me and you and everyone we know...
A while back I heard that video artist Miranda July was writing, directing, and staring in a full length feature film, but I had no idea that it would be this good.
A few weeks ago some friends of mine made reference to how hard of a time they getting through the whole movie. Being that they are the only people I know who have even heard of it, I was a little curious to see what it was all about.
I thought it was a great picture of real people, their pain, and their experience of life. Yes there are scenes that are troubling to watch. Two teenage girls experimenting sexually, in attempts to ready themselves for "true love." A man setting his hand on fire. A six year old kid having explicit instant messanger conversations. But to me under the innitial pain / disbelief of seeing characters engaging in such things, there is so much more going on. The experimenting girls want more than anything to be accepted. They are experimenting so that when they finally are "loved" by a guy, they won't mess up and then find themselves lonely again. The little guy chatting online who can't even type, but cut's and paste's what the anonomyous person on the other end types, and sends it back to her, I think was both the most heart wrenching and beautiful part of the film. The kid starts the converstion at his brother's side. Being atypical little kid, he tells his brother to type some stuff about poop. Well in future conversations poop topic continues and the person on the other end says, after a kind of explicit sentence, "I feel like I can tell you anything. I trust you." The little guy cut's and paste's back to her, "i trust you." The kid still has no idea what all the stuff that has been said means, but to him it doesn't seem to matter. He just want's someone to talk with. The lady, no matter if we non explicit chatters would think her a pervert or not, must feel alienated and lonely, so much that distant text on a cold screen coming from an anonomyous person, provides her with some sort of comfort.
All in all its a painful / beautiful look into the lives of ordinary screwed up people. The cast was great. The kids couldn't have been more perfect, and Miranda July was fabulous. She absolutely lit up every scene she was in.
I think seeing this film in light of Miranda July's other work was very helpful for me. I think it keeps in step very well with the heart of her "Learningtoloveyoumore" web site, where ordinary people contribute things that are important to them. In her work I see a tenderness and veunerability that is rare. And for me the best part is that the source of that veunerability is in being ordiary. On the learningtoloveyoumore (my contribution) site the thing that makes all the work so wonderful is that it's all very ordinary, but it comes right out of someone's life. The intimate space in which people live and grow to be the people that we see and know, the objects and experiences that create and populate that space, are what make July's work so wonderful, and the same can be said for this film.
