#ecstatic-juno-script | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ernmark · 6 years ago

Note

You mentioned headcanoning Brown Jacket and Sir Damien as autistic - could you talk more about that? I'd love to read your thoughts on it.

Brown Jacket and Sir Damien have a lot of behaviors that remind me of students I had during my brief stint as a teacher, as well as my brothers and some of my friends.

Autistic people aren’t a monolith or anything like that, so don’t take it that way. It’s one of those things where any of them in isolation might not be worthy of note, but so much of it feels familiar to people with this one thing in common that I can’t not see it.

This gets really, really long, so it goes under the cut.

Jacket

(All of Jacket’s lines are taken from Time Gone By unless they’re marked otherwise.)

He’s very literal and to-the-point.

JACKET: So. Do you have a good reason forwalking out in the desert? Besides your death-wish.

JUNO: Besidesmy what?

JACKET: It’s well-documented.

JUNO: Documentedwhere? How long have you been watching me? Isthat how you found me out here? (PAUSE. NO ANSWER) Hello?

JACKET: Hello.

JUNO: What the hell are allthose?

JACKET: Doyou mean the buildings or the tents?

JUNO: Idon’t know. Both?

JACKET: Well.Some are buildings, and some are tents.

JACKET: I am going to step into this shop andbuy a large decaffeinated Jovian tea with two sugars. You will stay here and watchto see what they do.

JUNO: Is the teasome kind of code? What does it mean?

JACKET: It means I am thirsty. It is largebecause I am very thirsty, and decaffeinated because I have a predisposition toaddictive—

JUNO: Where the hell did youcome from?!

JACKET: The door.

JACKET: How do you feel?JUNO: Sugar.JACKET: I do not know this emotion. (Monster’s Reflection)

I’m not kidding, I had two students who talked exactly like this.

One thing to note here is that he’s answering the questions that he’s being asked, but he isn’t addressing the unstated reason why it’s being asked in the first place.

Another thing to notice is that it’s very important to him that instructions are clear; I’d argue that he elaborates because he isn’t entirely sure that the full meaning comes across, while Juno picks it up easily.

BUDDY: At any rate, once we’re open my big friend is going to work the bar; you’re going to play sad drunk at one of those tables by the door.

JACKET: You will be drinking carbonated tea. Focus will be crucial.

JUNO: Alright, so. You want me to watch thedoor while you make your trade-off. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious,and…

JACKET: Don’tuse your eye.

JUNO: Yeah,thanks, I got that. Anything else?

Like Talfryn (who is canonically autistic), he has a hard time with jokes when they come from Juno.

JUNO: Not a bad metaphor, for a giant, talking block of stone.JACKET: I did not get it from a stone. (Monster’s Reflection)

JUNO: Think I’ve got more sandstorm in my lungs than air.JACKET: A sandstorm is mostly air, Juno— (Monster’s Reflection)

JUNO: So,what, is his name actually The Big Guy?

JACKET: Thatwould be absurd.

JACKET: You make that noise a lot, don’t you.

JUNO: Oh, sorry, does it bother you? Don’tmind me, just the guy who’s been playing peekaboo with his large intestine forthe past hour—OW, ow, ow.

JACKET: You said your organswould not fall out.

JUNO: It was a joke! Do bigcaveman get joke?

JACKET: I do not know. I havenever met one.

Juno doesn’t understand how to deal with Jacket, which makes him interpret Jacket’s literalness as stupidity or malice, and leaves Juno acting like a big asshole. I see this a lot in real life.

JUNO: Oh, hey, wasthat sarcasm? Maybe the big guy’s gotenough brain for a sense of humor after all.

JACKET: I have alwayspossessed a sense of humor, Juno. You are just not funny.

This is notably different from Buddy– he knows her well enough to understand what she needs and wants, and she communicates in a way that she’s sure he understands.

SOUND: A THROWN GLASS HITS THE WALLBESIDE JUNO AND SHATTERS.

BUDDY: Iasked for quiet.

