LD's Guide to Japan

Meeting amazing people aside, last night was a great experience.  It was my very first screening with panel discussion afterwards.  And Away We Go was a great movie.  Like, I wish I could watch it again right now.  I think a lot of my favorite movies are ones in which the character(s) take a journey of some kind: The Darjeeling Limited (through a nation), Eternal Sunshine (through memories), Lost In Translation (through a city), Harold and Kumar go to White Castle (for munchies), Little Miss Sunshine (for family), Children of Men (for the future of mankind), The Fall, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Princess Mononoke, Slumdog Millionaire even.  As director Sam Mendes said, a journey makes for a wonderful (and easy) narrative form—it has a clear beginning, middle, and end, with chapters along the way.

In Away We Go, soon-to-be parents Burt and Verona (played by John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) take a journey to find a home where they can start a family.  Along the way they see extreme caricatures of families that are hilarious, shocking, embarassing, and heartbreaking.  It’s a through-the-looking-glass sort of journey, except it’s just as much about Alice as it is about Wonderland (if not moreso).  Maya and John give top-knotch performances, proving that they can lead a feature.  The supporting cast is brilliant.  The cinematography is excellent.  The soundtrack (by Alexi Murdoch) is perfectly fitting.

I gave Away We Go 5 stars on Netflix and I’ll stand by that rating.