The United States of Canadia: Reflections on rootlessness in movies
I have no beef with the good people of Canada. They have a beautiful country with an above-average health-care system and below-average bacon. And their film crews operate with consummate professionalism. I understand that economic reality dictates that many mid-to-low-budget American movies be made north of the border, and I’d much rather a good script be shot in Vancouver or Toronto than not at all.
Typically, an American movie made in Canada takes at least a few superficial measures to create an impression that it’s taking place in the United States. If the studio thinks highly enough of the movie, it may even spring for the second unit to travel south and gather some footage in the actual location. A narrative film is a work of artifice, after all, despite the camera’s capacity for realism. But window-dressing shots of the Detroit or New York skyline satisfy the basic concept of setting, our need to believe the movie is rooted in a specific time and place.
But two recent good scripts illustrate a troubling trend: movies shot in Canada that don’t even bother to hide it anymore. “Lars and the Real Girl” and “Juno,” two intelligent, offbeat romantic comedies, each take place in a northern suburb of nowhere. Setting is never established — the only clue is that winter means there’s invariably snow on the ground. “Lars,” with its fondness for Scandinavian names, faintly suggests Minnesota. One might conclude that it also celebrates a particularly Lutheran industrious togetherness, but the religion practiced by the community is never named, despite its importance to the principal characters.
Clearly at the behest of director Craig Gillespie, the actors in “Lars and the Real Girl” eschew regional specificity. Occasionally the faintest hint of Minnesota’s Scandinavian-inflected vowels will slip through. But Gillespie appears determined to avoid accents like those we heard in “Fargo.” I understand the impulse to distance the audience from such a distinct and memorable movie, but one of the reasons “Fargo” was so distinct is that people actually talk like that there! The “yas” and “ya betchas” provided invaluable regional color. The accents didn’t marginalize the characters, as Gillespie seems to fear — they brought them to life. But even if they wanted to, the cast of “Lars” would likely struggle to sound like they’re from where the movie sort-of takes place. In the principal roles, Gillespie casts a Canadian (Ryan Gosling), a Brit (Emily Mortimer), a Californian (Kelli Garner) and two Southerners (Paul Schneider and Patricia Clarkson). All swallow their accents with varying success; their voices merge into a flavorless stew.
“Juno” dismisses the importance of setting even more brazenly. All we know is that it snows and, as in “Lars,” not many minorities live there. (”Lars” does better with the race issue, including a black couple who provide silent commentary on the difficulties endured by minorities in whitewashed communities. “Juno,” meanwhile, has a couple Asians whose ethnicity we’re supposed to find cute.) Both of “Juno’s” young leads, Ellen Page as a smart, irony-loving teen who becomes pregnant and Michael Cera as the meek father, are Canadian. Page sounds like it, too, every time she says “abooot” — the director, Quebec-born, L.A.-bred Jason Reitman, must have noticed this, so I can only conclude he didn’t give a damn. The supporting adults — Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney and J.K. Simmons — hail from divergent spots around the U.S.
“Juno” is supposed to be about one remarkable teen who comes of age as she comes to term. But we learn less about the title character than we should, because we don’t know where she’s from. The movie gains nothing from taking place in an anonymous anysuburb. It pays lip service to the politics of abortion — which I suspect are markedly different in the United States and Canada.
Some of my favorite movies so strongly identify with their setting that they take it as a title — “Nashville,” “Manhattan,” “Chinatown.” And the crew never has to even visit the actual location to conjure it convincingly. “The Philadelphia Story,” shot at MGM studios in Culver City, wasn’t about the buildings in Philadelphia; it was about the city’s old-world attitudes, and it nailed them. “Donnie Darko” was shot in Southern California, but as someone who grew up in writer-director Richard Kelly’s native Virginia, I absolutely believed I was back there, in 1988. I think very few great movies take place nowhere in particular. One exception is “Blue Velvet,” with its sinister implication that these disturbing events could be happening in any Middle American suburb. But even “Blue Velvet” was a peculiarly American commodity, one that spoke to American anxieties and desires. “Juno” and “Lars and the Real Girl” are very good movies, but they could never be great, because they’re so cavalier about one of the core principles of drama. The time: present day. The place: Who knows?
Actually Juno takes place in Minnesota, and there are tons of references to it in the script. St. Cloud, Ridgedale Mall, etc.
Stefanie
16 Dec 07 at 2:28 pm
Also, the writer Diablo Cody is from Minneapolis.