JACKET: Iwill clean this. Would you like another drink, Buddy?

BUDDY: No thank you,darling. You may take his away as well; I believe he’s had enough.

BUDDY: Throwme the comms, darling. Then you know what to do.

JACKET: Ofcourse.

BUDDY: …And I waited.

JACKET: Fortwo years.

BUDDY: Well,so much for being allowed to keep one’s own secrets.

JACKET: Hewouldn’t have believed you if you said it.

He also uses a ‘script’ to deal with people that he’s not familiar with– something that somebody else advised him to do when dealing with people so that he has an easier time interacting with them.

JUNO: H-hey, what the hellare you doing? Put me down, you… The hell? I… I knowyou.

JACKET: A correction: I know you.I have been told it is important to speak accurately, when beginning a businesstransaction.

JACKET: There are, in fact, many other things that could go wrong, but Buddy has told me that patients often find the truth unsettling— (Monster’s Reflection)

There’s also this sequence: like with a lot of the autistic people I know, he’s very rule-oriented, in this case on bike safety. He also doesn’t pick up on Juno’s clear (to me, anyway) agitation and discomfort until Juno verbally expresses what he’s wrong.

JACKET: Good.Be sure to strap in.

JUNO: Notuntil you tell me where we’re going… Of course. Another man of mystery.Listen, I’ve really had enough of these, so if you can’t even tell me wherewe’re going I’ll— (OOF, AS JACKET THRUSTS A HELMET INTOHIS STOMACH)

JACKET: I’ll tell you. I was just looking for ahelmet in your size.

JUNO: Whatthe… How many helmets doyou keep in that bag?

JACKET: Bike safety isimportant.

There’s also this sequence:

JACKET: Have you used any of your eye’s specialfunctions since we entered the Cerberus Province?

JUNO: What? I haven’t—

JACKET: In the interest of fairness I shouldtell you that if you have, I will be forced to crush your head with thisdumpster lid.

JUNO: How is that anyfairer—(JACKET GOES TO CRUSH JUNO’S HEAD. JUNOIS REASONABLY PANICKED)Whoa, whoa, there! No, I haven’t usedit. You said that’s how Ramses is gonna track me, right?

JACKET: That is good.

If it were me, I wouldn’t tell Juno that I’d kill him if he said yes, because then he would have incentive to lie. But Jacket does, because it’s important for him to be clear and fair. He also takes Juno at his word when, once again, Juno has every reason to lie.

He is incredibly devoted to the things that he loves, and when the things he loves are threatened in any way, he reacts with a kind of growling anger that I’ve seen so many times from my brothers that it’s almost uncanny.

JACKET: And if you vomit on my hovercycle Icannot be held responsible for what happens to you next.

JUNO: Well,if I wasn’t concerned before, I sure as hell am now! Listen, I told you, if youmake me do anything—

SOUND: JACKET SLAMS THETABLE.

JACKET: Youlisten.

JUNO: Even to afforda low-end eye… that must’ve been a hell of a car.

JACKET: (IT HURTS TOTHINK ABOUT. THIS IS THE MOST EMOTION HE SHOWS ALL EPISODE. IT IS NOT MUCH.) We will not discuss this.

JUNO: Yeah, now that you mention it, I’ve been meaning to have a dermatologist take a—

JACKET: Do not complete this joke, Juno, or you will regret it.

(In this case, he recognizes the joke well enough to predict the punchline, and that he doesn’t want Juno to speak inappropriately to Buddy)

JACKET: Shedidn’t open at the correct time. I became concerned.

BUDDY: Youtook the door off its hinges.

JACKET: Iwas deeply concerned.

I’d like to draw attention to the fact that by the end of Time Gone By, Jacket is starting to like Juno– you can tell that by the way he tries to take care of Juno in the last scene.

JACKET: Thesun is almost down. You areshivering.

JUNO: Yeah,well.

JACKET: Thereare coats downstairs—

JUNO: You reallyhave one of those Music Machine things up here too? Does anybody even go uphere?

