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Me and You and Everyone We Know review
:. Director: Miranda July
:. Starring: John Hawkes, Miranda July
:. Running Time: 1:30
:. Year: 2005
:. Country: USA
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At the heart of Me You and Everyone We Know (and there is a big, big heart in this film), lies the search for permanence in a society and culture in which everything is readily disposable. Director Miranda July takes the notion of "forever" and weaves it through the lives of her characters, all who are searching for some sort of stability.
Written, directed by and starring Miranda July, Me You and Everyone We Know brings a neighborhood to life with poetry, humor and love, along with some interesting insights in both adult and adolescent sexuality. Everyone in the film is searching, or longing, for some sort of emotional stability. July plays Christine, a performance artist/senior cab driver who falls for recently separated shoe salesman Richard (John Hawkes) and is at the same time trying to get her artwork into a local museum. Richard is struggling with the new changes in his family as he and his two sons move into a cramped apartment. He finds himself between two worlds, where his old life is slowly fading away and his new life he is not quite prepared for. His older son Peter explores his sexuality both online and off while his six year old son Robbie (scene-stealer Brandon Ratcliff) finds himself in an eyebrow raising chatroom where we realize one dialogue can mean two completely different things for two people. A neighbor girl who longs for her mother's love obsesses with the future family she'll have where everything will be perfect, replete with a complete kitchen set she has already tucked away in her hope chest. And two teenage girls find themselves playing a war of words with another neighbor who has fixated on them.
What blossoms in July's film is the need for love and communication and the beautiful explosion felt when someone "gets" you and your way of expressing yourself. One memorable scene is July's walk with Hawkes; she sees the walk to the end of the street as their entire life together, when they get to the sign they are at the halfway point. It's their relationship and for Hawkes, it's still at the beginning, the good part, when everything is fresh and new and full of possibility. He plays the game and their mode of communication dovetails nicely. They part ways and when July confronts him a few moments later the reality is that he's not ready for her, though he enjoyed the fantasy for a few brief moments. She leaves feeling humiliated. In a scene later on she writes "me" and "you" on a pair of shoes he sold her and films her feet. After all, it's one step forward and two steps back.
As a performance artist, July also pokes fun at the ridiculousness of the art world as she struggles to exhibit her work. The art curator is arrogant, frazzled, pretentious and unexpectedly caring in a few moments of the film. When she oohs and aws over the realistic looking garbage on the floor, the artist informs her that it is in fact a hamburger wrapper that he threw onto the floor for "effect". July shares with the audience the obvious disdain for pretentiousness in the modern art world that has little to do with quality and beauty and more to do with shock value.
But rather than poking fun fore mere laughs, July succeeds in creating very poetic moments for their own sake. Trying to save a goldfish on the freeway turns a harrowing moment into one of quiet beauty. Her museum piece of an elderly couple is even more powerful given their bond with each other late in life and the relationship she develops with them, both as an artist and as a friend.
In a culture where everything is disposable, where once it's broken we throw it away, July focuses on rescuing, on saving those relationships and moments that should remain forever in the heart. Relationships end and families fall apart and it's normal, almost expected in this society. While the heart may ache for what has been lost (as all the characters have lost something dear to them), July's film focuses on the risk that everyone takes when expressing themselves again even though it could totally backfire.
With grace and humanity July paints a portrait of modern, diverse community where, despite problems, there's a chance not only at survival, but at happiness.
Anji Milanovic
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