Stefanie
16 Dec 07 at 2:30 pm
Thank you, Stefanie, for setting me straight. I truly appreciate the knowledge. However, after some consideration, I’ve concluded that it does little to undercut my argument. I’m glad the writer had a specific place in mind — that excuses her, to some extent, from culpability for the movie’s rootlessness. The blame, then, falls upon the director, who does next to nothing to emphasize the setting. He clearly thinks it’s unimportant. It’s a relief to learn that St. Cloud and Ridgedale Mall are real places in Minnesota, but those names are so generic-sounding that viewers could just as easily suspect they’re made-up. I heard them, but they meant nothing to me, and there’s no way they could have unless I’d been there. Dropping a few hints to Minnesotans isn’t good enough.
Ben
21 Dec 07 at 1:15 am
I live in MPLS, and knowing that the writer was from there was a big joy and an impetus to see it, and I loved those couple of references (I have friends in Stillwater), but I have to agree. I just saw it tonight and thought it was damn near perfect, but that was definitely something that it could have nailed down more. If that one character was a musician, why no references to Husker Du or the Replacements? And if they had done any research, they would’ve known that anybody wanting to recapture a rock’n'roll youth would NOT move to downtown (downtown is the one stupid part of Minneapolis).
I agree, placelessness is not a virtue and it doesn’t garner identification with the audience. Shame, cuz most of the movie was so wonderful for its specificity!
Ed
23 Dec 07 at 11:07 pm
Mankato is also mentioned which is another town within Minnesota
Peter
28 Dec 07 at 12:58 am
I just saw the movie Juno and thought it was great. But I do agree that it was frustrating to me that the setting was so unidentifiable. Something about it created this great need in me to find out exactly what town was home to this story.
I actually live in Stillwater, MN. So, you’d think I would have been able to recognize something…at least catch a good hint. But when the step-mom mentioned the urn she “picked up down in Stillwater,” I had to wonder what other Stillwater there was up North. The kid who leant a clue about visiting his brother at college in Mankato still did not convince me. And Ridgedale Mall…isn’t that just the perfect name for a generic any-mall USA (or Canada I guess)? I finally conceded to the fact that they were trying for Minnesota (though I’m still not sure what town or suburb) when they called the adoptive parents’ town St. Cloud.
I still think something was off. Too bad a film about MN couldn’t be shot here…there aren’t that many Minneapolis-set movies out there. And let’s get real, there’s a feel about this place you just can’t fabricate.
Jess
2 Jan 08 at 6:28 pm
This movie has more than just “dropping a few hints to Minnesotans” as to the location. If you are paying attention even a little bit you’ll see several things besides the real place names such as Mankato, St. Cloud (which is northeast of Minneapolis), the Ridgedale Mall (in Minnetonka I believe), and other “hints” such as Cera’s switch plate cover that reads “I-90″, etc. There are several very clear, relative close-ups of vehicle license plates that read “Minnesota”.
The movie was called “Juno” because it is about a girl named “Juno”. “A Northern Suburb of Minneapolis” or some other defining place name would be nonsensical as the setting is already quite clear if you can read a license plate and it really isn’t a story about the location, but the characters.
We went to the movie with some friends that are new to our area (Iowa) but have been to Minneapolis several times and they agreed with us that many of the characters sounded like real people in the twin cities (not the over the top accents like in Fargo). Yes, you will find some people in Minnesota who sound like that but not so much in Minneapolis. Allison Janney did a great job hitting the accent properly (although her intentionally stronger accent in “Drop Dead Gorgeous” was appropriate because it took place in a fictional small town in Minnesota (”Mount Rose”)).
I don’t expect you to agree, but saying that there were only “hints” as to the location is silly when even my 5 year old can recognize state names on license plates and signs.
Red
13 Jan 08 at 1:32 am
Correction to my above post, St. Cloud is northWEST of Minneapolis.
Red
13 Jan 08 at 1:34 am
One thing I noticed is that the mascot was the dancing elk condors, and a town that is about a half hour south of st. cloud, and about an hour north of stillwater is elk river, home of the elks. maybe it is a possibility, or just a coincidence that the production company has the same name.
D
13 Jan 08 at 1:54 pm
I may have been a little over the top in my comments on Juno’s setting. Everyone loves a little hyperbole (or so I figure). I only wanted to voice my agreement with the blog’s author on the value of shooting a movie in the actual location in which its story was set.
