The Future (Miranda July)

[Spinal]

But, yeah, I mean, this is narrated by a cat in a cast.

That, in itself, was not a terrible idea. I enjoy July's version of magical realism. And I can sort of see where she was going with this. But the execution was off. The voice was off-putting and the paw shots didn't work either.

That said, many more scenes do work and effectively capture that feeling of mid-30s anxiety. In short, I like the writing and the performances a lot more than the direction.

[Pop Trash]

I'm kinda curious to read your pan of this, Raiders. Unless you don't even wanna bother.

[lovejuice]

When I think about it, my favorite scene in the movie is also the most troublesome. That scene is near the end when July performs the dance using her boyfriend's shirt as a prop. The performance itself is beautiful, and it's well set up.

The problem, however, is that the dance is to the realization of herself and her new man that she can't quite get over her boyfriend. Instead of the normal tears and tantrums, we have this cool, aloof dance. Somehow I see this as the chink in the aesthetics of July: how she likes to stay aloof and avoid all sorts of melodrama.

(Similarly when she is about to confess to her boyfriend that she's having an affair, time stops, followed by all quirkiness: a guy talking to the moon, alternated futures.)

Not that I want a soap-operatic outburst of emotion, but for a certain situation and in a certain manner, the avoidance of this speaks something about the shortcoming of the artist.

[Dukefrukem]

Is this in theaters near you guys? How are you finding it?

[dreamdead]

Is this in theaters near you guys? How are you finding it?

Netflix lists it as available for me, so I presume everyone's watching the dvd now. I'm interested in seeing how this and Beginners dialogue with one another, so I'll be watching this one soon.

[Spinal]

Is this in theaters near you guys? How are you finding it?

Library DVD.

[Dukefrukem]

Ah thanks.

[Pop Trash]

Redbox has it now, if you can't get it online.

[Rowland]

When I think about it, my favorite scene in the movie is also the most troublesome. That scene is near the end when July performs the dance using her boyfriend's shirt as a prop. The performance itself is beautiful, and it's well set up.

The problem, however, is that the dance is to the realization of herself and her new man that she can't quite get over her boyfriend. Instead of the normal tears and tantrums, we have this cool, aloof dance. Somehow I see this as the chink in the aesthetics of July: how she likes to stay aloof and avoid all sorts of melodrama.

(Similarly when she is about to confess to her boyfriend that she's having an affair, time stops, followed by all quirkiness: a guy talking to the moon, alternated futures.)

Not that I want a soap-operatic outburst of emotion, but for a certain situation and in a certain manner, the avoidance of this speaks something about the shortcoming of the artist.

I'd argue that these examples you claim are an avoidance of honest emotion and thus evidence of July's shortcomings as an artist are, on the contrary, some of her most compelling and authentic artistic gambits. Nick Pinkerton defended the dance scene in an excellent piece at Cinema Scope as such:

This may be taken as a cop-out at the emotional centre of the movie, July retreating into oddball gallery-art vagaries when faced with emotional depths that her pop-eyed, porcelain, Olive Oyl screen presence might crack under. But the Young Psychodramatists Association of America is by no means lacking for membership: July’s gambit is exhilarating precisely because it passes by the tempting cul-de-sac of whatever currently constitutes dramatic realism, instead seeking out a poetic logic compatible with the emotional logic and history of her characters. Earlier in the film, Jason makes a glancing reference to the stalking garment, nicknamed “Shirtie,” and its reappearance brings a whole slew of associations to mind. Its shapeless, laundry day comfort suggests the slack surrender of home (Sophie’s musings seem to hover around a dream of just not having to try anymore). The dance? It could be an inside joke between live-in lovers together long enough to be weird with one another—or something else entirely.

Some associations it brought to mind for me include how it ties in with both her profession as a dance instructor, which you may recall she no longer holds at this point in the film, and her earlier, failed attempts at publicly staged performance art with her 30 Dances in 30 Days project. The scene spoke to me as a liberation of her character's honest emotional language, and as such was hugely cathartic.

