Maybe one of the most important things that we should hold onto from when we’re kids is our dreams. Sometimes as we get older, we loose sight of the things that we once held onto and guided us. As we get older, sometimes we let go, and we get lost.

Maybe it’s a lack of self confidence or maybe it’s just growing up – but we let go. We forget the things that made us who we are. Maybe the beauty of life is that we have people to remind us and we don’t become skeptics. We need someone to remind us what the beauty of dreams is.

Junebug is that movie for me.

For Juniper the road to remembering what she once wanted starts with her parents delivering her “wish box” that she’s forgotten about. Work is chaos, life is chaos, and she doesn’t think that she has time for anything in life that could bring her pure joy.

She’s lost the color in her world and is surviving in a world of neutral colors and routines.

Junebug has settled for the place that she is in her life. Ethan, her boyfriend, wants to give her a pen for her birthday. Her 40th milestone birthday. Luckily she was a best friend that reminds her that she deserves better. And then luckily she remembers that and eventually lets him see the door.

Reading her wishes that she’s left behind, she awakes to her younger self and thinks she’s lost her mind. But maybe the connection to her younger self is what she’s been missing. She doesn’t want to believe that she’s seeing herself and her younger self just wants to help.

I think that the beauty from the beginning of Junebug is the instant reminder that connecting with who we once were. Connecting with our inner child is a beautiful things if we just allow ourself to accept that just because you grow up, doesn’t mean that you have to let go.

When you are an adult, yes, you have to make compromises, but I don’t believe that you have to compromise ones soul.

Alex Ripley is also running from life. After a savage review of his art work, he’s not really been seen from since. He doesn’t want to illustrate. And he doesn’t want to say why. But Junipers younger self doesn’t want her to give up.

TBH only 28 minutes into Junebug, I was a mess. I was filled with tears. The moment that Autumn Reeser brings Junipers acceptance of seeing her younger self to life was something that broke me. It was such a simple moment, a simple facial expression, and yet it was everything. It was a moment that I had to press pause and wonder – what had I forgotten about being young? What had I forgotten about my dreams?

The way that Autumn Reeser brings the characters that she plays to life is something that you don’t see in a lot of actresses. She’s got this moment in all of her movies where you forget that it’s Autumn and you believe that she’s speaking to you and for you. You believe that this character somehow is everything that you want to be, that it understands all of the pain, anguish, joy, and laughter that you experience. And the way that Reeser brings her characters to life reminds you of just that.

Aaron O’Connell isn’t someone that I have watched in a lot of things, but quite frankly I enjoyed him and I believed in the chemistry that him and Reeser share on the screen. Their characters challenge each other and that is beautiful. The way that they make each other stop and take a second look at the hopes and dreams that each one has – one can only hope that you can find that kind of chemistry in real life.

I know that with all movies, there is going to be some part that is going to break you – that you’re going to have to make a choice. You’re going to have to decide who you are rooting for and what it means. You’re going to have to take a second to think about if your “ship” is worth fighting for. For me, it normally takes a second to get there, but instantly I was there. Together or apart I was fighting for Juniper and Alex. I wanted them to succeed in everything that they needed and wanted.

The subtle nuances in this movie – the way that there are a lot of little changes that you see when you are paying attention – you see that this movie is a break from the norm. But what I loved the most about this movie was that it wasn’t about just the romance or the dreams that one has or even the embracing ones inner child – it was about the beautiful moments where you realize are a cumulation of things.

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Life is a cumulation of things. You just have to take a second to believe in those things and yourself.

It’s if we take the time to see that all the moments can connect us to who we are, well, that’s the beauty in life. Life isn’t about settling, it’s about connecting and believing.

And may we all have the ability to reconnect with our inner child to guide the way.

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Side Note: Mila Jones, you are a light and a star. You really made this movie too.

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Harold and the Purple Crayon is probably a great movie, if you’re a pre-teen. I’m not sure kids much older than that will enjoy it too much. The characters and plot are all obvious and I didn’t get the feeling that the moral of the story really had any impact.

