Daydream Nation

So yes, another Netflix instant movie. I really need to get out more. I passed over this movie a couple of time before deciding to watch the trailer. It promised to be a re-imagined Juno and the trailer made it look pretty interesting. Normally I'm on the fence about Kat Dennings, but I thought I'd throw caution to the wind and watch this movie. It's a 2010 movie from first time writer/director Michael Goldbach and stars Kat Dennings, Reece Thompson, Andie Macdowell, Josh Lucas, and Ted Whittall.

The movie centers around Caroline Wexler, played by Dennings, who moves from the city to a small rural town to finish her senior year of high school. She reminisces about 'the year that everything happened' from love triangles, serial killers, industrial fires, car accidents, and smoke-outs all the while navigating a small town high school.

There's a lot of plot in the movie but with the aid of the super slick editing, the story is tremendously easy to follow and quite entertaining. We're given numerous subplots, but they're believable and not overbearing. Denning's character's social commentary is so biting and witty, it was easily one of the best parts of the movie. Much like the social commentary found in Juno, but other than the fact that they're in high school, there's not many other comparisons I can draw between the two. Denning's character is flawed and she knows it yet she doesn't claim to be more than she is. Her character's attitude is really entertaining. The other characters are flawed as well and some already know while other learn it throughout the movie. There are different series of connected events, but they don't feel as contrived as most movies of this nature. The story-telling was superb in this film, which I believe was a combination of the screenplay and an awesome editing direction. The characters were quirky enough to be believable and entertaining without becoming a one-dimensional stereotype (in most cases). The quirkiness is nowhere near the amount piled unto Juno's characters. It is a highly fictionalized plot driven movie, but I ended up really enjoying it.

The cinematography, editing, sound, lighting were all perfect in the movie. The scenes were framed beautifully and the insert close-up shots were just perfect with the mood of the movie. There was slick editing with title effects, split fame, jump cuts, etc that just moved the story at the perfect pace without being confusing or over the top. You could see the pre-planning of the shots in almost every frame. Almost every single actor in the movie was extremely good-looking and with the softly diffused lighting in some of the scenes, they looked even better. The choice to use a warm color palette with some of the darker scenes was perfect in setting the mood. It created some dark plot points without getting overly dramatic and deep. Also the soundtrack, which was dominated by Metric's Emily Haines, was top notch. Her song, Telethon, fit perfectly in the scene it was used and is now on my ipod.

I really really enjoyed Kat Denning's performance in this movie. I just may have jumped off the fence and became a small fan. She did play pretty much the same character she usually does, but this time it fit with the character. The way she delivered some of her lines was so original it made the dialogue even better. Josh Lucas did a fantastic job playing the same character but having a completely different persona depending on his public and private persona. I also really enjoyed the performance of Reece Thompson's as he was able to pull off the geek/stoner while still making you want to be his friend. Apparently, Andie Macdowell doesn't age. One of my favorite performances in the movie, was from Ted Whittall who plays Denning's father. His role was quite comical and his rugged handsomeness was icing on the cake.

I ended up really enjoying this movie. Perhaps because I came in with low expectations, but nonetheless it was seriously entertaining. It was a fast-paced plot driven movie with superb social commentaries. I wouldn't exactly compare it with Juno, but maybe a Juno meets Mean Girls meets Scott Pilgrim? Something like that. I really don't know where the Juno meets David Lynch meets Donnie Darko comes from that's on the cover of the movie. "I'm not here to save you, I'm the main character of my own life".