Juanita

Loved the concept of an empty-nester single mom taking time out to explore the world. There are so few movies these days that seem to be the perfect fit for the 45-55 year old female demographic.

Saw this on Netflix. It struck me as a terrific idea for a movie, which was turned into a disjointed mess, badly directed and edited! It makes me want to read the book, "Dancing On The Edge Of The Roof"!

There are a lot of bad reviews of this movie. I have no idea why because I loved it. I would normally not watch a movie like this, but there was a frankness in the faces in the preview that appealed to me. Juanita is an amazing actress. I thought everyone was well cast. There was an edginess to all the characters that added a lot of sparkle to the film.

It dealt with some very complex issues that need to be spoken about: Single mothers, why young men go to prison, PTSD, parenting, getting stuck in a dead end jobs, American Indians and their diminishing culture. I mean these are huge topics, and they were dealt with very compassionately. But it wasn't preachy. It is basically mid life crisis tied to a love story.

I teared up a couple of times, and it takes a darn good movie to make me do that. Don't miss this one.

It's an interesting movie to say the least. The characters are flawed yet relatable, and some of the subjects touched on are quite heavy. I like that the solutions are simple and not too far drawn out. I also like that it deals with the struggle of remembering to take care of yourself amidst the various struggles that life throws at you. I liked the concept of the movie, and the actors. I enjoyed some of the more heavy situations, as well as the quirky and carefree ones. However, at times the direction did feel a little "choppy" for lack of a better word. At times, it felt like there were relationships and topics that should have been more fleshed out to ease some of the transitions. By the end, I felt like what I just watched was good enough but there just wasn't enough of it to fulfill me completely.

I liked the look of this so settled down to watch it but after it had ended I felt pretty conflicted about the parts I liked and what I didn't like about it. The next thing I did was look up the book that it was based on. It turns out there are 2 books telling Juanita's story, book one is Dancing On the Edge Of the Roof and book two is On The Right Side Of A Dream, both by Sheila Williams. This explains why Juanita's ending is not very satisfying, it turns out she has more adventures to be told and a return to Paper Moon. Perhaps there will be a second movie to finish the story.

Alfre Woodard is a wonderful actress and an extremely attractive older woman but after reading the notes on the book I realised she is way too old for the part. Juanita is 41 years old, Alfre is 66 years old (even though she does look a lot younger) and she is 20 years older than Adam Beach who plays Jess. I know this wouldn't bother a lot of people but it bothered me.

It made me laugh that she called her fantasy lover by his full name every time she imagined him and I am a big fan of movies that break the fourth wall. I love it when the characters tell us directly what they are feeling or thinking.

She seemed to spend no time at all in Paper Moon, that went over too quickly without being convincing about how she forges close relationships with the residents.

I'm off to see if I can find copies of the books and read more of Juanita's story. I think I will find them more fulfilling than the movie.