| THE NEW ROMANTICS : Miranda July's 'Me and You and Everyone We Know' [7/10] |
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| Monday, 05 September 2005 | |
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In a sunny, somewhat faceless suburb of present-day Los Angeles a tentative, epiphany-studded, post-modern romance haltingly develops between a short, oft-besuited, emotionally-volatile male who works in retail, and a perkily ethereal brunette. On the soundtrack we hear offbeat, electronic, occasionally-dissonant music as the touching/weird/comic/mysterious plot unfolds. So far, so Punch-Drunk Love (leading-lady - and writer-director - July even looks like Emily Watson). Extend the focus to bring in the central couple's friends, colleagues, relatives, neighbours and chance acquaintainces - and hey presto, it's a mini-Magnolia! It says much for July's achievement with this, her debut feature, that she does ultimately manage to avoid coming across like nothing more than a distaff, watered-down version of Paul Thomas Anderson. If nothing else, the short final scene - involving a child, a man tapping a quarter on a bus-stop, and the rising early-morning sun - is actually a more striking, thought-provoking, amusing and original 'closer' than that from any of Anderson's four movies to date, none of which exactly goes out with much of a bang. Successful real-life performance artist July plays struggling performance-artist Christine, who while awaiting for big breakthrough makes ends meet by ferrying senior citizens around for a company named 'ElderCabs'. Taking one of her regular clients to buy shoes in a department store, she is intrigued by shop-assistant Richard (John Hawkes) - an edgily philosophical, self-analytical older man (Hawkes is actually in his mid-40s, July barely 30) who has recently separated from his wife. And set his hand on fire. The ensuing on-off courtship between the two oddbods walks a dangerous line between the charmingly whimsical and the gratingly twee - as do the various subplots involving Richard's children and neighbours. The overall sweep of these intertwining tales isn't particularly surprising, but each are elevated by some lovely little grace notes involving such unlikely elements as the fate of a doomed goldfish, a (delightfully slow-burning) feud over the possession of cat-lovers' coffee mug, and a blow-job contest between two best-pal teenage girls. This latter detail is part of the film's ongoing examination of how sexuality develops at various stages through childhood into maturity: again, July walks a tricky line between audacity and tastelessness, but her warmly humanistic approach is so winningly direct and engagingly offbeat that only the most prudish audiences will withhold the benefit of the doubt. Neil Young 5th September, 2005 ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW : [7/10] : UK 2005 : Miranda JULY : 90 mins seen at the Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK), 4th September 2005 - press show |
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