Miranda July, the actor-writer-director behind “Me and You and Everyone We Know,” has made an independent film with an independent feel and several potentially unforgettable indy-esque moments (that will no doubt, surely inspire and conjure up the kind of creative blast many indy films are in dire need of). And all in all, I’m tempted to say I loved it…but I won’t just yet.
To see “Me and You and Everyone We Know” is a little like experiencing a taste of what could become a new genre of narrative cinema: basically, how one artist’s work can transcend the substance of film. On one hand, this is Miranda July…the visual, digital, self-involved artist. On the other hand, this is also the director, writer and visual eye behind the feature. But what happens when you mix fantasy and reality, fact and fiction, the real and the unreal together into such a seemingly harmless (yet surprisingly tough and bold and daring) little independent film? Some interesting things!
When I left the theater after seeing “Me and You and Everyone We Know,” I tried to grapple with what the movie was really about. Surely it wasn’t one major thing, as the way the story wove its characters in and out of the narrative mirrored July’s somewhat annoyance with traditional screenwriting. Meaning, rather than she be the heroine of the story (or anyone else really for that matter) what we have here are several minor characters with some major scenes. It is not “one person’s story though,” although 99% of most movies are; but rather, it is a student-film like snippet of so many people you come across in life—so many familiar faces.
However, having said that I think what most impressed me about the film was that it is the first film I’ve seen (to my knowledge) that specifically seemed to deal with the theme of a generation raised with technology and digital media and the internet at their fingertips. What does a group of people so disconnected with physical touch and human-to-human interaction look like? Go see this movie and you’ll get a pretty good visual I think. But this is not to say this isn’t about you or about me or about “everyone we know,” because in reality (and I know this is cheesy) it is! I know the 14-year-old guy who goes home everyday, lonely, and spends the rest of the evening holding hands with his online girlfriend. I know the girl who gets rejected and rejected, only to find that her own creative and intuitive and artistic talent is what keeps her going. I know the teeny bopper girl who is all dirty talk but little dirty substance. I know what that kind of fear looks like. These people live right next door to me. These people live in my home.
I know most people will not like this movie and say it made them feel (more often than not) way too uncomfortable. But to these I’d say “look again.” This is not merely about children’s loss of sexual innocence but it’s about how sexual attraction and interaction has become so ingrained in the media input we (as a society) swallow up, that it’s no wonder you have an 8-year-old boy want to pretend he’s a 30-year-old grown-up. No wonder we have children wanting to grow up too soon, losing what almost every adult seems to spend the last half of their life searching for: their childhood intuition. We all are in need of attention and being loved and feeling loved. I think this movie just made it all the more clear why.
Go see it. Now. Thank you.
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