Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) User Reviews

Passing time

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 10 July 2005]

Miranda July's "Me and You and Everyone we Know" was a surprise. It shows a new director with an inquisitive mind who doesn't get scared of tackling important issues. Ms. July shows a light touch to this story about the life of people trying to connect in this complex world we are living.

The center of the story focuses on Richard, a shoe salesman, who one sees at the beginning of the film in the process of separation from his black wife. He will keep the children, the teen age Peter, and the younger Robby. Little prepares him in the way his life will have to adjust with the new responsibilities. We don't get to see why the couple is splitting; they evidently fell out of love and she has decided to move on, while Richard is still trying to understand what happened to him.

The two boys are left to fend for themselves most of the time. As children will be children, they get involved in chatting on line. The exchange between Robby and his correspondent is hilarious. The young boy is way too wise for his young years. He is a city slicker and knows how to deal with the situation of the possible pedophile stalking him. At the end we get to realize who the person that has been chatting with him really is.

On a separate vignette we see Christine, a woman who does videos where she is the subject and the principal character. Christine also runs a car service for senior citizens in her area, but we mostly see her driving her old grandfather. Christine sees Richard at the store and she can't keep her eyes from him. Evidently it's love at first sight with the reluctant Richard.

One of the two other chapters in the film involves two aggressive and precocious teen age girls who go after one of Richard's co-workers who live in the neighborhood. And in the second we meet the lonely girl who loves to shop for the dowry that she will eventually have for when she gets married. She is a sad little girl who obviously lives in her own world without sharing anything with friends and neighbors.

The final film of the movie seems to be the key for understanding what is behind all what Ms. July has presented to us, so far. There is a man waiting at a bus stop tapping a coin against a side pole. Little Robbie who has had, almost what could have been a horrible experience, stands by this fellow and asks what is he doing. The answer: passing time, which seems to fit all the situations we have witnessed in the film.

The best thing of the movie is John Hawkes. He is a no nonsense actor that contributes enormously to the mood and all what we have seen in the film. Miranda July is also appealing as the lonely and quirky woman looking to fulfill her life with someone she can give her boundless energy and love. The two boys, Miles Thompson and Brandon Ratcliff are delightful to watch because they are normal kids and not the stereotypes one watches in main stream features.

Ms. July is a new voice to be reckoned with.

great movie, shoe salesman, funny artist, curious hilarious kids

[SIAURA234 · 7/10 · 24 April 2005]

Me and you... is the type of movie that you can come in at any point and get into the characters and the plot.I saw it at the U.S.A. Film Festival in Dallas.I missed the beginning,and I heard a few people walked out because of a soft porn scene.I absolutely loved the movie, the actors were perfect for the parts,all of them. I noticed that I was actually sitting next to John Hawke, who was very a funny, honest character.(He was laughing too)Expect to laugh,laugh,and giggle,I was very impressed.Miranda J. is brilliant,she is a really talented actress, who plays a quirky struggling artist,very funny.This movie touches on things that we think, and feel everyday,but are scared to tell.The characters do a great job of making you feel and love each and every one of them.

This is 'Napoleon Dynamite' but up a notch or two, maybe

[socrates99 · 8/10 · 25 April 2005]

A very enjoyable film that at first had me thinking Australian film but Americanized. For me the highlights are the painfully ignorant teenaged girls and the way too confident six-year-old emailer. It's all innocent fun and well worth your time though ultimately very Californian in its sensibilities and attitudes. (Bible belters best see something else.) Kinda made me want to pack up and move West (though word is I'm too late).

I asked Miranda July (at Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival) if she had seen Napoleon Dynamite and she said she had. She admitted she liked it but did not call it an inspiration. Perhaps if we had talked longer, but the crowd was pressing in. And, no wonder, she's very much as depicted in her film: oddly endearing for a performance artist.

misfits who fit together

[mjanean · 25 January 2005]

I had the good fortune to see this film last night at a Sundance Film Festival screening in Salt Lake City. Having viewed a few of Miranda July's shorts on her website), I hoped this film would live up to the level set there. It does. July plays the lead character in what turns out to be an ensemble of people, each with his/her own quirks, who are somehow linked together (most simply by being neighbors). This movie is made up of what might be a string of perfect little short films. Each scene builds on the previous scene, adding one more enticing facet to a personality; one more little twist to a story. By the final scene, each character has as much depth and complexity as some of the real people we know. Indeed, one might wish that everyone was as interesting as the characters in this film.

