - which my redneck hunter hubby did not want to see, but I figured that if he can rent “The Scorpion King”, “Hitman”, and “AVP” (to name a few) - then dad-gummit, I was going to rent “Juno” and watch it with my 13 y/o daughter, Movie_Maven_Jr.

“An American Crime” is not for everyone (certainly not Movie_Maven_Jr). Even though I knew the tragic story upon which it was based, the acting by Ellen Page and Catherine Keener was amazing. The tasteful way which some of the more questionable scenes were filmed spoke volumes about the filmmakers (as opposed to Jack Ketchum’s “The Girl Next Door” which came out the same year and is loosely based upon the same case, and is considerably more graphic.) Interestingly, I read that Ellen Page was the only actress considered for the role of Sylvia, and I believe that nobody else would have brought to the role what she did.

Then, tonight, Movie_Maven_Jr and I watched “Juno.” OMG, I haven’t laughed so much in a very, very, very long time, so, first of all, THANK YOU to Diablo Cody, who wrote a brilliant Oscar-deserving script and Ellen Page, whose comic timing is impeccable. (And I hang my head in shame for waiting so long to view this gem.)

I loved Juno’s character. Her witty sarcasm and ultra cuteness made me want to adopt her, fetus and all, and Ellen’s portrayal of her was beyond perfection. And as there are gads of blow-by-blow plot analyses on the web, I will not add one here, but I will iterate that I told Movie_Maven_Jr that if she got pregnant at 16 it would be far from cute and funny.

It is so nice to see a young actress in this day and age who has such a great sense of self, intelligence, and class, and who doesn’t want to conform to the popular, irritating, diabetes-inducing, mindless “actresses” far too prevalent in an unfortunate majority of contemporary cinematic fare. (Quite frankly, I’d rather watch my husband’s testosterone-filled, explosion-packed plotless drivel with zero character development than, say, anything starring Lindsay Lohan, ex-Mouseketeers, or any cast member of “The Hills.” Or maybe I’d just rather poke my eyes out with a rusty drywall screw.)

I hope this talented Nova Scotian reads this…and likes it…and, perhaps, sends me some lox.

Comments

1 Comment so far

singlemom on September 13, 2008 2:37 pm
I loved Juno, as did my 16 and 18 year old daughters. It was a great movie. I just came across your blog, and will look forward to return visits.