Julie Johnson
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Movie Reviews of Julie Johnson
Movie Review: Pros and cons of "Julie Johnson"
Summary: 4 Stars
The main reason I really liked this movie (aside from the wonderful performances on the part of the two leading actresses) was because it realistically portrayed how devastating homophobia can be to a new relationship. I think that a lot of gay and lesbian themed movies and TV shows turn out to either be in an unrealistic setting with an extraordinary amount of gay and lesbian characters in them, or they tend to get too preachy about "acceptance." "Julie Johnson" is just heartbreaking. Had it not been for all the homophobia and isolation surrounding them, the characters of Julie and Claire might have felt entitled to continue their relationship. But the homophobia in the movie is REALISTIC. In the particular setting of blue collar New Jersey, the womens' relationship would have been misunderstood and the women would have been isolated by their former friends, and a source of embarrassment to the children. It's really no surprise that one of the women would have felt the need to return to a life of comfortable acceptance.
I just think that it would have been a much more powerful movie if they would have FOCUSED on that relationship. The fact that Julie Johnson wanted to return to school was fine, and it gave the movie a nice theme about a woman throwing off the shackles that bound her, but I thought that it was kind of unnecessary to throw in the fact that Julie Johnson was some kind of repressed genius. Here's a woman who starts off sneaking Scientific American journals, but by the end of the movie cannot stop talking in scientific gibberish. This understandably alienates her even more from her old friends, from her old friend and new lover Claire, and confuses the direction the movie is going in. By the end of the movie, Julie is more interested in class and hanging out with her new intellectual friends than in helping Claire (and herself) feel comfortable with the transition in their relationship.
So, in conclusion, if this movie would have only been about a woman realizing her dream to go to school and her dream of pursuing a relationship with her best friend, it would have been an absolutely amazing movie. If it would have been about a woman (gay or straight) who finally realizes her intellectual potential later in life, and winds up alienating her friends and family because of it, then it would also have been a good movie. But the two concepts should not have been mixed together!!
Still, I'd recommend seeing this movie. The acting is superb and the love scene is so tastefully done that it's not even really a scene at all. I'd just maybe recommend a rental, or a bargain buy.
Movie Review: Wants, Needs, and Accessibility
Summary: 4 Stars
JULIE JOHNSON is a quiet little film that deals with the frustrations facing a New Jersey housewife and mother who married and birthed before she graduated high school and finds herself in a rigid relationship, longing for knowledge to change things. She considers herself stupid, sneaks Science magazines to read when her overbearing husband isn't around, and finally gathers the courage (while staring at the stars one night) to change her plight. She takes a computer course, passes her GED and with the constant support of her dearest girlfriend gathers the courage to get out of the stifling marriage with her husband and study to improve her lot in life. Along the way she discovers other secrets about herself, buried in the facade of a life she has led. She changes, relates to the world in a different way, and refuses to settle for returning to 'the old life' when her husband returns promising her change. Her relationship with her girlfriend proceeds to intimate levels, but in the end this friendship cannot last, as her girlfriend doesn't have the same goals.
The story is simple, but in the hands of the writers Wendy Hammond and Bob Gosse and with Gosse's fine direction, the entire cast gives us an ensemble of disparate characters in whom we can all believe. Lili Taylor plays the lead with extraordinary skill and as her girlfriend Courtney Love gives a bravura performance. The remainder of the cast (Spalding Gray, Noah Emmerich, Gideon Jacobs, Mischa Barton, et al) is likewise strong. But it is Taylor's film and she offers one of her most poignant performances of her career. A thoughtful, sensitive, engrossing film. Grady Harp, September 06
Movie Review: Great story about a courageous woman...
Summary: 4 Stars
The story takes place in a middle class world of friends and family with average intelligence and no college educations among them. The main character (Julie) breaks out and away by moving into the academic world and her intellect becomes apparent. Resentment and alienation follows (especially from her blue collar husband). When her "attraction" to her best friend emerges, and they both act on their feelings, the alienation from their friends and families for both of them deepens; Julie handles it, the best friend can't. I wish the audience had been a little more "let in" all along on how Julie was feeling about her friend. The story involving everyone around them and how it effects them all is compelling; you stay interested in all of the characters. Interesting choice in Courtney Love, but she really pulls this off well. Lili Taylor is always great to watch, I LOVED her as a lesbian; very believable!Movie Review: Well written and acted but plot suffers nevertheless
Summary: 4 Stars
Not your usual depressing cheesy production value type lezbo vehicle that we're used to seeing, thank god for that. Pluses: Courtney is great, the characterization well thought out. The story is absorbing, well acted, but in the end its just another disappointment, ends left dangling and unresolved, not quite up to the hollywood standard. Minus: A downer overall...a little bit homophobic at times, as the womyn in it suffer from their own inner repressions/dialogues, etc. Still, it's better than most!Movie Review: Great acting and good plot!
Summary: 4 Stars
I recently watched this movie on cable and wasn't sure what i was going to think of it. I found the acting was really good on both Lily Taylor and Courtney Love's part. The story was inspiring in a sense and i feel that anyone that watches this movie will also feel the same way.