Miranda July's debut film. I had the pleasure of seeing it at Sundance. It's an amazingly human and beautiful movie. You need it.
here's the site.
http://www.meandyoumovie.com/?referer=%2Fmeandyoumovie
here's a quick link to the trailer
http://videos.ifcfilms.com/meandyou/meyou_trailer_480x272.mov
here are the showtimes
http://server.mammothnyc.com/ifcschedule/films/me%20and%20you/
and here's her blog, in which she recently added videos from Cannes.
in one, she shot from the red carpet of the festival. makes you feel like you're there. it's cool.
http://meandyou.typepad.com/weblog/
welcome. your flickr is very interesting.
This is the second best film I've seen all year. My review of it is here. (http://www.road-dog-productions.com/reviews/archives/2005/05/me_and_you_and.html#more)
moved to the grapevine.
cine was the first to claim it as the best.
in any event, welcome noyes. after all the regrettable admissions, it's posts like urs that makes activating new members a worthwhile risk.
yay for miranda july!
i want to see this too ,
thanks guys, i really appreciate the warm welcome.
seriously tho, i know meatball just claimed the bandwagon for himself, but does anyone else get the feeling that she is here to redeem mankind?
(a good thing)
i think shes absolutely angelic.
First thought while watching the trailer:
Mm, that sounds good. I think I'll have that.
does the shot of the circle of children on their backs remind anyone else of the svefn genglar video?
Quote from: mI agree.
Hey, that's my line. hehehe....I love saying 'hehehe' on the internet.
Quote from: Pubrickcine was the first to claim it as the best.
grr! I think I was! It was my favourite from Ebertfest. Like 5 minutes into the movie I was like, 'Todd Solondz' afterwards an audience member mentioned Happiness. Miranda July had seen and liked Happiness but that's about it. She's not a film buff.
I loved the movie so much I wanted to hug her (Miranda July). I didn't hug her but I did shake her hand while telling her I loved her movie. And told her I liked her style. She dresses cool. 8)
Quote from: BethieAnd told her I liked her style. She dresses cool. 8)
Was she wearing the pink shoes from the movie at the screening you went to? They drew their own round of applause when she introduced them at the Philadelphia Film Festival.
That's so awesome.
She wasn't wearing them when I saw her. She was wearing a pair of white sneaks.
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Connecting with Miranda July
Words: Holly Willis
Photo: Autumn de Wilde
"I don't think the whole poop thing is really grabbing people."
So said producer Gina Kwon to first-time feature director Miranda July, and she was probably correct: excrement definitely inhabits an in-between zone. Necessary? Yes. The stuff of interesting artwork? Sometimes. The foundation for a feature film pitch? Uh, no. Better to focus on the stars. Or the unusual plot. Or an emerging artist's exceptional promise. Financiers are an uptight bunch after all, a fact that July, an experimental filmmaker, video artist and musician, learned the hard way when she and Kwon began taking July's first feature film script, Me and You and Everyone We Know, to investors.
"My pitches were getting weirder and weirder as we tried to accommodate the realities of everyone we talked to," July says. "It's not an easy movie to describe...."
In person, July crackles with a fierce intensity that seems at first to emanate from her clear blue eyes. But at the same time she seems entirely ethereal, like she could drift away at any moment. She's sitting in what used to be her living room in a small bungalow in LA's Echo Park. It's early summer, 2004. On one side of the room is a pale green wall and on the other, a few even paler green sheets that shield the windows, keeping the space serene and cool, even as the hot sun beats down outside. Six wooden folding tables with six telephones neatly divide the stark room into workstations that, during the coming week, will be filled with busy crew members and interns. On one wall, 13 neatly hand-lettered envelopes indicate studio departments: location, art, costume, camera, and so on. Everything is tidy. Efficient. Ready for the intense conjuring of July's magical artmaking. Production starts next week on the film, and July is aflutter with nervous energy. Spying a drooping lavender plant ("It was supposed to soothe Gina," she explains), July plunks it into the bathroom sink where she can soak its dusty soil, then settles down to talk about the movie.
July took her producer's advice regarding the poop. She didn't use to take advice, mainly because she wasn't doing anything that could be construed as advisable; nobody had really done what she did, and rather than prompting guidance, her activities more often provoked people to scratch their heads and marvel. In 1997 she produced her debut album 50 Million Hours a Mile, which features a series of fictional stories told in her tremulous voice. The Binet-Simon Test album followed a year later. July also created the Big Miss Moviola project in which she invited female moviemakers to send in their short videos; she'd send back a compilation tape with nine other shorts by women as a video chain letter. And she made videos herself. In Atlanta, she plays both characters in a story about a girl swimmer hustled into competitive sports by an overbearing mother. The Amateurist counts as one of the strangest shorts ever, with July playing both a devoted analyst and the object of scrutiny seemingly being studied via a surveillance camera in a short film about numbers and obsession. July's uncanny ear for language and her intense embodiment of her characters mark her films as singular achievements.