You can call a thing whatever you would like, but the act of naming will not make it become that something. A rose by any other name, right? Slap MN license plates on a few vehicles and perfect the accent if you will. I appreciate the efforts, but the fact is that not as many viewers would buy it if you shot a film Canada and attempted to pass it off as a “New York” suburb.
I’m glad your 5 year old can read.
However, to me, signs, place names, and even accents don’t fully convey the feeling of being in a certain place. Especially a place with an identity like Minnesota. Sure, it likely fools the masses, and I doubt many people left that theater with the same wonderings that I did. But, I’m still left feeling like a little something was missing. I loved the film…loved the title…loved the actors…would recommend it to almost anyone. I’m not asking for a caricature or cartoon portrayal. I only wish a good film like this had the opportunity to be shot on site–to clench the title of “great” through a genuine sense of place…instead of a manufactured one.
Jess
13 Jan 08 at 4:15 pm
I just had to make a quick comment here too cause I was so intrigued with this movie, I too wanted to find out what town it was being “placed” in and noticed the debate about location. If you remember when she’s looking for the abortion ad, the page they showed had a telephone number… the area code was 320. That’s basically an area north of the Minnesota River, west of the Twin Cities and South of the Mississippi to a certain point. So that’s what told me it was in MN. Just wanted to throw that out there for you!
Mindy
28 Jan 08 at 6:03 pm
so since it mentions St. Cloud and the ridgedale mall, and mancado does anyone know exactly im MN they are trying to portray?? cause that would be cool to know.
Andy Paulson
3 Feb 08 at 9:09 pm
Just found out the writer of the screenplay was from Robbinsdale, MN…a suburb just northwest of Minneapolis proper. Pretty cool. Maybe this was an influence on her setting, and possibly the “home” of our beloved Juno.
Jess
4 Feb 08 at 5:30 pm
that could be very true cause robbinsdale is about an hour from st. cloud and only about 20 mins from ridgedale mall, its also about an hour from mankato. so setting it in robbinsdale is very plausible.
Andy Paulson
7 Feb 08 at 2:05 am
Didn’ t they say on the movie that they were an hour west of St. Cloud, which woiuld put them in the Alexandria, Glenwood region?
Jim VanDam
3 May 08 at 10:46 pm
I think Diablo Cody wanted to create a ficticous suburb loosely based upon where she grew up and focus on the storyline. I think they actually did a very good job of locating it in Minnesota. There are characters wearing Vikings, Wild and North Star Jerseys, the references to St. Cloud, Stillwater, and Mankato, the convenience story scene with Rainn Wilson has a Minnesota state lottery sign, 320 area code, the multiple Minnesota license plates. That’s a lot of attention to detail. I think they actually did an extraordinary job of placing it in Minnesota for anyone who is truly interested in placing it. For most viewers it’s clear enough that they are in a random suburb. Many people might actually prefer to feel like it could be happening in a surburb they themselves have lived in. I get your point about shooting on actual location, but movies are all about imagery. Sometimes a location provides a better presentation than the actual location. It’s been Hollywood’s m.o. for decades to shoot in a location that gives them the best opportunity to tell their story, and that’s not always the actual physical location. Cost is also a factor. It costs a lot more to shoot in Minnesota than in Vancouver and this was a small budget movie. Overall I think they captured the Minnesota feel pretty well and made a good movie that anyone can enjoy. And if someone were truly interested in placing it could do so by paying attention to some of the finer details.
J
7 Dec 08 at 1:48 am
Thank you J for all your very accurate comments. I heard all the references to MN towns, which Minnesotans would recognize but the general public would not. Who cares. What I noticed was the choice in houses in Juno’s neighborhood. They were exactly the little small cracker boxes with the 11″ wide siding from the 50’s or 70’s. I thought the housing was very believable. You have to be from MN to know that kind of housing, though. I don’t think the location is that important for this kind of a movie. In fact, I would think Diablo Cody would like this story to relate to people all over the country because teen pregnancy can happen all over the country and the world. Maybe it’s just Minnesotans who are so curious to know where it was filmed because of all the MN references that are so easy to see and hear in the movie. I know I made an effort to read the credits to see where it was filmed. Slightly disappointed it wasn’t filmed here, but also realized it’s cheaper to film it in Canada, though not by much.
Robbie
4 Feb 10 at 5:11 pm