JACKET: Wouldyou like me to turn it off?

JUNO: Didn’tsay that.

JUNO: StupidMusic Machine. Oughta be a law.

JACKET: Would you like me to turn itoff before we leave?

It’s the same way he shows affection to Buddy throughout the episode, and it’s not something he’s really shown toward Juno until this point, which is really sweet.

Sir Damien

I started to get some of that vibe from Sir Damien back when he was first introduced.

The first time we see him talking to Rilla, he’s recounting a story and she’s finishing his sentences, word for word– but he doesn’t catch on that she’s already heard the story that morning until she says so explicitly.

RILLA: (LAUGHS)DAMIEN: What is it? Is there something on my face? Have I done something foolish?RILLA: You told me all about your bedtime basilisk this morning, Damien. Remember? I made you the antidote to its poison.DAMIEN: Oh. Yes, I… suppose I did. (KotCLotS)

In that same exchange, he has to ask her outright why she’s laughing. He doesn’t immediately connect it to the fact that he’s retelling the story. He’s struggling with her body language, and it’s adding to his anxiety until she explains herself.

He doesn’t dwell on his insecurity with her, though– as soon as that’s out of the way, he’s excited again:

Well, I’m just… ecstatic! What luck, a monster trying to kill me in my sleep! And when Angelo nearly broke our tie with that soggy parrot in the caves! (KotCLotS)

I mentioned earlier the rule-oriented behaviors, particularly about small rules that someone like me would overlook as unimportant. Like my brothers? They don’t lie, and they get super upset when you try to fudge the rules to take advantage of a coupon, or something like that. I see that behavior in Damien:

DAMIEN: I’ve acted a terrible fiend just now. I have lied to you. Yes, I was worried I’d be bored. Yes, I was concerned about my competition with Sir Angelo. (KotCLotS)

RILLA: Come on, hold my hand. We’re going to look out over the Queen’s balcony.DAMIEN: But I’m only supposed to guard, not enter the— Rilla!

DAMIEN: I intend to have a fair fight, monster. Throw your knives, and I will throw my bow.

DAMIEN: Yes, she is certain to be furious with me. But it is to be my punishment and my penance. I challenged you to an unfair duel. I insisted we fight to my advantage. Half of my hands were armed, and only a fourth of yours were; an advantage two times over.

There’s this sequence:

DAMIEN: When�� when will we be married?RILLA: You know that, Damien. Soon.DAMIEN: But… why not marry during the Festival?RILLA: You want to get married tonight?DAMIEN: It wouldn’t have to be tonight! The Festival lasts three nights! We have two full days to prepare! (KotCLotS)

Let me tell you about a regular conversation I have with my younger brother:

Me: No, I can’t hang out tomorrow. I’m exhausted and I need to rest.Him: How about tomorrow morning, then?Me: No, I’ll be resting still.Him: How about tomorrow at noon?Me: No, I want spend the whole weekend resting.Him: How about Monday morning?Me: I don’t know. I can’t schedule things right now.Him: What time can I call you to schedule things?

It’s an awkward disconnect because he has trouble reading the underlying feelings behind my words– namely, that I’m too tired to even think about making plans– and I’m too tired to communicate clearly in a way that would satisfy him.

With Damien, his struggle to read Rilla’s unspoken meaning contributes to his anxiety:

Did I ask her when? I don’t recall. Did I ask her and she didn’t answer? What does that mean, Saint Damien? Does it mean she doesn’t want to marry me? That she doesn’t love me? Perhaps she doesn’t today. Perhaps she never has, or what if—

…Have I pressured her too much? No, no… but what if I have? What if I always have? I’ll have to ask her. I could go right now, it would be just a moment, but what if some foul beast should come when I am tending to my weakness of theheart, what if— (KotCLotS)

He needs to verbally ask her for clarification (which, honestly, is rarely a bad move in a relationship) becuase he doesn’t trust himself to interpret her nonverbal cues.