It’s difficult to really tell what the moral of the story is. There’s the “don’t be evil” aspect, but that’s fairly obvious. And there’s a little of the “believe in yourself” story, but that again isn’t well done in the movie. The main character only looses faith in himself for about two minutes of the story.

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There’s a little bit of the “parent’s should believe/support their children’s needs” but that too doesn’t really land. I think the story tries to have a few moral lessons and the result is that none of them really stand out.

Maybe the moral of the story is: writers should stick to only one moral of the story.

All of that aside, the antics and imagination of Harold’s drawing adventures are probably appealing to a very young five-to-ten year old children. The movie does have a 92% by the audience at RottenTomatoes, so someone enjoyed it. The critics however did not enjoy it.

Grade: B

About The Peetimes: This is a short movie, only about 80 minutes without the end credits. I would recommend the first Peetime. It’s the easiest to summarize. Neither of the Peetimes has any crazy antics that kids enjoy.

There are extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Plot
Inside of his book, adventurous Harold can make anything come to life simply by drawing it. After he grows up and draws himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world, Harold finds he has a lot to learn about real life.

Nanban Oruvan Vantha Piragu Movie Review: As if Anand (Meesaya Murukku fame Anant Ram) has recorded daily vlogs of his life or has written a personal journal, noting intricate details, Nanban Oruvan Vantha Piragu captures every stage of his journey with the utmost patience (the viewer too is expected to stay patient to reap the joy of watching this film). He unpacks the events right from 1992, which marks the debut of two people: Anand’s birth and AR Rahman’s entry into Tamil cinema. So, like a twin, Rahman’s songs always tag along with him.

Peppered with the 90s magic of Colony Friends, games like Seven Stones and WWE trump cards, Superstar and Thala references, CSK vs MI street fights and more, the delightful template of Tamil cinema’s coming-of-age film is brightly apparent. There isn’t much innovation either. Instead, Anant trusts the story of this man and the nostalgia it evokes – seeing someone wrestle with life’s obstacles and finally accomplish is any day audience’s favorite. The only trick is to get the emotions right, and with a dedicated cast and sincerity in writing, Anant smartly makes us root for him. He also has a knack for humour and isn’t hesitant to use memes in a film to convey the character’s thoughts. Sample this: When a scared young man enters the premises of his engineering college and is taken aback by the half-built premises, stone-like food, and other disappointing events, it’s compared to a scene from Chandramukhi where they detect the presence of evil. As if on cue, you’re in splits, reminiscing all your college memories. This sequence also plays right after an emotional conversation he has with his father and the shift in mood is so seamless. With Elango Kumaravel passionately playing the role of Anand’s father and VJ Vijay breathing life into the role of a cherished best friend, we are just drawn to empathise and relate to this world that’s formulaic but sweetly familiar.

The viewing experience of the film feels like reading a personal journal within two hours – intriguing but tiring – because of the film’s pace and detailing. You understand the need to show each stage of Anand’s life and how the people around him shape it – every time he falls, someone helps him get up; when he financially faces troubles, his best friend is always ready to pitch in; his parents don’t have the power to get him a job but are willing to spend all their life’s earnings to ensure he gets the best education possible. However, even with so many people trusting and supporting him, Anand fights and flounders. For most of the second half, Anand is seen crying, unable to iron out all the kinks and probably, we all see a little of us in him. We’re also reminded of too many films, thanks to the countless stories in this genre and Anant’s determination not to try anything different. But because we see a semblance of ourselves, our friends, and our own lives on screen, we are ready to overlook the slow pace, the unnecessarily dragged-out sequences, the overfed montages of memories, and the film’s several other flaws.

Anand yearns to get back home, relish the simplest of joys, and be around his friends and family, and at the end of the day, that’s what we wish for too. So, having taken a trip down memory lane, we walk out of the theatre happy and hopeful, and like Venkat Prabhu (in a cameo) tells Anand, “Isn’t life all about these little moments?”

Written By: Harshini SV