))<>(( Forever

June 25, 2005

Every now and again you’ll stumble across an indie that actually feels indie, and not Hollywood-lite. Me and You and Everyone You Know is like that, a flick that comes out of the blue and speaks with a new voice. I’m not sure it’s saying all that much, but I’m happy that it’s saying it differently, if that makes any sense.

Miranda July’s acting/writing/directing debut is about a struggling video artist/eldercab driver that falls in love with a self-immolating recently divorced shoe salesman that has two kids, an older one that’s judging blowjob contests and another one that’s having scatalogical chat sessions on the internet. The latter kid? He’s seven years old. Now, I know what that sounds like. The thing is, July treats it all with a wide-eyed optimism and naivete that makes it all work. The point is that it’s not a freakshow, but good honest people that have spent so much time living within themselves that they forgot how to live with each other.

The performances are fantastic all around, starting at the top with the loopy charm of July and going all the way down to a crazy scene-stealing turn by young Brandon Ratcliff. It is one of the few kid’s roles in recent history that didn’t drive me completely nuts, and honestly the dude made me laugh harder than anyone else in the movie.

Miranda July has been logging her promotional activities over on her blog, which includes a blow-by-blow account of her winning the Camera D’Or at Cannes. It also includes random missives from young Brandon, who writes stuff like this:

Well 143. Remember that means I love you. 1 for the letter I because it only has 1 letter, 4 for love because of 4 letters of the alphabet make up that word and you know you has only 3 letters so…

143 Ms. Miranda. I learned that from Mr. Rogers but he is dead now.

Miranda July also runs Learning to Love You More, a collaborative community art project made up of random creative assigments that anyone can contribute to. These assignments range from drawing temporary tattoos to renacting movie scenes to taking pictures of your parents kissing. She also kicks around a mixtape for female video artists called Joanie 4 Jackie, where she compiles video shorts and then sends them back out to all the contributors. All the projects have that adventurous go-get-em spirit, and you start to understand where the movie came from.

Posted in Moving Pictures