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 Me And You And Everyone We Know 

Directed & Written by: Miranda July
Starring: Miranda July, John Hawkes, Miles Thompson, Brandon Ratcliff, Tracy Wright.
Country: USA

dirty dirty dir
(two and a half dirty words)

Reviewed by Hal Gray

Jackson Pollack Eat Your Art Out.

The story: An insecure multimedia performance artist pursues a shoe salesman. Or whatever. You decide.

Swersey is a fraught, newly single dad of two sons (ages 14 and 7) who catches the eye of Christine, a needy, attention-seeking performing artist with a kind heart. Why she’s attracted is anybody’s guess, because Swersey doesn’t have a lot to give. And why he finally succumbs to Christine’s advances is another poser. It just kind of happens.

There are several ‘B’ stories, all sexual in nature: Swersey’s fellow shoe salesman, Andrew, writes graphic sexual suggestions and sticks them in his window where two young teen-age girls can see them; seven-year old Robby has a graphic relationship with an older woman on the internet; fourteen-year old Peter is the recipient of sexual favours from the teen-age girls; Peter finds a friend in the girl next-door despite her younger age; and Christine seems intent on convincing a senior friend to get laid.

One can only wonder what Director and Writer Miranda July had in mind, if anything. One could be forgiven for suggesting that in true abstract expressionist form, July slowly drips celluloid paint on the cinematic canvas, so that if you keep looking at it different feelings and reactions will develop.

Although not experimental in structure, Me And You is the equivalent of contemporary art on the silver screen. Calling it the death of the narrative would be taking it too far because there are hints of a cogent story, but it’s headed in that direction. Perhaps it could be pitched as a warm and fuzzy Buñuel after he got the surrealism jag out of his system. (Although that won’t sell many tickets.)

The film is charming and you can’t say that about a De Koonig or Pollack work of art. It’s got a couple of things working for it. Firstly, there’s not one actor here who resembles the Hollywood archetype. What we have are bad haircuts, funny noses, big ears and flat chests, that is, normal people. Very refreshing. And there is a naïve and disarming piano keyboard that demands you feel comfy with a smile on your face.

I like to be surprised as much as the next film freak and the surprises keep piling up in Me and You.  However, surprises should have some basis in reality. This is one of the places Me and You falls short. Characters do things they just wouldn’t do. And since July is making no pretenses at surrealism, these surprises are annoying to the extreme.

There are two scenes in the entire movie that are realistic, and as a consequence, are the only two we can believe in: Swersey asks Christine what [the hell] is she doing in his car after she jumps in uninvited; and, he understandably freaks when he can’t find his youngest son. Otherwise, scenes happen with little reason other than that July must have thought they’d be a fun idea. Often they are, but the pattern wears after a while.

Particularly hilarious is Carlie Westerman as the ten year-old girl next door who is infatuated with motherhood and domestic design—a perfect cross of Betty Crocker and Martha Stewart.

I found there are some disturbing undertones to this piece. Despite the charm and humour, July introduces some serious subjects that she makes no comment on one way or the other. Having a very young actor speak about, let’s say, unusual sexual practices, is perhaps the most obvious. Young kids' use of the internet and access to sexually-oriented chat rooms is another. And pedophilia is another.

Three of the ‘B’ stories involve relationships of different ages, all in the ‘socially unacceptable’ category. That’s fine enough, but the lack of introspection was creepy. It ceased to be naïve and became immature. Is it a good thing when you start to psychoanalyse the Director while the reel is running?

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