Todd Solondz's anima

[riderpridethemovie · 6/10 · 7 August 2005]

For those who like alternative for the sake of alternative, Me, You and Everyone We Know is a show-and-tell of all your favourite subjects. Childhood sexuality, suburbia as Hell, McJobs — it's all here, which makes one wonder how alternative these ideas really are if they keep showing up in so many films (Happiness, Ghost World, Welcome to the Dollhouse). The twist here is that the tone is dreamy rather than dark, which may have the reverse effect of making it more disturbing. I suppose any film that makes you think should be commended, but it's difficult to recommend something you have little emotional connection to. There are some admittedly beautiful moments of film-making — director Miranda July certainly understands the power of an image — but the screenplay tries to juggles too many characters. It drops most of them, and keeping one or two balls in the air in the same time is hardly impressive. Most distracting is the performance of July herself as the zany performance artist. Let's call her a hopeless romantic, emphasis on hopeless. She's really less a leading lady and more of a stalker. Maybe some people confuse this character's behaviour with being an artist, but I think it's a matter of a writer/director/actor biting off more than they can chew. Woody Allen could pull this kind of stuff off, and Ms. July is hardly as august a talent. Contrast her work with that of the lead actor, also a bit of a kook, but a kook who brought something charming to his role. Only desperation on his part could bring these two together. Far more interesting was the story of Richard and his sons. July does a great job of capturing the unpleasantness of this neighbourhood and the toll separation takes on children. It makes them grow up much quicker, exposing them to things they might otherwise have avoided. The actors who play the boys and the girls they interact with are the real revelations in this film, which would have been vastly improved had they focused on them instead. Their scenes of discovery, despite the touchy subject matter, seemed genuine. Rather than scarring them for life, the boys seemed pleased to be learning something since their father was never there for them.

Back and forth, forever

[chuzzlewit-1 · 9/10 · 3 May 2005]

Miranda July's "Me and You and Everyone We Know" might be the most miraculous first fiction feature by an American in 3 or 4 years; it's rivaled only by Andrew Bujalski's "Funny Ha Ha." Christine (July) stalks the recently separated Richard (John Hawkes), who would try anything to impress his kids, and gets third degree burns for his trouble. His elder son, Peter (Miles Thompson) longs for connections that go beyond instant gratification, while the younger Robby (Brandon Ratcliff) gets all the funniest lines, mostly copied and pasted from cybersex chats.

"Me and You" is about the act of pretending and about performance as life, but first of all it's about extremely likable characters played by likable actors, foremost among them July herself, whose Carole Lombard-meets-Laurie Anderson deep ditz may be a complex stack of masks upon masks, but is more likely just the way she is.

The movie is notable for what isn't in it - both malice and pain are almost absent. Removing malice - July's world is one in which a kid can safely walk alone through some seedy parts of Los Angeles - is unfashionable, brave and, given the gentle tone of the piece, necessary. But the absence of pain isn't intentional: July would like us to feel the loneliness of the characters. But their isolation is more a trait of their personalities than a source of suffering. In this respect, the movie is perhaps too glossy for its own good. There's one excellent exception, revolving around a granddaughter's photo by an elderly woman's bedside, which becomes a substitute for a shared life that dissolved too soon.

The scene that everyone picks out is the walk to Tyrone Street. Richard and Christine decide the walk to the intersection will stand in for the relationship they're not having: first the unrelieved joy of being together, then the getting bored with each other, then the fighting and the split. Only they keep chatting flirtily, about whether the walk represents a year and a half or twenty, until they get to the corner, and then we wonder how they can possibly go their separate ways. Although this is as great as anything in the first 75 minutes of "Before Sunset," its emphasis is much more on romantic comedy than the rest of the movie. There are more typical scenes that approach this quality. A goldfish on the roof of a car. A child running his fingers through a woman's hair. A picture of a bird in a tree, in a tree. And the ending, where it seems human actions are motivating the sunrise.

