Wednesday, February 13, 2008

i don't know about Juno and Kimya Dawson

I was recently in a store of unmentionables.

In this store they were playing the Juno soundtrack. In several songs there was this girl who sang songs of incredible-sounding innocence. Like she came from a family where they forced her to sing cute songs that she did not want to sing. They would occasionally back her up.

While I could see considerable merit in what she was doing, I did not like it.

I would later find that this was one Kimya Dawson. Of the Moldy Peaches. One of those bands that the painfully indie in NYC would pander to like crazy. I was suspicious and did something I don't normally like to do, let the bad album reviews completely steer me away from listening.

But now here she is. There is a Village Voice article talking about the Juno and Kimya Dawson phenomenon. I've yet to see Juno, and now I'm even more unsure:

It is sweet and heartwarming and winsome in its utter preposterousness. Just the fakest dialogue imaginable. Pop-culture-savvy sarcasm as suburban religion. Teenagers who talk like thirtysomething screenwriters. "Cool" parents who talk like teenage screenwriters. A 16-year-old heroine who actually says things like "Just looking to secure a hasty abortion!" and "Just dealing with things way outside my maturity level!" and (grits teeth) "Swear to blog!" Just appallingly cute cute cute CUTE CUTE. You'll probably really like it.


They go on to mention a slight Garden State effect: "The Shins will change your life"

But seriously, "SWEAR TO BLOG"?!?!?!?!

I can't stand that kind of fake not-so-clever dialogue. The Gilmore Girls were built on that and it made me squirm during the few moments I could stand to watch it.

In any case, this is all incredibly presumptive as I've not seen the movie.

Still, Kimya Dawson does not want her stardom. I will agree with her on this. Please stop listening to Kimya Dawson in shops. I'll do my part. I'm hoping this will go the whole way of the cutesy 'twee' movement that indie rockers were hustling for during the late-90's - early aughts.

I can't totally hate tho. I did find her straightforwardness and minimalist performances to work quite well.

Its just gross.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Juno is entertaining, does it deserved all the praise and say Oscar nominations? Probably not, it seems to be ridding on the coattails of Little Miss Sunshine.

If you have limited time and money to spend on cinema, don't see it, see There will be Blood, which is excellent and looks beautiful projected. Juno would be the good to watch on an airplane. It's a few steps up from most schlock and you wouldn't miss anything.

Also I completely agree about Kimya Dawson.

Unknown said...

I think your suspicions about Juno are right. Having seen it, I have to say it was like chewing celluloid sprinkled heavily with nutrasweet, while listening to what sounded like a children's album composed entirely by a young girl who has an unreasonable affection for puppies, rainbows, and cupcakes.

But that's me.