And then there's her performance work, combining video, sound and July's own concentrated presence. And her audio work -- the Whitney Museum, for example, commissioned a piece called The Drifters, a series of short dialogues and monologues that entranced the 2002 Biennial's unsuspecting visitors as they floated up and down on the museum's elevator; it was hard to disembark because you didn't want to leave the stories behind. And then there's her collaboration with artist Harrell Fletcher, Learning to Love You More, in which the pair posts "assignments" to a Web site, inviting people to do odd things that, perhaps, unleash moments of creative inspiration. Assignment #43: Make an exhibition of art in your parent's house. Assignment #38: Act out someone else's argument.
The stories July tells often center on youths, and the time in life when boundaries between the self and the world are still fluid, when who you are gets prodded and poked into some respectable form. Many of her characters are kids squirming under the weight of their parents; some are girls and some are boys. All become uncomfortably real. July also favors stories about slightly odd characters, people desperate to transcend their own complex psyches in order to find ways to make meaningful contact in a world that feels alien to them. How do you connect with others, in spite of the idiosyncrasies that make you you?
These are the questions that drive Me and You and Everyone We Know, a project that collects all of July's diverse talents into a new constellation.
"One of the things about the time it took to get the money for the film was that that was time that I couldn't just make it," says July. "I've written things and performed them the next week sometimes, but while I was waiting all that time for financing I was making the screenplay better." She hastens to add that she still honors improv and a quick pace, but the long haul of the feature film let her sink into a project in a new way.
Another lesson learned was the value of collaboration. For the first time, July had extensive feedback on her project, and she figured out ways to accept what worked and reject what didn't, all while honoring that slippery thing called intuition. As an example, she talks about working with her cinematographer, Chuy Chavez. "There were certain conversations early on that we had that made me realize that there were a lot of differences between us but we had a certain feeling about our art -- we kept saying to each other, 'This is a really weird idea that is horrible so I don't think this is what I want to do, but...' And then we'd say the thing. And this to me was so experimental, so much from a really important place."
That "really important place" may be the key to July's particular genius. She taps into something so intensely internal, and then shows it to us in all its strange, weird glory. And while seeing what she has to offer can be deliciously peculiar, at the same time the experience is infused with empathy. This is certainly true of Me and You and Everyone We Know, in which the characters in a neighborhood collide, repelling and attracting each other in a series of encounters. All of the characters -- from the hapless, recently separated shoe salesman (John Hawkes), to his new love interest, an Elder Cab driver and struggling artist (July), to various kids just figuring out the basic elements of sexual desire and life in general -- are at once intensely idiosyncratic and yet entirely identifiable.
Further, July takes taboo and transgressive subjects -- like the "poop thing" shared inadvertently between a child and an adult who meet online -- and makes them complex and significant, not scandalous or titillating. Taken out of context, there are other moments in the film -- a clumsy blowjob, self-immolation, explicit sexual overtures made to a pair of adolescents -- that should be incendiary, especially in a conservative American culture, but they're depicted with a benevolent acceptance of human foibles that prohibits knee jerk outrage.
While July is often celebrated as a queen of experimental media, her feature film was lauded at Sundance not for being unusual or strange, but for being a great movie. Does this mean July will be Hollywood's next filmmaking darling? Probably not. She describes her next project as "really wild, wild like performance." But she definitely has one part of the Hollywood act down: "The question I'm most commonly asked these days is, 'What's your next project?'" she says. "By that people really mean, 'What's your next script? And will it have stars?' I just lie and say 'yes.'"
www.mirandajuly.com
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The L Magazine has a "Me and You.." ad in and around the first page. You can use it to get in to the advance screening just a day before on Thursday, June 16th at IFC Center. First come, first serve, and its starts at 9, so be there around.. you get the idea.
-mg
Her own lights, camera, action
Performance and video artist Miranda July did things a little differently when it came time to make a feature film.
Source: Los Angeles Times
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When, on her third try, Miranda July finally got into the Sundance Screenwriting Labs, she had already established herself as a performance and video artist and was eager to turn her attention to a narrative feature film project. At Sundance, she says, people were aware of her fine-art background as well as her outspoken decision to make a movie her own way — as a hybrid of conventional features and the dreamy landscapes of her earlier work. So they approached her a little differently than they would someone trying to write the next "Pulp Fiction."
"People knew I was pretty skeptical. They would sort of be like, 'Do you know about three-act structure?' 'No.' 'Well, are you interested?' And I'd be like, 'Tell me what it is,' and then I wouldn't be," she said in the slightly spacey, drawn-out way one might expect from someone who grew up in Berkeley, then spent some 10 years in the artist-friendly environs of Portland, Ore. (July recently moved to Los Angeles.)
As the filmmaking process went on, she came to appreciate some of the rules of narrative filmmaking. "I was more interested in structure when I got to the editing stage," she continues. "I did have some vague 'Oh, yeah' — I kind of got why people would approach it that way, even though I probably never would."
The film she created, "Me and You and Everyone We Know," screens at the Los Angeles Film Festival this week and arrives in theaters Friday bearing as fine a pedigree as any film of the season: After its January premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, "Me and You" was given a Special Jury Prize for "originality of vision," then received four prizes at the recent Cannes Film Festival and has picked up a handful of other festival awards.