And as for the sequence when time stops for the boyfriend upon realizing that July is going to break up with him, his subsequent wandering through a deathly still world, and the sudden revelation that the real world is continuing its normal time cycle without him, I found this to be the film's most profound and powerful metaphor, hauntingly evocative of the emotional torpor and existential dislocation in the fallout of a traumatic break-up.

[Grouchy]

This has all the ingredients of a movie I should rightly hate, and I still hate the characters and the general attitude of the film, but I gotta admit, it's good. It's very well made. July knows how to direct and write. What could have been a series of quirky calls for attention is instead a solid, coherent quirky feature film.

So, it might not be my type of thing at all, but it's hard to deny its quality.

[Bosco B Thug]

On Netflix Instant for those who want to reckon with Miranda July.

I've suddenly had a huge amount of goodwill for July, not for M&Y&EYK (which I liked but don't remember now), but after watching her short video piece The Amateurist, which is cryptic and fascinating (I'd have shared by now if it were on the internet).

So I really did want to like this much, much more. It teases profundity and bracing worldview, but slowly and surely it shrinks into a disappointingly conventional and plodding relationship drama with two really miserable main characters.

The cat was the best part. But even there, that lost me, for while I was at first very beguiled by her transferal of a very unique existential perception onto a cat, by the end I was suddenly critical of her scam-worthy, baiting anthropomorphization and the gross, religious final soliloquy that I just don't get.

[

Show Spoiler

(Maybe I just wanted the cat to live, sue me.)

]

I am a fan. Just not this hypothetical alternate version.

To give you an idea of this film's tone, there's a scene early on where July watches a youtube booty dance vid sent by her co-worker. The former watches the video nonplussed, then clicks on a bunch of similar ones. A few scenes later, she makes her own vid of herself shimmying to an indie rock tune. That was the point where the film seemed content to just be a long advertisement for the pensive, hip charm of Miranda July (esp. in comparison to the vapid skanks she clearly put herself above) rather than a substantial exploration of any theme. Nauseating.

Sorry to dredge this up since you really hated this film, but:

Are you saying you think her character in the film puts herself above the booty-shaker dancers? If so, I really disagree, I thought her character was very much supposed to be one of them, and July doesn't make fun of them any more than she's making fun of her own character. Plus, I kind of responded to her crude potshot at YouTube culture/her gender.

Although that's another thing that just made me unhappy with the picture... the respected contemporary female artist Miranda July making a film where she stars as a very very vapid woman. Then again, the film and July seems very aware of this, even almost saying it out loud verbally a number of times, so I guess I should just be admiring of July that she'd play this anti-vanity role and almost lambast herself (considering the character is a "hipster-artist" similar to her). A gesture of uncompromising sexual critique? Performative dare? Or July just turning in an uninspired tale that hopefully she'll bounce back from.

[Rowland]

Oh yeah, I meant to remind everyone that this is now available on Netflix Instant. One of my favorites from last year, really wrecked me something fierce. Maybe that says something revealing about me, that is resonated so devastatingly on a personal level, but I felt it was very well-made and whatnot as well.

[Bosco B Thug]

Oh yeah, I meant to remind everyone that this is now available on Netflix Instant. One of my favorites from last year, really wrecked me something fierce. Maybe that says something revealing about me, that is resonated so devastatingly on a personal level, but I felt it was very well-made and whatnot as well.

It's a pretty raw film that can hit close to home. It was half a good film, for me.

Perhaps it was my expectations. Should've known since M&Y&EYK was pretty straight-forward drama. But skimmed reviews mentioning a talking cat, the film's grimness, and seeing her video-art piece made me imagine something totally off-the-wall and experimental.

[Ivan Drago]

Oh yeah, I meant to remind everyone that this is now available on Netflix Instant.

Thanks for the reminder! I just rewatched it and it still holds up.

Also, as minimal as it was, I still freakin' love the score.

[youtube]11L6XBsQ70U[/youtube]

[ThePlashyBubbler]

Also, as minimal as it was, I still freakin' love the score.

Jon Brion is the man.