The scene I consider the finest is a quiet one: Sylvie (Carlie Westerman), a tween spending her childhood preparing for life as a homemaker, gets a gift from Peter: a plush bird. ("It's for your daughter.") It would be unusual merely for depicting a platonic friendship between kids of different genders and different ages. But it's remarkable for crystallizing what it seems every filmmaker is trying to say these days: that there's something to be gained from thinking like a child. Through July's lens, it doesn't seem like a regression: no redundant literalization of fantasy is necessary. The achievement of "Me and You and Everyone We Know" is to show how the mundane moments of our lives can be mundanely transformed by imagination.

Unique does not equal great

[bandw · 6/10 · 8 July 2006]

I give this movie credit for being unlike anything I have seen before, and there is something to be said in favor of a movie that could hold my attention for ninety minutes whose main characters are a shoe salesman and a performance artist. Richard, the shoe salesman, has just separated from his wife and Christine, the performance artist, is looking to make a connection with just about anybody she can identify with. Given Christine's unusual outlook this is not easy, but she is taken with Richard and forces the relationship. In addition to Richard and Christine we are treated to several minor characters, including Richard's two sons, an art curator, a pre-pubescent concentrating on her hope chest, two sexually curious teenage girls, and a middle-aged man with a predilection for posting sexually-explicit messages on his front windows.

Christine is trying to get a piece of performance art (in this case a home video) accepted for display at a local art museum. The curator asks the question, which is seemingly her main criterion, "Could this have been made in any era, or only now?" I think that this must have been the question the director, writer, and star of this movie, Miranda July, was trying to give a positive answer to with this movie. And I think that she succeeds, given the roles that sex chat rooms, e-mail, casual oral sex, home video and audio, crude bathroom humor, and electronic music play in the film. And I doubt that a person like July could have gotten such a small film to market until recent times.

There are some touching scenes, particularly ones involving Christine and some of her interactions with people she encounters in her day job as a chauffeur for older people. While driving a man in his 70s around one day, he mentions that his friend in the assisted living home broke up with him. Christine asks why, and he says, "She thinks she is going to die this week." This is typical of a lot of the humor in this movie, it is funny, but also sad; I found Christine's relationship with Richard to be that. Overall, however, a light touch is maintained.

The main problem I had was that I could not get emotionally involved with any of the people. Richard's sons Peter and Robby should have been able to win your heart, but Peter simply plays the sullen teenager and Robby is fixated on human excrement. The film's structure, such as it is, is episodic and it never coalesces into anything greater than the sum of its parts.

a simple, touching film

[levingem · 10/10 · 21 May 2005]

I just saw this film in Cannes, and Miranda July just won the Camera D'Or for best first feature. I think the jurors were right on for giving this film an award. It's a simple film that creates identifiable and likable characters that are all loosely connected. I suppose there is one central story line, but the film's strength lies in the individual scenes and interactions between these characters. July successfully depicts the innocence of childhood, the sexual curiosity of teenagers, and the complex emotions of adulthood through personal and original stories and situations. I don't want to give a lot away but simply recommend anyone reading this to at least give it a shot. You'll either love it or hate it, but I think the majority of you will love it.

quirkiness with a capital Q

[Buddy-51 · 6/10 · 2 July 2006]

Like just about every independent film these days, "Me and You and Everyone We Know" wears its quirkiness like a badge of honor. It shows us a world populated by "ordinary," "average" people, living lives of quiet desperation, who do and say the darndest things.

Thus we have a father of two who lights his own hand on fire as a protest against his wife leaving him for another man; his overweight co-worker and neighbor who posts sexually explicit notes up in his windows for all the world - including two local underage girls - to see; two young brothers who engage in cyber sex chats with an unknown person on the other end; two teenaged girls who flirt with an older man but wind up initiating a much younger boy into the world of sex; and a flighty aspiring video artist who falls for a tentative shoe store clerk who has been woefully unsuccessful in the ways of love.