July's previous work, which has twice been included in the prestigious Whitney Biennial, would likely fall into the category of "mixed media"; as the bio on her website puts it, "Miranda July makes movies, performances, recordings and combinations of these things."
For "Me and You," July, 31, served as writer, director and lead actress, playing an aspiring artist who falls for a single dad/shoe salesman played with uncanny charm by "Deadwood" actor John Hawkes.
Along the way, strange incidents and intersections draw a seemingly disconnected circle of neighbors and co-workers closer and closer. Some of the film's most provocative moments explore the emergent sexuality of a group of children, including a rather charming exchange in cyberspace between a 7-year-old boy and an unknowing prospective (and full-grown) paramour. In someone else's hands, these scenes might seem exploitative or off-color, but July manages to present them as gentle, tentative steps into a new world.
"I judged my own intentions," she says, in describing how she tried to discern when she might be crossing the line into the inappropriate. "I might need more room than exists in the culture to feel different things. I wanted to trust myself enough to not make it totally black and white."
And she didn't shy away from material that reflected her own past. Her character is an artist who can't get her work into a local show, and there is some humor at the expense of an art curator. While she admits she had second thoughts about some of the art world themes, she ultimately decided they were valid: "My thing isn't more weird than anyone else's thing."
In the end, July sees "Me and You" as occupying a space that pushes "the commercialization of more experimental stuff.….I really wanted it to be a very normal movie."
As she wrote the script, rather than relying on some preconceived notion of plot or what the movie might be "about," July let her feelings guide her, creating the heavily articulated mood and tone that are the film's biggest strengths — and presumably the factor that has set it apart from other quirky-on-purpose indie romantic comedies.
"When I sat down to write each day," she says, "I would think, 'What is the feeling of today? What's particular about my life right now?' And I would just trust that. It doesn't really look like it, but the film really is very much about me now, kind of laid over the characters.
"I would start from there, and sometimes that required a new character or a totally new direction. I would do this sort of detective work, looking at the scene and thinking, 'I wonder who this person knows.' It was almost as if the story had already been written, and I was this sleuth who had to uncover it."
can anybody tell me what the first song in the trailer is? i think it is a spacemen 3/spiritualized song, but i can't figure out which one
EDIT: figured it out. it's "anyway that you want me" by spiritualized
has anyone seen this yet? i enjoyed it for the most part. i was willing to overlook some weaker elelments due to the fact that it seemed to come from such a sincere place.
i think sincerity is unique these days...
A few of us saw it on the festival circuit and posted about it on the first page of this thread.
anyone has the soundtrack on mp3 format?
:)
Indie filmmaker July wary as Hollywood beckons
Stay independent or go Hollywood? Filmmaker Miranda July, facing sudden success with her quirky movie "Me You and Everyone We Know," says she has already made up her mind.
July's low budget, independent movie, which was released in U.S. theaters earlier this month, has racked up awards at Sundance, Cannes and other festivals.
It has also won warm reviews, earned solid box office and brought first-time filmmaker July the distinction of being called a fresh cinematic voice.
But with Hollywood now beckoning, July, who wrote and stars in the offbeat romantic comedy, says she plans to go back to her work as a performance artist and writer.
And she refuses to pigeonhole the freewheeling "Me and You" into a slogan the way Hollywood's commercial movie marketing demands.
She calls her film "a conversation about loneliness and longing and sort of asking: 'Are you this way? Do we have to be this way? Are there things you've invented that let you out of your own world and allow you to connect?"'
When asked why her screenplay seemed to stray outside the basic three acts of a typical feature film, July admitted she never bothered to check the structure.
That convention-bending quality of the movie has made it a hit with many critics. The New York Times said that her film "introduces playful qualities of installation art to the conventions of narrative cinema."
'LEARNING TO LOVE'
In "Me and You," July plays a performance artist looking for her big break in the art world, and also for love.
But when she finds romance, it is with a reluctant partner, Richard, who is newly single and raising sons, Robby and Peter. Robby, 7, bluffs his way through Internet sex chats he barely understands, while Peter, 14, becomes the unwitting sex partner for a pair of adventurous neighborhood girls.
The 31-year-old filmmaker for years was best known as a performance artist. Her piece, "learningtoloveyoumore.com," for example, was part of the 2004 Whitney Biennial in New York.
That project, which includes a Web site, challenges participants to join by completing "assignments" and sending in the results including: "Draw a scene from a movie that made you cry" and "Make a paper replica of your bed."
Before "Me and You," she made a few short films with titles like "Haysha Royko" and "The Amateurist," which have been screened at venues such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum, also in New York.
But with "Me and You," July has what could be a crossover hit with mainstream movie audiences. Two weeks ago, "Me and You" took in $30,800 from only one screen in New York, and this past week after adding four more in Los Angeles and Chicago, it grossed $15,840 per theater.
