The True Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
I like to fancy myself as being a true connoisseur of film. When reviewing a movie, I like to be wordy, believing in the more is more theory of film criticism. However, there are times when profundity can be found in a just a sentence or two.
Last night I saw "Me and You and Everyone We Know" for the first time. As a currently failing, yet still aspirant writer, this film left me with just one pervasive thought....
I wish to God I had written this.
A couple of years ago Alan Ball wrote this totally masturbatory script which became the film "American Beauty." Now I enjoyed the film, but genius it was not. However, there is a line from it which so totally describes Me and You. It comes during Kevin Spacey's final monologue, a voice over as the camera sweeps over the town:
"But it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst."
Miranda July, making her directorial debut, directing herself no less in a starring role from a script she wrote herself, is able to show us the total beauty that probably happens around us every single day of our lives but we are all too self absorbed to ever possibly see it. That she has this incredible insight, and is further able to express her ideas in actual words would really piss me off if I weren't so totally blown away.
I'm rambling....I am actually without any real words, I just can't let this movie pass without comment.
John Hawkes ("Identity" and HBO's "Deadwood") is Richard Swersey, a shoe salesman who has just separated from his wife and trying to maintain a relationship with their two sons.
Miranda July is Christine, a performance artist/cab driver to the elderly who becomes fascinated with Richard from the moment she sees him in the department store where he works. Thus begins the strange courtship.
We see Richard and Christine walking from the mall to their cars, using the city block as a symbol of the life they have yet to live together. The dialogue is absurd to the point of either hilarity or tragedy and for some reason I never stopped believing in what they were talking about.
Richard's sons are 14-year old Peter and 7-year old Robby. Peter is tormented by the "Heathers" of his school, looking for something more in a relationship than emotionless gratification. His bond with 10-year Sylvie, who comparison shops for handheld appliances to put in her hope chest, reaches a level of maturity that I've yet to see in one of my own relationships.
Robby is the precocious 7-year old who visits chat rooms and talks to random strangers about scatalogical sexual endeavors. His naivete allows us to forgive what would be a...well, a sorta creepy quality that surrounds him at all times....
You know...nothing I could say about this film could possibly do it any justice, with the possible exception of my first statement.
I wish to God I had written this.
Please, see this film.
Last night I saw "Me and You and Everyone We Know" for the first time. As a currently failing, yet still aspirant writer, this film left me with just one pervasive thought....
I wish to God I had written this.
A couple of years ago Alan Ball wrote this totally masturbatory script which became the film "American Beauty." Now I enjoyed the film, but genius it was not. However, there is a line from it which so totally describes Me and You. It comes during Kevin Spacey's final monologue, a voice over as the camera sweeps over the town:
"But it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst."
Miranda July, making her directorial debut, directing herself no less in a starring role from a script she wrote herself, is able to show us the total beauty that probably happens around us every single day of our lives but we are all too self absorbed to ever possibly see it. That she has this incredible insight, and is further able to express her ideas in actual words would really piss me off if I weren't so totally blown away.
I'm rambling....I am actually without any real words, I just can't let this movie pass without comment.
John Hawkes ("Identity" and HBO's "Deadwood") is Richard Swersey, a shoe salesman who has just separated from his wife and trying to maintain a relationship with their two sons.
Miranda July is Christine, a performance artist/cab driver to the elderly who becomes fascinated with Richard from the moment she sees him in the department store where he works. Thus begins the strange courtship.
We see Richard and Christine walking from the mall to their cars, using the city block as a symbol of the life they have yet to live together. The dialogue is absurd to the point of either hilarity or tragedy and for some reason I never stopped believing in what they were talking about.
Richard's sons are 14-year old Peter and 7-year old Robby. Peter is tormented by the "Heathers" of his school, looking for something more in a relationship than emotionless gratification. His bond with 10-year Sylvie, who comparison shops for handheld appliances to put in her hope chest, reaches a level of maturity that I've yet to see in one of my own relationships.
Robby is the precocious 7-year old who visits chat rooms and talks to random strangers about scatalogical sexual endeavors. His naivete allows us to forgive what would be a...well, a sorta creepy quality that surrounds him at all times....
You know...nothing I could say about this film could possibly do it any justice, with the possible exception of my first statement.
I wish to God I had written this.
Please, see this film.
posted by The Crazy Leftist at 5:48 PM
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