THE FUTURE
Written & Directed by Miranda July
Produced by Gina Kwon, Roman Paul & Gerhard Meixner
Released by Roadside Attractions
USA. 91 min. Rated R
With Miranda July, Hamish Linklater & David Warshofsky
 

Miranda July is just as horny as everyone else, so I can stop hating. In The Future, an erotically sterile 30-something Los Angeles couple encounters trouble upon realizing they’ve hit a wall in their stagnate careers. They’re due to become the parents of an ailing cat, and before they take on ownership responsibility, Sophie (July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater) quit their jobs, cut off the Internet, and pledge to take advantage of what remaining freedom they have. But serendipitously—because everything in July’s world happens serendipitously—Sophie meets a creepy older divorced father (David Warshofsky), who wastes no time in accommodating her sexual desire.

It’s revealing, and a little bit embarrassing, when Sophie’s sexuality is surprisingly revealed, but because of the film’s blunt honesty, we’re ready to make concessions when July, as she so often has throughout her eclectic career, speaks in elaborate metaphors or when her tone becomes overly cute or angsty. What may appear as a maudlin indie pseudo-Wes Anderson tale of droll and cutesy urbanites and their insurmountable daily struggle to find meaning in quietly desperate lives is, in fact, much more hard-hitting, and darker, than expected. This is a serious and thoughtful film.

Make no mistake about it. This Berkeley, California-raised performance artist-turned video artist-turned filmmaker-turned short story writer is the definition of hipster. But as a writer/director/actor she is not too cool to be caught red handed in lusty desire, eventually betraying Sophie’s (a mirror of July’s) “precious” image while betraying the boyfriend. There’s a strong sense that neither the story nor the filmmaker are lying to us here, enabling us to see beyond the disaffected front. Because of the risk July takes in possibly embarrassing herself because of Sophie’s actions, we take her points more seriously.

And points she has. For July, the future isn’t science fiction—it is very rapidly becoming the present—and with that revelation, Jason hones his skills at perception and begins to develop super- (metaphorical) time-stopping powers. Sophie, instead, realizes that she has unfulfilled needs and an acute desire to be taken care of by someone with a mortgage, a retirement fund, and bed sheets with a 1,000-thread count.

When Sophie is about to announce to Jason that she is leaving him, he panics and freezes time, but bad things happen when you don’t respect the natural flow, as Jason will discover. The future will come no matter what we do, and this is but one of the essential lessons to be learned in this accomplished film. July is a very Baroque thinker in that she’s detailed and elegant while acknowledging human impermanence at the same time. She’s precious, sure, but she pursues what’s precious today, because it could all come crashing down at any time.

If you’ve seen or read much about the film, you probably know there’s an absurdly cute narrating cat named Paw-Paw. On record, I’ll attest it’s the funniest part of the movie. Its voice-over (again, July’s) is a self-referential piece that sums up her ironic, existential oeuvre quite well, and in a film with so much to impart, a narrator is just the ticket. There’s also a talking moon, whose words of wisdom again are bits of writing that might have appeared in any one of July’s works over the years.

Look, I know. On paper Miranda July sounds nauseating, but you’ll hardly notice the cuteness once the film gets going. She works from an incredibly mature set of ideas and keeps the essential story very simple. The surrealism never gets out of hand, and, though it mostly feels illustrative, there are actually moments of real cinematic innovation. If you’re a July lover, you’ll love The Future, and if you’re a hater, you’ll probably be indignant. But it’s a pretty good film, regardless. Michael Lee
July 29, 2011