''Junebug'' is a 2005 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by Phil Morrison.

Amy Adams Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an American actress. Known for both her comedic and dramatic roles, she has been featured three times in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actresses. She has received various accolades, incl ...

received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for her supporting role in the film.

Plot

When art dealer Madeleine (

Embeth Davidtz Embeth Jean Davidtz (born August 11, 1965) is an American-South African actress. Her screen roles include movies such as ''Army of Darkness'', ''Schindler's List, '' ''Matilda'', ''Mansfield Park'', '' Bicentennial Man'', ''Fallen,'' '' Junebug, ...

) travels from Chicago to

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

to pursue a local, self-taught painter (Frank Hoyt Taylor) for her

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrate ...

gallery, she takes the opportunity to meet and stay with the family of her new husband George ( Alessandro Nivola), who live close by. There is his mother Peg (

Celia Weston Celia Weston is an American character actress. Weston received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance in '' Dead Man Walking'' (1995), and also had supporting roles in more than 40 movies, including '' The Talented Mr. Ripley ...

); his reserved, contemplative father Eugene ( Scott Wilson); and his sullen, resentful, twenty-ish brother Johnny (

Ben McKenzie Benjamin McKenzie Schenkkan (born September 12, 1978) is an American actor and commentator. He is best known for his starring television roles as Ryan Atwood on the teen drama '' The O.C.'' (2003–2007), Ben Sherman on the crime drama '' Southl ...

) who, although married, lives at home. He is studying for his high school equivalency certificate while working at Replacements, Ltd. as an order processor. Johnny married his now pregnant wife Ashley (

) before either of them finished high school. Relations between Johnny and Ashley are strained, with Ashley believing that a baby will solve their marital problems. Madeleine and George stay in the expected baby's nursery, and Madeleine becomes friends with Ashley, who is very sweet and friendly, if somewhat naive and talkative. The family takes Madeleine to a church social, where George is asked to sing a hymn. Madeleine is not used to intense religious displays but makes no comment. She attends Ashley's

baby shower A baby shower is a party of gift-giving, drinking beers or a ceremony that has different names in different cultures. It celebrates the delivery or expected birth of a child or the transformation of a woman into a mother. Etymology The term ''s ...

and gives her sister-in-law an antique silver spoon, which stands out from the other gifts. Madeleine discovers that she does not know much about George, as they have been married only six months and knew each other only a week before they got married. The artist Madeleine is pursuing wavers over signing with her gallery. Ashley goes into labor, and the family goes to the hospital with her. Madeleine chooses to go and convince the artist to sign with her gallery, which briefly makes George angry. Madeleine calls George to rave about the artist (she is impressed with his work, but shocked by his anti-semitism) without asking about the baby. George interrupts her and informs her that Ashley's baby boy is

stillborn Stillbirth is typically defined as fetal death at or after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without signs of life. A stillbirth can result in the feeling of guilt or grief in the mother. The ter ...

, which causes Madeleine to double over with guilt. The artist and his sister drive Madeleine back to her in-laws' home, and she later sits with Eugene on the back porch and cries. Meanwhile, George supports Ashley at the hospital, who expresses that George is always there when Ashley needs him. George kisses Ashley on the forehead and leaves. George comes home and has a wordless encounter in the garage with his brother, Johnny, who throws a tool at him, injuring his forehead. George does nothing in response. The next day, George and Madeleine prepare to leave. Johnny calls Ashley and suggests that they "try again," to which Ashley excitedly squeals. As George and Madeleine drive onto the highway and pick up speed, George remarks, "I'm so glad we're out of there" as Madeleine caresses George's neck with her left hand.

Cast

as Madeleine Johnsten *

as Ashley Johnsten *

as Johnny Johnsten *

as Peg Johnsten * Alessandro Nivola as George Johnsten * Scott Wilson as Eugene Johnsten * Frank Hoyt Taylor as David Wark, the artist * Joanne Pankow as Sissy Wark, David's sister * Alicia Van Couvering as Bernadette, Madeleine's gallery assistant *

Jill Wagner Jill Suzanne Wagner (born ) is an American actress and television personality. She was the on-field host for the ABC game show '' Wipeout'' from 2008 to 2014. Since then, Wagner has starred in several made-for-television films for the Hallmark ...

as Millicent, friend at baby shower

Production

The film was shot on

Super 16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...

film stock.

Reception

''Junebug'' was well received among critics. ''Junebug'' has an approval rating of 86% on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on 136 reviews, and an average rating of 7.54/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Aided and abetted by a wonderful cast, director Phil Morrison transforms familiar material into an understated and resonant comedy".

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film four stars and praised it as "a movie that understands, profoundly and with love and sadness, the world of small towns; it captures ways of talking and living I remember from my childhood, with the complexity and precision of great fiction". Tim Robey of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' labeled the film a "rare treat" and a "small, quiet miracle". There was particular praise for Amy Adams, who went on to earn her first of six

nominations. It was premiered at the 2005

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

, where Adams won a special jury prize.

Score and soundtrack

Though much of the movie is free of background music, its score is made up of original music by

Yo La Tengo Yo La Tengo (YLT; Spanish for "I have her") is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums, piano, vocals), and James M ...

, as well as

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

, Shostakovich,

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

and

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widesprea ...

. The film begins and ends with the 1977 song "Harmour Love" performed by

Syreeta Wright Syreeta Wright (February 28, 1946 – July 6, 2004), who recorded professionally under the single name Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights we ...

and written by

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, s ...

. During a scene where most of the characters are at a church social, George and two young men are featured singing the hymn "Softly and Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling" by

Will Lamartine Thompson William Lamartine Thompson (November 7, 1847 – September 20, 1909) was a noted American composer. He founded the W. L. Thompson Music Company and tried his hand with some success at secular compositions before finding his ''forte'' in hymn ...

. No official soundtrack has been released of the film. As a result, Syreeta's album ''One to One'' (which contains the song "Harmour Love") has since experienced a resurgence of sales. Yo La Tengo have released some of the original music in a compilation of their work on soundtracks ''They Shoot, We Score''.

Home media

The DVD was released on January 17, 2006, by

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

which includes:IMDb: DVD details
/ref> #10 deleted scenes #Cast

audio commentary An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...

with Embeth Davidtz and Amy Adams #Outsider Art Photo Gallery #French

subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informa ...

Behind-the-scenes In cinema, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a type of documentary film that features the production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the EPK (electronic press kit) v ...

featurettes #

Casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejecte ...

sessions

Awards

Footnotes

References

External links

* * * {{rotten-tomatoes, junebug, Junebug 2005 comedy-drama films 2005 films American comedy-drama films American independent films Films about dysfunctional families Films set in North Carolina Films shot in North Carolina American pregnancy films Sony Pictures Classics films 2005 independent films Films shot in 16 mm film 2000s English-language films 2000s American films 2000s pregnancy films