By contrast, this past weekend's No. 1 movie, "Batman Begins," averaged just under $7,000 per screen, according to box office tracker boxofficemojo.com.
With that kind of success, a young filmmaker like July would expect Hollywood to come knocking at her door, but she said she wants a little distance from the movies for now. She is working on a new art piece and on a book of short stories.
"How little anyone cares about them, they suddenly seem like a nice respite," she said.
http://www.elginpark.com/meandyousite1.htm
yeah, i was in that page all yesterday's evening listening but i want it on mp3 ,it's good
eventually it should be on soulseek. or some torrent site.
i'll keep you posted. vice versa.
aight :yabbse-thumbup:
:shock:
Man! I can see why you want it so bad cron, it's amazing, everyone should check out that link given by noyes.
wow that trailer looks amazing! hopefully it will be screening somewhere close to me.
I really liked it. So many wonderful little moments.
Shit. Did I miss this film's theatrical run or is it just now opening? It's not playing in my parts.
clap your hands say yeah
PM me that shit and post the answer to my question.
It just opened in NY, LA and Chicago last week and is currently expanding. The release, that is.
An interview (http://www.theavclub.com/feature/index.php?issue=4126&f=2) with Miranda July at The Onion AV Club.
2LB
saw it tonite at the IFC Center. 10.75, DAMN! anyway, it was good/okay, i thought. a lot of good little moments in a movie that wasnt interested in being very narrative or having much of a story. which is fine, but when i felt the movie approaching its end, i felt like after all the character building, i wanted a little more. it would've been a good tv show, like a more adult 'adventures of pete and pete' or something. this could've been the pilot. it really felt more like an introduction because it was so open-ended. so, i enjoyed myself but not as much as most of you did/will. if you think you will love it, you probably will. if you're skeptical, you may not. also: i did not get at all why he made her get out of the car.
the best part...
)) <> ((
i really loved this movie (which is something i haven't been able to say in awhile).
oh, and i appreciated all of the interesting stuff she did visually(probably due to her being a performance artist)...
just saw it. it was a lot funnier than I thought, but still a lot of the audience members laughed at the "wrong" spots and it was kinda annoying. I was really into it. and I also really liked even though it was like a sensitive feel good movie about human connection and things of that nature, it also pushed the envelopes in a way it's not just to make a point or to shock people, and it was cool. I haven't seen explicit content that fitted a film so well in a long time now.
yo-
Article from LA Weekly:
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/31/film-taylor.php
Quote from: imawombati really loved this movie (which is something i haven't been able to say in awhile).
oh, and i appreciated all of the interesting stuff she did visually(probably due to her being a performance artist)...
where'd you find that photo of paul anderson? if that is him.
I love it once and don't like it twice. On the one hand it was honest and original, but on the other hand it was little else. I feel the same way about this movie as I do Garden State: I want to see the second movie before I make a call.
I'll tell you though, when the movie ended I did not want to leave the theater. For me it was just getting good and then it was over. Repeat viewings may prove to be richer experiences.
It didn't remind me of a Solondz film except for Miranda July's voice sounds like Jane Adams' voice.
It's almost aggravating to me, and there is where a bias might set in, because you (the general kind) go and watch this movie and you feel such empathy and passion but then you leave the theater and pass these people and don't want to talk to them. I just want to yell at the screen, "Grow up" and then I just want the screen to yell back "Never." I want the screen to win. I really do.
To me, and this is speaking as an outcast, whatever kind of outcast, at least a recluse, these kind of indie movies are becoming formulaic. Anti-Hollywood movies, yes, but still formulaic. That's why I can't help but hold back on the accolades, because I can't tell if it's me that needs to grow up or these movies I keep seeing.
Still, I didn't want to leave the theater. That doesn't happen often, you know. I want to see it again and see how I feel.
Quote from: Losing the Horse:these kind of indie movies are becoming formulaic.
which ones in particular are u talking about? cos it seems to me, as sumone who hasn't seen this movie, that it's a personal sort of piece. so what about this movie and others like it are making them "formulaic".. is it simply that they are all NOT formulaic, breaking form etc? don't bother if it involves spoilers, i assume it shouldn't.
i'm just grateful that indie movies at least are still not as shit boring as indie music.
Quote from: PubrickQuote from: Losing the Horse:these kind of indie movies are becoming formulaic.
which ones in particular are u talking about? cos it seems to me, as sumone who hasn't seen this movie, that it's a personal sort of piece. so what about this movie and others like it are making them "formulaic".. is it simply that they are all NOT formulaic, breaking form etc? don't bother if it involves spoilers, i assume it shouldn't.
i'm just grateful that indie movies at least are still not as shit boring as indie music.
Oddball characters, with a mix of sexual frustrations, difficulties growing up or fitting in, or esoteric tastes, usually loners. Cheery music and fresh colors.
Prime examples: Punch-Drunk Love, Welcome to the Dollhouse, Garden State, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Napoleon Dynamite, I Heart Huckabees, Me and You And Everyone We Know, Bottle Rocket, Sideways, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Nói, Donnie Darko, Secretary.