Miranda July, who wrote and directed the movie (as well as playing the part of the young artist), clearly has a great deal of talent as a filmmaker. She is able to create a universe which feels ever so slightly off-kilter, yet which has elements that are instantly recognizable to us in the audience. We see that these are people trying to make some kind of intimate, honest connection with other human beings but who are often thwarted in that effort by technological roadblocks or the fears they have of being hurt or rejected. Yet, the movie, for all its moments of truthfulness and meaning, often feels as if it is trying just a bit too hard to be profound. Too often it feels forced and precious when it would be better if it were spontaneous and natural. "Me and You and Everyone We Know" comes across like one of those well-intentioned but pretentious projects made by first-year film students, a film so impressed with its own quirkiness and insight into human nature that it fails to convince us that it is actually telling us anything we didn't already know.

This may seem like an overly harsh judgment to lay on a film that at least tries to do something meaningful and important, and I certainly do not mean to imply that there is not a great deal that is good about this movie (the acting, for one, although July is clearly better as a director than she is as an actress, hers being the one genuinely annoying performance in a sea of otherwise fine acting turns). I guess, perhaps, it's just that independent filmmakers have been ramping up the "quirkiness" and "weirdness" quotient for so long now, that I've finally begun to lose patience with it. My suspicion is that July clearly intends for us to identify with and like her characters, but I just found myself wanting to get as far away from them as possible. Based on the people we meet here, hers is not a neighborhood I would have a whole lot of interest in visiting.

delightfully fresh adult world

[ingopixel · 9/10 · 20 May 2005]

i had the supreme pleasure of seeing this film last night as the grand opener of the seattle international film festival. (this was the first time in the 31 year span of the festival that the opener was directed by a woman!) i loved it! contrary to some previous comments, i found the writing and the approach to the subject matter very adult. a less mature screenwriter could have too easily fallen into a dour and pessimistic mood given the subject matter, especially the instances of desires pedophilia and families torn apart. i think it takes a remarkable, mature writer and director to take these themes and turn them into a heart-warming piece of work rather than just another fatalistic, world-hating film.

the performances were stellar across the board. every character was completely fleshed out and truly human. i think that's what struck me the most about this film, the complete humanity of it. the title is apt, it really is a universal story of you and me and everyone we know. the comedy didn't have to be forced, it was funny because we could all identify and sympathize with the awkwardness of life.

i'd love to see more out of miranda july to this caliber. this was a huge feat for a first feature, but i have a lot of hope and faith in her talents for the future.

Preciousness overload

[jellopuke · 7/10 · 25 October 2020]

No one talks or acts like a human being for huge parts of this movie BUT there are some really true moments stuck inside of the overly awkward and weird stilted dialogue. It can occasionally feel like it's trying WAY too hard to be "Art" and slip in to hardcore pretentiousness, but after a while, you sort of get into the style and it starts to work. I'm not sure it's as great as people would like to say it is, but for something different, it does have some charm

even the strange moments are romantic

[oyahuasca · 9/10 · 12 April 2012]

I really loved this film! All the way from the beginning it surprised me at every scene, it was very funny and did not try to overdo its humor, and the characters are unforgettable. To be honest, so many expressions and individual ideas that are conveyed in this movie through its characters, it's kind of hard to pin point what I loved most. It is a sexual film, probably not suitable for the young, but it portrays people as they are, something that we find awkward and strange in this movie - they all exist around us in real life and this film is not afraid to show it. Ultimately we all look for love. In this film, even the strange moments are romantic.

An indie film to the core, with all the charms and shortcomings of the medium.

