Junebug was released in 2005 and I saw it back then. All I really remembered of it yesterday at the video store was 1: it was the most realistic portrait (accent and family dynamic, for instance) of the part of the South I come from I'd seen in a non-documentary...and 2: the church basement scene couldn't have been more real unless they could somehow make me smell ham biscuits through the DVD player vents.
It'd been a day of nostalgia anyway. Snow, for one. Something from my youth I rarely encounter--especially in my daily life. I went to writer Mike D'Orso's house (coincidentally, he lives in my neighborhood--which I didn't know when first emailing with him). He's featured in altdaily right now and mentioned Grundy--my Appalachian hometown, so I went to his house and we talked writing, winding roads, jukeboxes, the future of music...he gave me a copy of the article he wrote in 1983 for Commonwealth magazine...
pic: coalcampusa.com
He said one of the strongest images he recollected was how there's a railroad on one side of a mountain, a narrow road on the other, with some form of river or creek in between. I found this pic of Grundy online. It's what I saw in my head when he was talking.
the old Grundy--before it was torn down to build a Walmart...
Anyway, Junebug rocks. It's my favorite Amy Adams performance. She's usually too saccharine for me. The way she clicks her mouth when she smiles too wide...the overanimated pitch in her voice...But her character in Junebug, Ashley, the pregnant sister-in-law from BFE, NC who's impressed with her "city" sister-in-law the way tween girls are impressed with Rihanna or Miley Cyrus or something--it's an actual vulnerable performance where Adams's quirks make the character believable and sweet.
And THE CHURCH BASEMENT. I saw a youtube comment that said, "This is a whole scene from my childhood I thought would never show up in any movie. It's very moving," and I concur. I shy away from a lot of the fervor in the particular brand of Baptist towns like these offer, but when the traditional hymns are brought out, I feel like I'm melting. I knew every word and every nuance of where a bass or high note would happen.
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