You could probably take out some of those, add more, change it up whatever depending on your tastes and attitude, but the point is there.
We're in the Harold and Maude time of film, where the creepy loners are celebrated. At first it was fresh and exciting, but now I'm just wondering which films are going to rise to the top and last. There's a lot of really fucking good films being made like this, but it also seems a bit easy now, there is definitely a demographic being hit with these movies.
I very mildly agree with Losing the Horse. I think he's wrong about the movies that he listed, I think they have little to do with eachother and none of them are as bad as Garden State.
This movie, however doesn't really get much further than "quirky characters doing quirky shit".
Don't get me wrong, this is one of the better movies to come out this year... it's a relief after all the crap I've seen... it's just that I can't find anything more there... just a bunch of nice moments with the typical out of the ordinary characters you find in a good indie flick.
It's executed far better than Garden State. Garden State was trying to be a movie like this, but didn't quite pull it off. This movie pulls it off and there are some awesome moments.
Quote from: RegularKarateI very mildly agree with Losing the Horse. I think he's wrong about the movies that he listed, I think they have little to do with eachother and none of them are as bad as Garden State.
This movie, however doesn't really get much further than "quirky characters doing quirky shit".
Don't get me wrong, this is one of the better movies to come out this year... it's a relief after all the crap I've seen... it's just that I can't find anything more there... just a bunch of nice moments with the typical out of the ordinary characters you find in a good indie flick.
It's executed far better than Garden State. Garden State was trying to be a movie like this, but didn't quite pull it off. This movie pulls it off and there are some awesome moments.
I felt I should make a list so I wouldn't be being vague, but I knew that invariably the list was going to take away from the argument. All of those movies are, for better or worse, part of what dulled the impact of Me and You and Everyone We Know. How similar they are to each other is slight. Agreed.
They're definitely all oddball character movies, but they're such different kinds of oddball character movies that the list seems too forced together.
But yeah. You see what I'm saying still.
I don't think Me and You And Everyone We Know is especially similar to Garden State, I just brought up Garden State because it's also a first time movie that will speak louder or softer depending on what comes after it from the filmmaker. Although Garden State is probably doomed.
Just having the dude from Deadwood has me sold(at least to check it out). Added bonus is that I only have to drive 10 minutes to see it.
I thought this movie was a notch up from your typical summer beautiful weirdo movies in how it depicts children and their sexuality. I think the depiction is quite fresh and it's really rare to see it not being exploitative or attempting to be provacative.
Just got back from seeing this, and yes, it is quite terrific. I really enjoyed the characters and the dialogue. That ending was great.
I suppose I could understand this reminding someone of Solondz, but only in the way the children are depicted. Visually and thematically it was quite different.
The more I think back on this movie the more I realized how much I enjoyed the movie and its friendliness.
Even if it doesn't end up on my best movies list, it'll probably end up on my best friends list.
Quote from: Slick ShoesI really liked it. So many wonderful little moments.
I'm about the same, just minus the "really." It's possible the movie was to hyped up for me. Yes there many wonderful little moments, but not enough to add up to a great experience. Am I the only one who had a hard time believing in the characters Richard and Christine? Something just felt missing that would either round them out, or at least connect them more to the picture. I thought just about all of the kids in the flick portrayed people that I very well could have known.
I think that's the disconnect for me, parts of this seem very human while others, like it's been said in this thread, seem to give into this "Indie" sensibility of the human condition.
So yeah, basically what Losing the Horse and RegularKarate said.
When I saw this, I couldn't help but wonder how in god's name it got so big as to be actually distributed. Is this the indie movie for the year? "This year's Lost in Translation" I think read somewhere taht some critic described it as such. Losing the Horse, you nailed it, it's a gigantic formula of a movie. Indie music? Check. Quiet, odd characters who talk in contrived poetry? Check. Sexual exploitation for the hell of it? Double check. Story? Absent.
Quote from: Gamblour"This year's Lost in Translation" I think read somewhere taht some critic described it as such.
Advertisements for the movie have Ebert quoted as saying it's this year's Sideways. I don't know how that applies, really. I think that's the quotation that you're thinking of.
The characters didn't come off as precociously quirky. They do some strange things but it didn't feel like an "indie" collection of weird characters and situations. It feels totally natural for the characters to do what they do. The theme of reaching out and human connection doesn't beat the audience into the head, but arises naturally out of the characters and situations. I wish it was a little longer, but this is a quietly wonderful film.
Miranda July has a face that I swear I've seen in several other films, but I haven't.
For as much as I wanted to see this film, the viewing was a dissapointment. I understand LosingTheHorse's worry about the strange loner heroes being reduced to a genre, but I think their is more value in this film than a "Harold and Maude".
First off, the film did tackle ideas and trends that are unique to now. First being the exploration of sex on the net by children. Second, the fact there was a mixed couple who didn't have their relationship explained to the viewers. It was just what it was. These were some moments amongst more that felt like a filmmaker trying to be progressive.