[youngcollind · 7/10 · 10 September 2021]

The film stitches together a tapestry of characters who are loosely connected, but not meant to serve any great purpose. We are meant to appreciate the little slices of life they all offer, sometimes funny, sometimes sweet, sometimes a bit disturbing. This disjointed anti-plot often falls short of being totally riveting, but there's a certain sincerity to the film that keeps it likeable in spite of itself. It's low key but off beat enough to keep you interested, and the characters are quirky but relatable enough to keep you invested in their low stakes shenanigans.

Quasi art nonsense

[ItsAlwaysSomething · 3/10 · 23 February 2011]

I know I'm probably in the vast minority, but I really didn't think this film was all that great.

I understand that "MAYAEWK" was meant to be kind of a sociological study of how people relate (or, completely don't) to one another. Having said that, I don't think that alone can carry a full-length movie. A full length movie generally requires a plot to make it work; unfortunately, this movie doesn't have one.

In fact, this film felt like a disjointed compilation of really corny student films where the actors make cryptic metaphors, perform nonsensical stunts, and say or do so-called shocking things merely to make the audience think, "Wow! This film is SO poignant and edgy!"

Yawn.

I found myself watching this movie waiting for the punchline or, at the very least, some kind of resolution to the characters' stories, but there weren't any. In the end, the shoe salesman and artist never go on their date, we never find out why the little girl keeps a dowry, we never find out why the man who left signs hides when the teenage girls go to his door, etc.

To me, the reasons behind why the characters act the way they do is 1000% more interesting than merely presenting a superficial view of how they act. I felt kind of betrayed when I made it to the end of the movie and thought, "That was it? That was 'one of the year's best films' according to Roger Ebert?!" It was kind of like waiting in a line at an amusement park only to get to the end and realize that the line WAS the attraction; such a letdown.

At best, the movie is mildly entertaining because of the weird things the characters do. The little boy's "poop back and forth" scene truly was priceless, but in the end, that doesn't save this plot-less pointless movie.

D+

A little of the old "back and forth"

[FritzdaCat · 24 February 2005]

I'll just go ahead and start out with a spoiler. It turns out that what I, you, and everyone we know want is to CONNECT with someone else. Nothing new there. That's the theme of most of the non-Bruckheimer films that you'll see. This film is so charming and funny, however, that you'll forget how familiar the plot is. "Me and You and Everyone We Know" is the first full-length feature by writer/director Miranda July. As far as I know, her work up to this point has consisted of short films and various types of performance art. Besides writing and directing this film, she takes the female lead as a cute, quirky artist in need of a break and some friends her own age. She meets another quirky soul (John Hawkes), a recent divorcée who is distracted from her charm by his broken heart and his two sons. Those sons are busy exploring internet sex and experimenting with the teenage neighbor girls, who have their own flirtation with an older man. This is a fun, charming little movie that is comfortable being a little movie. Miranda July shows a real talent for screen writing, with hilarious dialog and outrageous situations. She also has a really cute ass. Since this little movie doesn't try to overreach itself, the actors all shine in a way that they couldn't in a BIG, IMPORTANT FILM. John Hawkes, in particular, is very likable and real. I mentioned that most of the plot and themes are comfortably familiar, but there is one idea in "Me and You and Everyone We Know" that, as far as I am aware, is completely novel. It's called "back and forth." I can't describe it without falling on the floor laughing, but I'll try to depict it for you. )) <::> (( The great thing was that during our viewing there were problems with the sound. While they fixed it, we got to see the "back and forth" scene 3 or 4 times. It was funny every time. See it if for no other reason than the "back and forth." 5 stars out of 5.

Me, You and Nobody I Know

[Teebs2 · 6/10 · 15 February 2006]

Highly acclaimed debut film from Miranda July, who also stars as Christine, an eccentric but sweet artist who falls for a newly separated shoe-salesman. It's a frustrating film which fluctuates between moments of genuine sweetness as the various characters reach out to each other for love and affection, or even simple human interaction, but it also has some horribly self-conscious, pretentious moments. The actors are all pretty good, but the film just has that forced quirkiness you too often see in US indie cinema - from the music, to the light and airy visual style, the clever-clever dialogue and slightly controversial events involving children.

