BACKGROUND:
The film has won numerous awards, mostly at international festivals such as 2006 Sydney Film Festival and prestigious critics award institutes such as the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Experiencing alot of hype after it's US release in July '06, it went on to win various screenplay awards and all of it's actors were praised for their heart-felt performances. Dustin Hoffman, commenting on Abigail Breslin (playing Olive, the young central character), said it was one of the best performances that had seen in his entire life.

"Little Miss Sunshine" is directed by husband-wife team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. They are extremely successful music video directors, working with bands such as Oasis, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and REM. Whilst many video directors have made unsuccessful attempts at movie directing, the Dayton & Faris team here have created a minor masterpiece, earning four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Fox Searchlight Pictures purchased the script for the film for $250,000 from a debuting screenwriter, and brought Dayton & Faris on board to inject some quirkiness into the project.

THE FILM:
'Sunshine' is ultimately a road movie; a journey involving a dysfunctional family who are travelling with Olive, a young girl who is desperate to attend a beauty pageant called "Little Miss Sunshine. They spend their journey in a nostalgic yellow and white VW van, reluctantly revived specifically for the journey.

Established in the opening ten minutes is the Hoover family - Sheryl Hoover (Toni Collette) is the sole breadwinner, as husband Richard Hoover (Greg Kinnear) struggles to get his motivational business idea off the ground. Her son from a previous marriage is Dwayne (Paul Dano), an angst-ridden teenager who has become voluntarily mute until he becomes a test pilot for the air force. Sheryl's brother Frank (Steve Carell) is a suicidal professor, severely depressed after his gay lover left him for an academic rival. Richard's father Edwin (Alan Arkin), is a crude, outspoken pensioner with wild moral opinions, intent on living his final years with a debauched bang. Finally, there is Olive (Abigail Breslin), the youngest of the family - an intelligent, curious little girl who is obsessed with beauty pageants and their idealistic aspects.

HUMOUR:
The main element of the film is humour. It runs throughout the film, and I think it's this that helps brighten various grave scenes. The humour, often quite dark, permeates the more serious circumstances. A good example is a scene in which a police officer pulls them over - after finding porn mag's in their trunk, he is oblivious to the grandpa's dead body sitting in front of him. (Watch the film for an explanation.)

When watching this film, I got the impression that the husband-wife directing team really understood the dynamics of a family, where tense confrontations can often be dissipated by a child's humorous remark. In one memorable scene, the uncle's suicide is lightened by a conversation in which he attempts to explain to young Olive the complications surrounding gay relationships and betrayal. She innocently remarks: "You fell in love with a boy? That's silly."

Little moments like this make this film a joy to watch - Olive's pure innocence comes through powerfully with her performance, making her easily the best character in the film. Abigail Breslin, playing Olive, is a talented little actress - understandably nominated for Best Supporting Actress at both the BAFTA's and Academy Awards (making her the youngest actress ever nominated).

Many of the films humorous scenes are also very poignant - upon hearing the news of her father-in-law's death, Olive's mother breaks down. Dwayne turns to Olive, writing "Go Hug Mom" on a notepad. Scenes like this will be familiar to any viewer with siblings, and is one of many that divert from the sometimes over-exaggerated comedy elements.

T H E M E S

SHATTERED DREAMS:
The characters in 'Sunshine' are all linked in their quest to fulfill individual dreams, which are all unaccomplished. Aside from the obvious pageant dream of Olive's, her older brother Dwayne's is adamant with becoming a test pilot - this dream is shattered by a seemingly mundane revelation half way through the film. Frank's dream of finding love and becoming a respected professor have been crushed by the revelation of a rival lover. Richard, the father, dreams of victory and family perfection. This is perfectly epitomised by a scene where he is pulled over, when he nervously shouts "Oh my God, I'm getting pulled over. Everyone, just...pretend to be normal." He is desperate to convey a sense of success, in both life and business, but never gets there.

SYMBOLISM:
There is an impressive sense of symbolism prevalent in all of the characters lives. They all have weaknesses, and this is often symbolised by iconic items. The grandpa - after an evidently heavy life - clings on to his only stimulation, heroin. Dwayne weakness is his inability to talk through his problems (understandably with such a troubled family), and he carries notepad & paper in order to communicate. Sheryl, the mother, is the sole breadwinner of the family, relying on cigarettes to ease her stress. Richard's weakness is his inability to realise that life cannot be categorised into winners and losers. Unusually, even the VW van has it's own flaw - it's broken clutch requires the entire family to knuckle in and help them get back on the road to the pageant, symbolising the film's core problem.

JOURNEYS:
As a road movie, the film is typically heavily themed with the idea of journeys, which are neatly tied up towards the end of the film. Olive's journey is that of naivety, developing into a more mature understanding of life - surrounded by elders, she experiences advice and criticism from various angles. Her father aspires her to be a winner, NOT a loser (as he emphasises), telling her that skinny is beautiful, that being fat is a failure and never to aspire to such an image. In one great scene the rest of the family humorously encourage Olive to eat ice cream, both teaching her the unimportance of beauty, and flouting the father's ridiculous ideologies.

Finally, the grandpa forms an important figure in his grandchildren's journeys - he is eager to teach both that life is short, so live it to its full. He fills their heads with foul-mouthed advice - such as telling Dwayne to sleep with as many women...("not just one woman...ALOT of women...") as possible.

Through the journey to his sister's pageant, Dwayne finds solace in his suicidal uncle Frank. They both help each other realise the importance of life, and the unimportance of sticking to unrealistic aspirations. Dwayne memorably says: "Life is one fucking beauty contest after another. If I want to fly, I'll find a way to fly. You do what you love, and **** the rest."

CONCLUSION:
This film is both a comforting and eye-opening film, in terms of its handling of difficult and familiar family dilemmas. It demonstrates a united family strength, perfectly symbolised by the dvd cover - the whole family pushing the heavy VW, epitomising a dysfunctional family overlooking their individual issues in order to fulful a young girl's dream.

The idea of "Winning, not losing" is a premise that is examined throughout the film, perfectly dismissed by the film's climatic Beauty Pageant. The pageant is a sickening glance at American ideology - little girls reaching perfection, overshadowed by their parents own eagerness to succeed. Olive and her family manage to stray away from this, proving that overcoming dysfunction is probably the only symbol of success worth being proud of.

I really enjoyed this film, and could easily put it in my top ten, purely because I think it handles familiar life situations with care and humility, as well as a sense of fun. Obviously I won't reveal how the pageant plays out, but I will say that it is a thoroughly satisfying finale. I'm confident it will leave you thinking about the film, with all its balance of humour and struggle, for some time to come.