But, the film also felt lazy. I felt like I understood the ideas but was waiting for the story to really keep pace with them. The story would hinder too long on a self identification portrait one could get with Miranda July's character as she meandered on her art projects. I say that because I know someone who is almost exactly like that character and shock, "Harold and Maude" is her favorite film. So where I know many people who are these characters, I found a story that was too mundane too often to really be interesting through out.
Still, I admire the effort.
I'd say "ordinary" rather than "mundane," but not in a pejorative sense. The film doesn't have delusions of grandeur about being about the human condition or something grandiose like that. It simply follows its characters in a low-key manner.
there's nothing but love in this movie, i don't know how ppl can even dislike it. pete said about wong kar-wai that if a film has "good pace/rhythm the audience can forgive a lot of pretentiousness and indulgence and lack of logic". this is a great example of that.
it's the kind of movie that smells like roses. the whole thing was itself complimentary to all the ideas it presented, meaning that everything emanated from a source, the miranda july fountain of incredible beauty. it wasn't pretentious, it didn't pretend to be about anything other than what it was about. for once a movie loved its ideas enuff to illustrate them as ideas, and create a tone conducive to accepting them.
i don't like when ppl say "good tone" or "ideas" without attempting to explain exactly what they were, so here i go. the overriding idea i can think of right now is the immersion of art in everyday world, the tone suited for this, which this revels in, is between romantic and real. almost every scene has this element, none moreso than the final scenes where the painting joins it's organic surroundigs, and the kid with the coin sees an immediate effect on his world through the "idea" he employs.
i've been holding back a review for months, i can't believe so many ppl are not liking this when it's SO easy to love.
P, to me, it's all stabs at being poetic, they're just HORRIBLE contrived attempts. Lighting the hand on fire, the walk down the street metaphor for life that she OVERexplained, "macaroni"--how cute. man I hated this movie because it tried to be poetry. Poetry comes out of something that's HONEST. this movie was honest maybe about the part where she's a failed modern artist.
I don't think metaphor was even contemplated upon in this film. I mean I guess you can interpret certain imageries as metaphors, but it just seems a like a list of very visceral images that find their ways into the films. I don't understand how it "tried" to be poetry just because it contained poetic elements that you didn't like. I mean, you can call it "bad" poetry I guess, but "trying" to be poetry? Were the dialogues in iambic pentameters?
It was just a utopian kinda film, a film where everyone is really nice, like, how great would it be if things were really this way, and she made a very convincing argument, yes, the world would be a better place if we lived in her world. But I think you're so conditioned by your own filmviewing habits that you think two characters' attempt to distract themselves from the awkwardness of mutual attraction was somehow an essay of metaphors.
and P: actually Penjak Ratanaruang said that, the guy who directed Last Life in the Universe. Which was today's IMDB film of the day, incidentally.
Quote from: cowboykurtis on June 25, 2005, 02:06:12 PM
has anyone seen this yet? i enjoyed it for the most part. i was willing to overlook some weaker elelments due to the fact that it seemed to come from such a sincere place.
i think sincerity is unique these days...
i was about to post a similar post before i saw this. i couldn't agree more. there were certainly elements of this that i didn't like, but it just meant so well. it certainly walks the fine line of pretentiousness, and sometimes crossed it, but sometimes movies need to walk that line. At least this movie had the balls to do it.
i liked it. :yabbse-thumbup:
Quote from: cowboykurtis on June 25, 2005, 02:06:12 PM
i was about to post a similar post before i saw this. i couldn't agree more. there were certainly elements of this that i didn't like, but it just meant so well. it certainly walks the fine line of pretentiousness, and sometimes crossed it.
Quote
And that was my main problem with the movie. I enjoyed it's randomness and lack of plot to watch these people's personalities. But it
feels so written and I could just imagine July trying so hard to make these people interesting.
SPOILERSome of the sequences were just horrifically bad and awkwardly handled. Like all the stuff with the "poop" and her meeting up the little boy. I think the movie could've been so much stronger without that stuff.
Quote from: RedVines on November 06, 2005, 05:04:08 PM
Quote from: cowboykurtis on June 25, 2005, 02:06:12 PM
i was about to post a similar post before i saw this. i couldn't agree more. there were certainly elements of this that i didn't like, but it just meant so well. it certainly walks the fine line of pretentiousness, and sometimes crossed it.
Quote
And that was my main problem with the movie. I enjoyed it's randomness and lack of plot to watch these people's personalities. But it feels so written and I could just imagine July trying so hard to make these people interesting.
SPOILER
Some of the sequences were just horrifically bad and awkwardly handled. Like all the stuff with the "poop" and her meeting up the little boy. I think the movie could've been so much stronger without that stuff.
i will say that some stuff was very akwardly handled. i felt a lot of lines early on felt very contrived, like "i was trying to save my life." there were plenty that i cant think of now. a lot of the dialogue didn't feel very real, but there was something about the movie's charm that told me to let it slide.
i thought they handled the internet stuff well, though, because that is usually a tough topic to explore on film.
like i said it wasn't great and had it's flaws, but i somehow liked it.
spoils.
i love it.
i'd like to add my thoughts on a few of the things brought up in Mr Pubricko's review. the description of the film's central idea as "the immersion of art in the everyday world" is dead-on. the sidewalk conversation, the scene where she writes "fuck" on her windshield, etc. she approaches her life the way she approaches her artwork; they're the same. it's a strong reflection of july as an artist and as a person. the ending where the painting is cradled in the branches is the most obviously symbolic depiction of this idea but, in addition to the way the characters act (the hand-burning) another symbolic representation of the life/art idea is the way the film begins and ends: it begins with a photograph of a sunrise.. it ends, similarly, with an actual rising sun.
also, the performances are brilliant and many of the scenes are quite hilarious.