It's worth a watch if you like off-beat stuff like "Happiness", "Punch-Drunk Love", "Napoleon Dynamite" etc but, unfortunately, it's not as satisfying as any of those.

Surprising and unique

[mestizo-1 · 9/10 · 29 June 2005]

Much lighter and brighter than Todd Solondz chilling yet profoundly human film 'Happiness.' I felt they were similar in that they explored the strange things people do and say and the believable motivation behind them. Christine (reminiscent of Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a detached yet thoughtful artist who longs for romance and love. Richard is a lonely single father struggling to understand where his life is going after a recent separation.

The kids (who are each some of the best parts of this film) are caught up in an adult world figuring out who they are and where they fit in. This is an enjoyable dark comedy that had the crowd laughing at some parts and gasping at others. I left the theater satisfied and smiling.

Surreal, irreverent, and moving story on the side of the weakest

[yris2002 · 7/10 · 2 July 2009]

You don't need to be expert at cinema to perceive the non-conventional quality of this movie. Shot, montage, soundtrack, script seem really "strange", surreal, at the limit of the nonsense. However, despite its alternative nature, it can tell us something interesting and comforting about human nature, and human deepest needs. Through paradoxical, irreverent and and totally disinhibited situations the director Miranda July gives voice to the weakest: the shy, the young, the lonely, those who desperately search for a human touch, for a single person capable of entering their inner, special, rare emotional world. That's why even the most vulgar, and almost disgusting language we hear, ceases to be disturbing, as we can hear behind that language another one, speaking words of love and searching for true affection.

In a way, the movie exorcises the power of modern means of communication, to reaffirm a very simple but universal truth: that still today people need to feel another person's presence, to see one another, to feel the touch of a hand, to sense the breath of one body, it's a need that no technological means will ever replace, and it's a great consolation!

Among all the characters of this choral movie, all united by a subtle but strong emotional line, I identified myself so much with Christine that I couldn't but sympathize with her, I followed her, funnily and desperately obsessed at running after a man, the man, who will probably be able to understand her simple world, bumping into funny and embarrassing situations, feeling uneasy with her blisters on her feet, when everything in her world sounds so easy and she can't make out why things don't turn out as they should, and I just said: it's me!

On the whole, the tone portraying some situations of life is sometimes too honest, unsophisticated and irreverent, however, we can get a delicate, comprehensive and joyous tone of a director who is still able to make herself be astonished by the colours of life. In the end, a very feel-good movie, original, never banal, never rhetorical and also moving.

Gorgeous and Delightful

[hedovegas · 10/10 · 1 August 2005]

Miranda July created a perfect picture. I knew nothing before we went in, and read only afterward that she was a performance artist and thought "a ha", that explains how she achieved such True Art on Film. The picture seems so clever and adorably funny on the surface, but its lessons and beauty run to our core emotions and instincts. My husband and I walked all the way home marveling at how many gorgeous layers there are to peel away and enjoy, flavor by flavor. My favorites:

The SYMMETRY: Of the storyline, the first (goldfish) and last (Ellen) eulogies. From the desperate danger of the fire on John Hawke's hand, to the comfort of the fire of the rising sun in his youngest son's eyes. The round circle of peepers tended by their mother. The perfect dialog, "Like I'm a man in a book and you're just meeting the man in the book".

The REFLECTIONS: the full moon in John Hawke's full moon eyes, the reflected circle spotlighting him and then how he helped her repair the mirror, how he hated the reflected words of self esteem on his ex-wife's night shirt because only the wearer can read them in a mirror. The art curator fell in love with a reflection of herself, her own words simply pasted back to her, framed by a child's most basic understanding of sex (poop) and love (back and forth, forever). The F*** spelled backwards on her windshield under the reflections of passing trees. The distorted reflections of the fish in the water bag (John Hawke is riding along a dangerous road himself) as Miranda said "I don't know you but I love you" which reflect her developing feelings towards the special shoe salesman, after the empathy and insight he had shown into her undeserved (foot) pain. The passengers looking, or not looking, in their rearview mirrors at the fish on the cars.

