I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE JUNO'S STEPMOTHER

This is my comment in Twilight Virus’ blog:
http://twilightvirus.blogspot.com/2008/06/blog-post.html

ไม่รู้มีคนบอกพี่แล้วยังว่า ในหนังเรื่อง “รักดีหามจั่ว รักชั่วหามเสา” เอ๊ย ไม่ใช่ ในหนังเรื่อง รักสามเศร้า (THE LAST MOMENT) (2008, Yuthlert Sippapak, B+) ตัวละครในหนังอ่านหนังสือ “สัตว์วิกาล” ด้วย

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This is the week of the French Film Festival, the Italian Film Festival, Man of La Mancha musical, and my sore throat. All these factors have kept me from going to internet café for the past 5 days. Since the two film festivals are still going on, that means I still don’t have much time for internet now. I’m sorry for writing very little.

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My poll 23 ended with six votes, including one vote from me for BU SU, DEK JOE, HI TERESKA, and MIDNIGHT RAINBOW. Thank you very much for everyone who participated in it. Here is the result.

I LOVE THESE FILMS ABOUT YOUNG GIRLS VERY MUCH. WHICH FILMS DO YOU LIKE?

1.BU SU (1987, Jun Ichikawa, Japan)
+DEK JOE (2008, Pakwan Suksomtin, Thailand)
+GETTING MY BROTHER LAID (2001, Sven Taddicken, Germany)
+GINGER SNAPS (2000, John Fawcett, Canada)
+GLASS TEARS (2001, Lai Miu-suet, Hong Kong)
+HI TERESKA (2001, Robert Glinski, Poland)
+I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A SAINT (2003, Genevieve Mersch, Luxembourg)
+LIME (2001, Nathilde Overrein Rapp, Norway)
+MIDNIGHT RAINBOW (2008, Patta Tongpan, Thailand)
+MOUCHETTE (1967, Robert Bresson, France)
+VANAJA (2006, Rajnesh Domalpalli, India)
+WISH YOU WERE HERE (1987, David Leland, UK)

Each of them got 1 vote, or 16 %.



13.BELLYFRUIT (1999, Kerri Green, USA)
+DOIN’ THE DO (a music video of Betty Boo, UK)
+FOR KEEPS? (1988, John G. Avildsen, USA)
+I, TARENEH, AM FIFTEEN (2002, Rasul Sadrameli, Iran)
+JUNO (2007, Jason Reitman, USA)
+OR (2004, Keren Yedaya, Israel)
+VIOLET PERFUME: NOBODY HEARS YOU (2001, Marisa Sistach, Mexico)
+WINNING LONDON (2001, Craig Shapiro, USA)

Each of them got 0 vote.



When I made this poll, I intend to exclude many of my favorite films about young girls which I already mentioned in my Sense of Cinema’s lists, such as CRY IN SILENCE, LOVELY RITA, ANGEL’S FALL, and STRONG SHOULDERS, because I don’t want to include these films in my polls or my lists too many times, and I don’t want to fill my poll with too many murderous girls. That’s why my poll this time is full of pregnant girls instead—BELLYFRUIT, VANAJA, WISH YOU WERE HERE, FOR KEEPS?, “I,TARENEH, AM FIFTEEN”, and JUNO. Comparing among these six films, I like JUNO the most. The other five films are realistic about the situation of pregnant girls, while JUNO gives the feeling of a fairy tale, which is a thing I haven’t seen before in films dealing with this situation. The fairy tale ending of JUNO reminds me of the tremendously wonderful ending of BEAUTIFUL THING (1996, Hettie Macdonald, A+).

I also like Matthew Boyd’s review on JUNO in Senses of Cinema, though I don’t fully understand or agree with it. I think his review makes me see the film from other interesting perspectives, instead of seeing it from only my own perspective.

Matthew Boyd’s review on JUNO:
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/08/47/juno.html

A quote from Matthew Boyd’s article:

“Even more significant, the runners, these symbolic soldiers, are the embodiment of speed. They remind the audience and the residents of Juno’s world of the presence of institutional solidarity in their lives through the symbolic visibility of their uniforms and their routinised group action and, as runners, signify blind, accelerating progress through the currently existing institutional social model.”


If I hadn’t read his review, I wouldn’t have thought about this kind of thing. When I see those male runners in the film, I only think about temptations. Hahaha. The ending of JUNO is not a perfectly happy ending for me, because if I were Juno, I’m sure it would be very very difficult for me to stay faithful to my boyfriend when I keep on seeing those male runners like that.

:-)