Quote from: Hedwig on November 25, 2005, 08:56:39 PM
spoils.
i love it.
i'd like to add my thoughts on a few of the things brought up in Mr Pubricko's review. the description of the film's central idea as "the immersion of art in the everyday world" is dead-on. the sidewalk conversation, the scene where she writes "fuck" on her windshield, etc. she approaches her life the way she approaches her artwork; they're the same. it's a strong reflection of july as an artist and as a person. the ending where the painting is cradled in the branches is the most obviously symbolic depiction of this idea but, in addition to the way the characters act (the hand-burning) another symbolic representation of the life/art idea is the way the film begins and ends: it begins with a photograph of a sunrise.. it ends, similarly, with an actual rising sun.
also, the performances are brilliant and many of the scenes are quite hilarious.
I really like this review and now want to watch the movie again.
I saw this movie a few days ago, and it made me smile. It'll go down in history with those movies like The Ice Storm that underline the beauty, fragility, and awkwardness of sexuality, especially that of young minds. It's awkward in some places, a little too on the nose, but it can be forgiven because it's sincere. All first films have their kinks, but July has promise. She'll make something amazing someday. This is a promise of that, and finally, we have another female filmmaker who's worth watching. Nothing much else to say right now, but I'm confident that multiple viewings will be more rewarding.
Quote from: Hedwig on November 25, 2005, 08:56:39 PM
spoils.
i love it.
i'd like to add my thoughts on a few of the things brought up in Mr Pubricko's review. the description of the film's central idea as "the immersion of art in the everyday world" is dead-on. the sidewalk conversation, the scene where she writes "fuck" on her windshield, etc. she approaches her life the way she approaches her artwork; they're the same. it's a strong reflection of july as an artist and as a person. the ending where the painting is cradled in the branches is the most obviously symbolic depiction of this idea but, in addition to the way the characters act (the hand-burning) another symbolic representation of the life/art idea is the way the film begins and ends: it begins with a photograph of a sunrise.. it ends, similarly, with an actual rising sun.
also, the performances are brilliant and many of the scenes are quite hilarious.
My teacher said the same thing and it too made me want to watch this again. I must've seen it in the wrong mindset. maybe it'll play better on a small screen.
I don't think I've ever found myself in so much agreement with P.
The slight break between "reality" and "reality as represented" creates an awkwardness that works beautifully. That break is what is explored and so much about humanity/relationships/art/love/etc is shown. I don't think it is fair to call it pretentious since there is so much heart in the film.
I understand what some of you are saying when you talk about the indie formulas, but I don't really have a problem with it. The film stands on it's own, regardless of formulas it may or may not use. As long as it doesn't become predictable, i'm fine with films using established formulas. It doesn't have to be groundbreaking to be great.
the more i think about it...this film is a lot smarter than most indie films. and it has a lot more heart, something completely lacking from the "indie formula"
i'm gonna need to see it again, with this theme that you guys discuss in mind. i don't know if i exactly get what your saying, but still...
maybe i'll ask it for christmas. how's the DVD?
Quote from: JimmyGator on December 09, 2005, 02:30:24 PMhow's the DVD?
dont get it. shes coming out with a Director approved version soon with a better cover and good extras.
are you fo real?
shoot.
Quote from: modage on December 09, 2005, 02:45:23 PM
Quote from: JimmyGator on December 09, 2005, 02:30:24 PMhow's the DVD?
dont get it. shes coming out with a Director approved version soon with a better cover and good extras.
from Ms. July herself re: the new dvd:
"I should perhaps emphasize that this new DVD will not be made until the first hundred thousand DVDs are sold. Which sounds like kind of a lot to me. So don't think: "Well, I'll let those other people buy the first hundred thousand, I'll just wait for the next batch." Because if you are reading this right now then you are the core constituency, you are the 100 thousand. This is not nearly as important as, say, voting, but it utilizes similar muscles. By the time elections roll around your sense that you can make a difference will be strong and ready to go make that difference."
thats FUCKED UP with a capital F. so the 100,000 people who care enough about the movie to buy it are being coerced to buy it twice. Rick Sands LOVES this.
is this fo real?
is there any clue as to what will be on that DVD? probably a commentary.
Man, I'm not buying another copy. I'll rent the new copy. But still. :yabbse-angry:
Just like Eternal Sunshine. Glad I haven't bought my copy yet. You'd think someone like July would realize it's not good to fuck over your fanbase. No point whining about it. If I were anyone who'd bought the original DVD, I'd go ahead and sell it now and wait for the good version.