The TOUCHES: How touch changes and heals us! The old man thought a shoe salesman touching his foot "was part of the service", but no "We never touch the foot." Miranda touches her three magic pink dots on her dashboard for strength, but she touches John Hawkes' squishy banana (decal) on his dash far too soon. The art curator and her assistant foolishly thinking a hamburger wrapper was sculpture because they did not dare touch it! The child's kind stroking of the art curator's hair, and the gentle knowing kiss of the woman to the child. Andrew, the other shoe salesman/neighbor says to them how wrong it is for him to touch the underage girls as he longs to, and the girls progress from applying bad makeup to kissing each other instead. And, of course, the healing touch of Miranda's pale perfect arm on the burnt hand of John Hawkes finally brings them both the sweetest peace. And their relaxation in embrace, brings peace to the viewer as well.

The HOPE: The brushes with immorality that always veer back to the side of the pure. The other shoe salesman/neighbor, who could think and write about hooking up with the underage girls, but when faced with their knock on the door, he was rightfully horrified.The kindness of the older boy Peter, who was able to sense that the girls' friendship depended on him telling them they were both skilled the same (when they weren't). And his responding to the mother-peep's public denials about her Hope chest by bringing her a private gift for it, and partaking in her imaginings of loving a daughter. The boy who could have been hurt walking home but wasn't. The possible internet molestation that instead became a tender moment on a park bench. That the curator woman with Cattitude (oh what that mug said about critics and their view of art!) had no family, and dog, and dog family, to sing carols with in summertime, but she walked away from that bench happy with the strange but beautiful connection she had made... So happy that she could finally appreciate the strange but beautiful macaroni.

And the RESPECT the film showed: for the young who are also sexual beings, in their way, for the single parent, for race, for the elderly, who still grow as much every day as the young: Yes, old Ellen was right, Miranda should collaborate, and it is her shared work with the old man that made it in the exhibition...... Miranda wanted to make it alone, but, like we all know, the Mayan ruins (or apartment building ruins, or family ruins) are always more beautiful with a partner. Only after Miranda the solo artist was ready to truly accept and enjoy working with someone else, and only after John's protective bandages were removed, did he call to begin their true love. Yes, the old man was right, even if the little girl saw her new goldfish die "At least we're all in this together."

quirky and offbeat

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 22 July 2015]

Christine Jesperson (Miranda July) is a video artist desperate to get her work in Nancy Herrington (Tracy Wright)'s show. Richard Swersey (John Hawkes) is a recently separated shoe salesman with sons Peter and Robby. One day, Christine is driving her "Eldercab" to take Michael to buy shoes and Richard talks her into buying a pair herself. They begin a long hesitant romance. Meanwhile everybody they know is searching for connections in odd ways. Peter becomes entangled in Heather and Rebecca's sexual curiosity with Richard's boss Andrew. Robby gets into an internet sexual liaison with an unknown figure who turns out to be someone they know. Sylvie with her hope chest is infatuated with Peter.

The two girls are the most shocking. Robby is the scariest. Peter and Sylvie are the most touching. With all these kids dealing with these adult situations, the leads' romance actually seems tame by comparison. It's odd that the central characters don't measure up to their costars but that's the case here. It's quirky and offbeat but I wouldn't call it charming. The movie threatens to go dark with the kiddie material but it backs off before it goes overboard. Miranda July and John Hawkes are doing some interesting acting. They are endearing in their own sections.

A Movie to Fall in Love With

[egg-5 · 9/10 · 28 July 2005]

This movie is about people trying to connect with each other, told in a very sweet, original way. It is quirky, beautiful, honest, and hilarious. The film follows the lives and dreams of many truly memorable characters, from the adorable and fascinating children to the adults with all their idiosyncrasies. I couldn't stop thinking about it the day after I saw it. I kept reliving the scenes in my head, and smiling.

I am so happy to have discovered Miranda July. Not only did she write, direct, and star in this film... she is also a performance artist, has released music CDs, and is planning on releasing a book of short stories next.

