| Product: |
Me And You And Everyone We Know (DVD) |
| Date: |
10/11/05 (139 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Great script and acting, feels so realistic
Disadvantages: Nothing really at all
‘Me and You’ has been described as this years ‘Lost In Translation’ on the film posters, a misnomer if ever I have read one. Done purely to bring in the crowds that film built up (or so the distributors must be hoping) the association with Lost In Translation is minimal to say the least. A much more appropriate film to connect it to would be the Todd Solondz classic tale of people and relationships “Happiness”.
It shares the same realism and truthfulness about people and the way they relate to each other without pandering to the wishes of a big movie studio, and I say this as someone who loves Lost In Translation. What ‘Me and You’ has over Lost In Translation is believability, unlike Lost In Translation which has a setting and characters we can only dream of being/going to ‘Me & You’ is ensconced in a world we all occupy, that of shopping malls and streets, shoe salesman and teenagers, separation and love. The characters could be people we know, or even be, and we can identify with them and their stories all the more because of this.
The main focus of ‘Me & You’ is Richard, a shoe salesman with two young boys, who is separated from his wife/partner and Christine (Miranda July), a multimedia artist who also drives elderly people around as an ‘Eldercab’ driver. Both are single and struggling with their lives, both want more but do they have the capability to actually find it? Can they escape from what their lives have become and gain that happiness they deserve?
The story is based around them but it also diverges all around them, following Richards’ boys, his workmate, the young girl next door, two teenage girls and a couple of others. All have their own little stories to add to the suburban world July is creating and all criss cross with each other.
Peter and Robby, Richard’s boys, have their own relationships problems. Robby is have an internet ‘affair’ with a woman, even though he is only around 8. Peter, the 14/15 year old has strange encounters with two teenage girls who want to know which one of them is the best and need him to tell them.
The two girls, Heather and Rebecca, want to know this because of signs left in the window of a house for them. The house is owned by Richard’s workmate, who finds it impossible to talk to them
July is a conceptual artist in real life, like her character Christine, and while you can see how it influences her, especially in her character and the art world scenes, it doesn’t dominate the story or the film. The art background doesn’t consume everything else, unlike Technolust, which came out last year and is good just not as good, which wore it’s conceptual nature on its sleeve for all to see, here July has made sure the story is what takes precedence.
‘Me & You’ is an ode to loneliness, a story that shows the solitary nature that our modern lifestyles can lead us into. Richard and Miranda have a conversation early on where they discuss relationships and theirs, even though they don’t have one, in particular which is very clever and brought a smile to my face as I thought about it. It is all about the journey a relationship takes and how time is perceived.
If you loved ‘Happiness’ this film should be on your must see list, it has so many similarities to it but is still an original film in its own right, not an easy thing to achieve at all.
Written and Directed by Miranda July
Certificate: 15
Running time: 91 minutes
Summary: quirky little indie film that shows the single life.
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