RILLA: I know it’s hard for you. I’ll say it as many times as I need to. I love you, Damien. (KotCLotS)

RILLA: Finally home. Saints, that was a longnight.

DAMIEN: Yes, long, but, well, enjoyable, I thought? You hada good time, I hope?

RILLA: I had a good time, Damien. I’m just tired.

DAMIEN: Tired? Have I tired you?

RILLA: Actually, staying up all night at the festival mademe tired. Weird, right?

DAMIEN:Yes, yes, that makes sense. (Moonlit Hermit)

There’s a recurring thing going on about the way Damien interacts with people. Rilla and Angelo are familiar with him and usually know how to help him when he gets worked up.

RILLA: If you have to, fine, but let it slow down first. Do you want me to sing to you?DAMIEN: I… I… (HEAVY BREATH) Always. (KotCLotS)

ANGELO: Well… come now, this isn’t like you at all! Why don’t you just speak your heart, like you always do? That always seems to lift your spirits. Except for when it, uh, sinks them. (KotCLotS)

ANGELO: Oh, he does this quite often, Sir Caroline. I’vefound it best to let him ride it out. (Lady of the Lake)

ANGELO: Here, see, thisis how you do it. Come up here, my friend. (HE PICKS DAMIEN UP)

DAMIEN: (YELPS AS HE GETS PICKED UP) Ah! Let me go, Sir Angelo! My Rilla, I have to findher, I have to—

ANGELO: Shh, now. Speak your heart, Sir Damien. You did nottell me about this lizard’s eyes before. Do they… (HOPEFUL, AND ALSO GIVING AWAY THE ENTIRE SECRET) … have some sort of powers of manipulation? (LotL)

DAMIEN: But Sir Angelo, I must speak my heart—

CAROLINE: Again?

ANGELO: No, no! I’ll stop you right there, friend. Take thistrial as progress in our mission. We will clear this curse upon the village ofBallast and come that much closer to understanding our adversary! (LotL)

For people who know and understand Damien, like Queen Mira, it’s simple enough to work with him to accomplish a task.

QUEEN: His single-mindedness mayirritate you, but I suggest you learn to use it. He will fight when injured. Hewill never rest. When Sir Damien’s been convinced the demons of his heart canbe quieted with an action he will perform that action to the ends of the earth. (LotL)

For someone like Sir Caroline, who doesn’t bother trying to figure him out and just expects him to interact with the world exactly like she does, there’s endless frustration.

CAROLINE: But Sir Damien… I’ve been searching for nearly twoweeks now, and I can find no reason you should keep him as close as you do.

Sir Angelo, myself, and at least half a dozenother knights are stronger fighters than he. When given a research task hecollects turns of phrase instead of information. (LotL)

SIRCAROLINE: You see, this was the second piece of advice I tookfrom you, my Queen: making use of what you called Sir Damien’s singlemindedness,and what I might refer to as his incessant need to think and talk about thesame topics for hours, days, and weeks at a time.

(Collecting turns of phrase when he should be researching also suggests that poetry is Damien’s Special Interest. His trademarked singlemindedness is itself one of those things that makes me think of autism.)

Like I mentioned with Jacket, it’s something that I’ve seen a lot of with my family, with my friends, and with my students, where a person goes into an interaction assuming that the other person is neurotypical, and they misinterpret nerodivergent behaviors as rudeness or stupidity; meanwhile somebody who’s familiar with how that person works can better explain or ask for clarification.

There are other little things that are harder to pin to one specific quote. He tends to ramble about one thing in particular for longer than some people may think is appropriate. He’s impeccably loyal to the Queen, to Rilla, and to Sir Angelo. The way he reacts to losing Rilla is itself uncannily reminiscent of the way my little brother has reacted to certain events– they seem disproportionate and extreme from an outsider’s perspective.

Of course, I don’t like spending too much time drawing parallels between Sir Damien and my brothers, because I write porn about Sir Damien, and I’d rather not ponder my brothers’ sex lives if it can be at all helped.

