Ellen Page--The Next Lillian Gish?

Rating: 6/10 (2 May 2008)

Because of my deafness, I watched Juno with closed captions (like subtitles) to let deaf and hard of hearing viewers to understand and enjoy. I'm not able to comment on the music soundtrack nor the tone or meaning in the actors' voices. I, like other deaf individuals, depend on our next best available sense: sight. We rely on sight to get information, thus the underlying and intrinsic "voice" in my comments.
Granted that the storyline is not entirely original and, in varying degrees, simplistic, contrived and lacking taste in few spots such as an early scene on the toilet and removing the underwear (which I felt could have been left out), what I saw were subtle humor, honesty and Ellen Page's performance as the redeeming qualities. To be nominated for the best picture by Academy Awards is a stretch but to have had nominated Ellen Page in the acting category isn't at all.
Of all the 2007 Academy Award best actress nominees, I saw only Marion Cotillard's and Ellen's performances, thus unable to comment on other nominees. Though I very much feel that Marion herself thoroughly deserves her Best Actress Oscar award, I'd think Ellen as a worthy contender (probably along with Julie Christie)
Her performance reminds me of Pauline Kael's critique of Lillian Gish's performance in The Scarlet Letter (1926): "...one of the most beautifully sustained performances in screen history - mercurial, delicate, passionate...it's as if no bones, no physical barriers, stood between her intuitive understanding of the role and her expression of it." This is also how I feel about Ellen's performance. She would make Lillian Gish feel proud.
On the other hand, I feel the subject of teen pregnancies among young women of colors should have been presented in Hollywood movies. The options for black and Hispanic teen mothers are entirely different and they shouldn't be pigeonholed. that's my two cents