junebug & junie

i'm still mad about new orleans; don't think i've forgotten...

on another note, as i've said before, my high school reunion is fast approaching. i'm kind of excited about going even though my enthusiasm fluctuates from day to day.

my buddy charles told me to go check out "junebug," a southern charmer now in indie movie theaters across the country. charles is from surry county, one county up and over from my hometown in north carolina. i love seeing indie films shot in north carolina, like the quietly haunting "george washington," some of which was filmed at the park down the street from my grandmother's house where we used to go to as kids.

i was looking up information online about "junebug" when i saw that it was directed by phil morrison. waaaaait, you mean the same prodigious phil morrison who beat me out for the presidency of the key club when we were seniors in high school and went on to nyu and to live the new york glam life and came back to our 10th year reunion with an mtv veejay as a date and stuff? *that* phil morrison?

i was instantly engulfed by waves of hot green flames ('cause what else does envy look like?). i decided that the last ten years of my life have been a waste 'cause phil morrison has made a feature film.

fortunately for us all, i got over that mini-mid-life crisis this morning and saw the film today. it's great! i sat there all proud to know phil (and production designer david doernberg, a fellow key club member), and was especially pleased to see how the cast nailed some of the subtleties of a southern accent and of white southerners. they're not *all* rednecks, ya know. i've always been frustrated by non-southern actors who absolutely cannot replicate the accent without sounding like generic hillbillies who lapse in and out of twang. "junebug" is complex, doesn't give any clear answers, and is reflective, tense, and funny. it reminds me of home (although my home had many more black folk and much more noise in it).