#theweefreewomen #the penumbra podcast #penumbra meta

55 notes · View notes

atlff18 · 7 years ago

Text

TULLY

This is multi Oscar nominated director Jason Reitman’s seventh feature film, Thank You For Smoking (2005), Juno (2007), Up In The Air (2009), being just some of them. It’s also his second film starring Oscar winner Charlize Theron (Young Adult (2011)) and his third time collaborating with screenwriter Diablo Cody who won an Oscar for her Juno screenplay.

The Story: Marlo, played by Theron, is a mother of two and has a third one on the way. Her husband Drew played by Ron Livingston (Swingers (1996), Office Space (1999)) is a busy guy at work but he helps out at home as best he can. It’s still a lot of exertion on the very pregnant Marlo—helping her six-year-old son Jonah whose autistic-leaning OCD is considered “quirky” by other adults, or trying to provide a normal school-mom situation for eight-year-old daughter Sarah—which prompts her very wealthy brother Craig, played by Mark Duplass (Zero Dark Thirty (2012), The League (2009)), to suggest a “night nanny,” someone who magically appears in the middle of the night to help with the newborn while mom and dad get some sleep.

Against her initial wishes and general feelings about having a stranger in the house, Marlo consents and Tully, the nanny, played by Machenzie Davis (The Martian (2015), TV’s Halt and Catch Fire (2014), Blade Runner 2049 (2017)) shows up bright eyed, young, and literary smart—in which she’s always quoting an author’s work as it pertains to life and, in particular, Marlo’s situation.

In general Tully’s whole vibe could be described as “granola,” a term Marlo might have used in her 20’s. Tully has a funny way of dropping in, to me, kind of like Robin Williams, as Mork (but on valium), popping in at the start of all those episodes of Mork and Mindy (1978). Maybe quirky is the better description for Tully, instead of for Jonah. All goes well with Tully, and Marlo seems to get her life back on track even though she knows this warm, calm, appealing patch in her life might end.

The Goods: The pregnancy and subsequent birth are almost everyday occurrences to Marlo and Drew, this being their third child; they display none of the usual nervousness, euphoria and joy that overcomes first time parents, mostly because they’re dead tired and probably more than we realize dreading what’s to come. Reitman does a good job of giving us their routine, and their Lego floor-covered house, while Marlo expresses very profane but excusable emotional outburst moments. Understandable for someone who might be past her due-date.

The first part of the film, probably the first fifteen minutes is almost documentary-like in the camera’s attempt to stay on Marlo and record her day. Something that is Reitman’s forte. Reitman himself says people can quickly spot “BS” and his job as a director is to provide the truth of the character, story and location which he seems to always do quite well. In that regard, once you add in the real-life comedic tones and the relationship themes, the situational and sometimes episodic nature of humanity, while still appealing to as economically wide an audience as possible, Reitman comes off looking more like the James L. Brooks (Broadcast News (1987), As Good As It Gets (1997), Terms of Endearment (1983)) of our generation.

Whereas Up In The Air is quite cold figuratively and literally, and the colors of blue and grey are so pervasive—in tone and hue—it matches the film’s characters and their dilemmas. Tully is the opposite, the palate is inviting, almost grounded, slightly cheery, earthy…it’s comfortable, yet the central character still has troubles. Troubles that seem to be set to an ironic color scheme, providing the film with quite a palpable subliminalness that makes you feel like things aren’t quite right. And they aren’t if you consider how perfect and idyllic events eventually build for Marlo. A recurring blue water, mermaid motif helps drive the point home that mom often feels “under water.” And that things are sort of brewing under the surface.