Of course, this is coming from someone who's still waiting for that 21 Grams special edition. Anyone remember that movie?
Quote from: onomabracadabra on December 10, 2005, 02:44:43 PMOf course, this is coming from someone who's still waiting for that 21 Grams special edition. Anyone remember that movie?
That DVD is coming out at the same time as the full Kill Bill edition.
Quote from: MacGuffin on December 10, 2005, 02:58:41 PM
Quote from: onomabracadabra on December 10, 2005, 02:44:43 PMOf course, this is coming from someone who's still waiting for that 21 Grams special edition. Anyone remember that movie?
That DVD is coming out at the same time as the full Kill Bill edition.
or the adaptation SE dvd.
Quote from: onomabracadabra on December 10, 2005, 02:44:43 PM
Of course, this is coming from someone who's still waiting for that 21 Grams special edition. Anyone remember that movie?
yes, i too am STILL WAITING.
Quote from: onomabracadabra on December 10, 2005, 02:44:43 PM
Just like Eternal Sunshine.
There is (was?) a two disc version of that out...
Quote from: onomabracadabra on December 10, 2005, 02:44:43 PM
Just like Eternal Sunshine. Glad I haven't bought my copy yet. You'd think someone like July would realize it's not good to fuck over your fanbase. No point whining about it. If I were anyone who'd bought the original DVD, I'd go ahead and sell it now and wait for the good version.
Sony is notorious for double-dipping on DVDs. I doubt this is July's evil doings.
Quote from: cowboykurtis on December 10, 2005, 01:47:29 PM
Quote from: modage on December 09, 2005, 02:45:23 PM
Quote from: JimmyGator on December 09, 2005, 02:30:24 PMhow's the DVD?
dont get it. shes coming out with a Director approved version soon with a better cover and good extras.
from Ms. July herself re: the new dvd:
"I should perhaps emphasize that this new DVD will not be made until the first hundred thousand DVDs are sold. Which sounds like kind of a lot to me. So don't think: "Well, I'll let those other people buy the first hundred thousand, I'll just wait for the next batch." Because if you are reading this right now then you are the core constituency, you are the 100 thousand. This is not nearly as important as, say, voting, but it utilizes similar muscles. By the time elections roll around your sense that you can make a difference will be strong and ready to go make that difference."
she's encouraging people to purchase the crappy version cause that's the only way sony will put out the good version. i understsand where shes coming from, she wants to get the good version OUT THERE, but i still think that sucks.
"i think shes a stupid bitch..i want to stab her to death and play around w/her blood"
-patrick bateman
Quote from: onomabracadabra on December 10, 2005, 02:44:43 PM
You'd think someone like July would realize it's not good to fuck over your fanbase.
uh did you read the quote cowboykurtis posted? she had no control over the first release, she's been given control over the second one BEACUSE she cares about her fanbase.
Quote from: cowboykurtis on December 10, 2005, 01:47:29 PM
Quote from: modage on December 09, 2005, 02:45:23 PM
Quote from: JimmyGator on December 09, 2005, 02:30:24 PMhow's the DVD?
dont get it. shes coming out with a Director approved version soon with a better cover and good extras.
from Ms. July herself re: the new dvd:
"I should perhaps emphasize that this new DVD will not be made until the first hundred thousand DVDs are sold. Which sounds like kind of a lot to me. So don't think: "Well, I'll let those other people buy the first hundred thousand, I'll just wait for the next batch." Because if you are reading this right now then you are the core constituency, you are the 100 thousand. This is not nearly as important as, say, voting, but it utilizes similar muscles. By the time elections roll around your sense that you can make a difference will be strong and ready to go make that difference."
She's telling her fanbase they are the core audience, and in order to get past that hump the first 100,000 DVDs entail, they have to fork over the cash or else THEY won't see a SE. That's fucked.
...i saw this last week and i have to admit that this film lived up to the xixax hype...after broken flowers and junebug i though tyou guys have failed me but..damn, this was really special....unique and beautiful....
and this review is perfect and make sme enjoy the film even more..
Quote from: Hedwig on November 25, 2005, 08:56:39 PM
spoils.
i love it.
i'd like to add my thoughts on a few of the things brought up in Mr Pubricko's review. the description of the film's central idea as "the immersion of art in the everyday world" is dead-on. the sidewalk conversation, the scene where she writes "fuck" on her windshield, etc. she approaches her life the way she approaches her artwork; they're the same. it's a strong reflection of july as an artist and as a person. the ending where the painting is cradled in the branches is the most obviously symbolic depiction of this idea but, in addition to the way the characters act (the hand-burning) another symbolic representation of the life/art idea is the way the film begins and ends: it begins with a photograph of a sunrise.. it ends, similarly, with an actual rising sun.
also, the performances are brilliant and many of the scenes are quite hilarious.
I just saw this last night and it's now my favorite of 2005.
I loved how it seamlessly wove in and out of the storylines of each character. Everything in the movie just felt right.