Junebug (film)

Plot

When art dealer Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz) travels from Chicago to North Carolina to pursue a local, self-taught painter (Frank Hoyt Taylor) for her outsider art 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); his reserved, contemplative father Eugene (Scott Wilson); and his sullen, resentful, twenty-ish brother Johnny (Benjamin McKenzie) 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 (Amy Adams) 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 service, where George is asked to sing a verse from the Bible. Madeleine is not used to intense religious displays but makes no comment. She attends Ashley's baby shower 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. George's strong Southern family values come through.

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. Ashley's baby boy is stillborn. She had told Madeleine she was going to name the baby "Junebug". 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. George comes home and has a wordless encounter in the garage with his brother, who punches him. George does nothing.

George and Madeleine go back to Chicago.

Cast

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, as well as classical music by Haydn, Shostakovich, Schubert and Vivaldi. The film begins and ends with the 1977 song "Harmour Love" performed by Syreeta Wright and written by Stevie Wonder. 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.

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 which includes:

1. 10 deleted scenes
2. Cast audio commentary with Embeth Davidtz and Amy Adams
3. Outsider Art Photo Gallery
4. French subtitles
5. Behind-the-scenes featurettes
6. Casting sessions

Awards