Mark and Barb Go to the Video Store

Junebug (dir. Phil Morrison) I loved this film. It's based on one of the standard film-plot templates (bringing home the newly-wed partner to meet the family, with ensuing hijinx), but this director makes something special out of it. You've probably heard about the cast, especially Amy Adams, whose motormouthed, open-hearted, transparent young wife (and mother-to-imminently-be) is the obvious (and brilliant) star turn. But the whole cast (Embeth Davidtz as the bewildered-but-warm big-city art babe, Benjamin MacKenzie as the pent-up, taciturn "failed" little brother, Celia Weston as the hard-as-nails mom, and Scott Wilson as the abstracted, escapist dad who is wise when he needs to be) shows amazing empathy and chemistry. This bunch feels like a family really feels, and there are lots of wonderful shots of empty rooms in the house with voices filtering in from another room (when there's not dead silence) that feel the way home looks when you used to live in a place but don't anymore. (There's also a lot of pretty photography of central North Carolina, which looked very familiar from our visits to Barb's brother's place.) The film has a sweet, unsentimental view of family: impossible to deal with but the source of the love that is the most important thing in most people's lives. Mark's review: ****