Junebug (Review)
Wednesday, 27th April 2011, 10:01

Page 1 Page 2

The Disc

Extra Features
These are spread over two discs, with the first containing the film and a commentary with Embeth Davidtz and Amy Adams; normally I hate actors’ commentaries as they degenerate into a love-in with nothing constructive to say about the film, but this is an exception to the rule. Davidtz is an intelligent and well-spoken woman and, with Adams, give valuable insight into making the film. The addition of either the writer or director (or both) would have undoubtedly improved things but, as it is, this is a good listen.

Under the heading Making Of are five individual featurettes which only run at 3-5 minutes each and don’t really add much. There are also ten deleted/extended scenes which are worth a look, particularly the full scenes that were chopped down for the final cut. There are two lots of audition footage, one of Amy Adams and the other with Benjamin McKenzie which are quite lengthy and show how little they changed from audition to filming – the sign of quality actors.

There’s a Q&A with Amy Adams in London, following a screening in 2006. It’s strange that there aren’t many people there, but she answers their questions fully and the moderator does her job well.

Finally there is a gallery of Ann Wood’s art – the artist who inspired the artist in the film and whose work was used.

The set comes with a booklet which is an extensive interview with Phil Morrison and Angus MacLachlan.

The Picture
This is shot by someone with a real visual eye and sense of detail and aesthetics. The remastered picture is fantastically sharp, with excellent colours and black levels – I was amazed to find that it was shot on Super-16 as it looks like the source material was of much higher quality.

Compared to the Blu-ray release, this looks extremely good which, despite not having the fine detail, high black levels and a more solid and vibrant colours that a full 1080p picture would provide, this SD picture is extremely good.

The Sound

Whereas the Blu-ray release had both DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 tracks as well as a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo option, this only has a rather odd Dolby Digital 5.0 surround track. As the film doesn't contain a single scene which uses the subwoofer, that isn't a great loss and, oddly I preferred clear DD stereo track to the two HD surround options on the Blu-ray, this manages to present the dialogue clearly and use the front and rear surrounds for the few atmospherics.

Junebug isn't a film with most expansive soundtrack ever created and is a dialogue dominated film so, although the dialogue isn't perhaps as crisp as it could be, it is perfectly clear despite some of the more 'exaggerated' North Carolina accents which contrast with Madeleine's cultured English accent.

The score and music by Yo La Tengo fits the subject matter and setting extremely well and manages to emphasise both the dramatic and comedic elements within the film.

Final Thoughts

Junebug is a great little movie that deserves much more exposure than it previously had. It’s an acting masterclass and a thoroughly involving story with characters that you initially dislike but end up caring about. If you like family dramas and independent films, then you should definitely check this out.

Previous Page