I'd recommend watching the trailer if you're curious. It definitely gives you a flavor of the film. If you like it, go see the movie, and you may fall in love, too.

After you see it, check out the movie website (http://www.meandyoumovie.com/) and Miranda's website (http://www.mirandajuly.com/) for more great stuff.

Reality v.s .poetry - failure

[maeble · 6/10 · 8 March 2006]

OK. First of all, i don't want to criticize the movie for the same old reasons others did. I found the whole idea of adults and children interacting and sometimes changing roles or mixing their desires, not at all pedophile. In fact those were few of the good ideas and it's strong bits. The weak parts of the movie are first of all the actors and mostly the dialogs. The problem i see is following. The movie tries somehow to show as everyday people, real people. Only,... no one talks or acts like that, i'm afraid. I mean this kind of talk might work well in a fully fictional film, for it could lead to a poetic approach, but this one was somehow a warmed up fiction with either too much or too less reality in it, your pick. I know that in the end it is just taste, and many will appreciate. But for me a typical pseudo-pretentious movie a la "garden state" who tries to mix up poetry and reality, and fails in the balance. Anyhow there were some real nice and creative ideas.

See it!

[ruthyeffler-1 · 9/10 · 18 June 2005]

I was fortunate enough to see this at the IFC screening a couple of nights ago, and it was truly one of the most refreshing and genuinely enjoyable films I have seen in a long time. It reminded me of an artsier, less commercial Garden State with a female protagonist. And unlike Garden State (which is still a great film), it captured those random, lovely, hard-to-put-into-words bits of human emotion without having to try as hard.

Two very pleasant surprises were the young actors who played the shoe salesmen's sons, more specifically, the six-year-old. I won't spoil the movie for any of you who are planning on seeing it, but the scenes involving the kids on the computer is priceless - it's going to have me laughing for a few years, I think.

I was disappointed that Miranda July did not stay for the entire screening because I would have loved to congratulate her on such an amazing movie. I hope she gets the recognition she deserves!

Quirky for the sake of quirky

[SGAngel · 6/10 · 13 August 2005]

Miranda July's debut film is, at heart, a student film. The themes and characters are not as fully developed as they could be and, in part, this could be due to the sheer number of characters she has. The film follows two handful of characters in their interactions and search for a true connection.

Why is it a student film? Perhaps, it is the lack of confidence July may feel. She spells out every detail of the characters inner lives, but since they are not fully developed, the end result is not very satisfying. The characters "speechify" on and on, without impact. Two characters walking down a road that is a metaphor for life talk and talk until the emotional resonance of their journey has been talked away. Without constant self-reference, the characters could just walk and talk a la Before Sunset, which would have been more satisfying. There are quiet winning moments in the film, such as the encounter in the elevator of the art gallery, and more of those were necessary.

This movie is so self-conscious and precious, it clouds the emotional truth in the film. July works best in her stories regarding children; her adult stories pale in maturity. I never believed the relationship between the separated husband and wife and found the potshots at the art gallery to be juvenile. July's character is a wreck and a drama queen that was exhausting to watch. Quirky and imaginative does not mean behaving like a two-year-old.

I tried to imagine this as a literary novel, making up a realistic internal dialogue for the characters, but failed to be able to. The film is devoid of true characterization. This would have worked better as a 45 minute short film.

Plotless and disturbing

[juliedupont-70287 · 2/10 · 20 July 2020]

This movie tries so hard to be original that it ends up losing all focus. It's just a collection of weird scenes that don't lead anywhere and don't contain any sort of message. I found the sexually charged scenes particularly disturbing as they always involve minors, mostly having very explicit conversations with middle-aged people. There's no point to it and I suspect it was only retained for it's schock-value (Spoiler alert : I really don't need to see a six year old boy discussing scatophilia). Very few characters are likeable because most of them don't feel human. I usually love "oddballs" in movies but there's nothing moving about them here. They're just weird for the sake of being quirky. The whole thing feels forced and doesn't bother to tell and kind of story. Only a couple of scenes were actually endearing but cut short by off-puting exchanges. What a shame.