The Flaws: But the upbeat tenor to the film, that things have really changed for the best for Marlo, after Tully’s arrival, goes on for a long time. Usually something traumatic happens when goodness is at this magnitude. It’s part of the DNA of storytelling, that an event occurs that causes a shift. You just know that something is going to happen. And in most films it does, especially at a certain script point, in exact page count, on page fifteen or twenty, for a ninety minute film…ninety pages, ninety minutes. This film is right on the money in terms of beats and turns. I would check my watch every time I felt like we were taking a turn or hitting a plot point and it was pretty much right on—just about every fifteen minutes. The Cinderella story pattern of a staircase that continues to climb toward a crescendo. But while the film does have this fantastic timing in terms of plot development its pattern is more of an incline. A straight ride up with no downs, no insteps.

Tully’s biggest flaw, then, in my opinion is that that conflict laden moment, that huge turn for the worse, or major turn in direction—and conflict in general after Tully arrives—takes a very, very long time to land. We’ve been conditioned if you will to look for this, from all the films we see. And without it some might find Tully difficult to watch—difficult in the sense it’s all too good to be true, too sugary. I think Ridley Scott had this same dilemma in The Martian where there was no real doubt or fear for the audience that the character couldn’t overcome any obstacle. But at least he had obstacles.

That “conflict delay” in Tully, especially in the films longest act, makes for a distraction that does, very gently, remove you from the film. Even though, for me, Tully has a better delivery all around than The Martian, you still can’t help but wonder when will all of this positivity come crashing down. When will the drama appear. At the same time however, isn’t this how depression exists? Long periods of denial, camouflaged as a good time; masked by ecstatic moments? It’s probably not a coincidence then that I mentioned Robin Williams. May he rest in peace.

Too, I did see these defined breaks in Tully as episodes. And I thought for a moment, as a Hollywood film with a theatrical release, this is how you combat episodic binge viewable shows on streaming channels. A really good thing for theatrical releases, or, for tying into audiences’ stream awareness these days. You incorporate the episodes into the film. And every “episode” in Tully seems to come with a zinger of a comedic punchline. These are Cody’s strongest one liners to date. And the script is so tight it can be held up as a model of efficiency.

But there needs to be more conflict as we head to that climactic moment.

The Call: Without a doubt Tully is a film to see in theaters. Spend the ten. It’s comedic, it’s dramatic, and it nails pregnancy and postpartum depression better than any educational video, movie or book I’ve seen or read. Diablo went to Reitman with the idea, he said it sounded good and she wrote the script in six weeks. She says she wrote from her own experience which is Cody’s gift. And Reitman says he, Charlize and Diablo being of the same age and sort of in the same boat of family and parenthood could work well with the script, as they did in Young Adult. In this regard Cody, and Theron, are able to provide for us the subtle and strikingly direct experience of pregnancy and child care like few others. And Reitman, Cody and Theron put this tender experience on a coaster, on a night stand, under a warm lamp, at bed time, as a night time story and glass of water…a glass half empty, then brimming, before we eventually quench our thirst.

Tully is probably Reitman’s most poetic film to date—once you see how everything pans out, that warm, orange glow versus the extreme cool, blue undercurrent—you’ll realize just how strategic and well thought-out the whole darn thing is.

Rated R for language and some sexuality/nudity. Running time is 1 hour and 36 minutes. Tully is currently making the festival rounds and will be released in theaters May 4, 2018. Jason Reitman made an appearance in Atlanta where Tully was screened as part of the Atlanta Film Festival.

By Jon Lamoreaux

#atlff #atlff2018 #atlanta #CharlizeTheron #film #Oscars #mark duplass #ron livingston #mackenzie davis #dramedy #poetry #postpartum #diablo cody

2 notes · View notes

jonlamoreaux · 7 years ago

Text

TULLY

This is multi Oscar nominated director Jason Reitman’s seventh feature film—Thank You For Smoking (2005), Juno (2007), Up In The Air (2009), being just some of them. It’s also his second film starring Oscar winner Charlize Theron (Young Adult (2011)) and his third time collaborating with screenwriter Diablo Cody who won an Oscar for her Juno screenplay.

But there needs to be more conflict as we head to that climactic moment.

By Jon Lamoreaux

0 notes

focalwriterworks · 7 years ago

Text

TULLY