The Future

Miranda July, a woman who is hard to describe, i went to see a talk she was doing in Sydney when she brought The Future down under to screen at the Sydney Film Festival and i have to say i haven't ever met or hope to meet anyone like her, she seems like too much work, she analyzes everything in an artistic way that is kinda lame if you ask me, but anyway, her previous film Me And You And Everyone We Know was a movie that i caught late one night on SBS and i was obsessed with it for a while after, i went straight out and bought the DVD and just watched it repeatedly because i thought that it was so great. So when The Future finally got a cinema release in Australia i went to see it and i must say that i was a little let down by it, i don't know if i was in the wrong mood when watching it or something but i just really didn't enjoy it near as much as i thought i would.

I just found the whole thing to be too hipster and trying to be so arty, trying too hard and failing, there were a few parts that i really enjoyed in particular the cat commentary and the scenes with the older gentleman and the hairdryer, but with the exception of those scenes i found the whole thing pretty bland. I'm not sure if i just didn't get the message that was being put across but for me it just didn't work which is disappointing because i am a fan of Miranda July's style usually, i really enjoyed her collection of short stories.

I mean this movie is going to impress a lot of people i'm sure, however i just think its a major step back from the terrific MAYAEWK. If you're a fan see it, if you're not i wouldn't bother because you most probably will not enjoy it, i feel bad writing this bad review but "it's just my opinion, and what do i know".

If you enjoy it, great, if you don't, i told you so.

Hmmm...the summary title says it all. Not quite sure what this film is saying or trying to stimulate you into thinking about: lack of purpose in modern life, the small actions on which lasting love lives or dies, how much of ourselves do we show to each other, emotional paralysis in an atomised first world, the value of human connection above all else, is man designed to run on any other fuel than god, artistic frustration and how beautiful creation can take place as much in your living room as the main stage at the Met, people looking for a place in a senseless world instead of just getting on and helping people... On the downside the dialogue and some of the acting is of the low-burn, snail pace that can destroy any sense of mood or tension...but on the upside there are perhaps 10 moments of absolute beauty, each worth admission alone, and Miranda July is an open wound of a screen presence. And I'm still thinking about the end and all the bits in between. Personally I'm prepared to be slightly confused when I come out highly affected and thinking...

An odd-duck couple who have had plenty of years to be married (read: get bored) and far too much time on their hands decide to adopt a cat. They can't pick it up for a month because it's undergoing some medical treatments, and they're warned that if they fail to arrive on the designated date the cat will be euthanized. The prospect of that last month of freedom before they make a commitment to something other than themselves opens up a fissure in their lives and threatens to destroy a complacency they had begun to take for granted.

The fact that adopting a cat counts in their lives as a commitment great enough to alter their lives forever should tell you a little something about the personalities of these main characters, and if we end up being fed up with both of them, and her especially, I think we're meant to. It's nearly impossible to sympathize with people whose lives are basically so cushy that taking on a pet takes on the momentous proportions of a major life event -- but then I think of my own life, and how good I basically have it, and how good even the most average American basically has it, and how most of my problems would seem pretty petty to a lot of other people out there in the world, and realize that maybe what annoys me about these characters are the qualities I see in them that most annoy me about myself.

"The Future" I think is a cautionary tale about what happens to people when they spend all of their lives worrying about what their lives could be instead of accepting what their lives actually are. At some point, everyone gets to an age where he or she has to simply commit to SOMETHING, whether it be another person, a child, a cause, a pet, a life path, a career. Whatever it is, they have to make a conscious choice to make the best of what they have and stop worrying about what could have been. Easier said than done, probably, or many many people would be much happier.

I liked "The Future" well enough while I was watching it, but I can't say it really stuck with me. Miranda July has an off-beat writing and directorial (not to mention acting) style that will probably turn off some. I'm o.k. with it, and I must say that for once it was refreshing to see a movie in which it's the female rather than the male who does a worse job of dealing with a mid-life crisis. Thank you Ms. July for equaling the playing field a bit.

Grade: B

Thanks to Miranda July and her movie called The Future, we are offered a complex and peculiar story surrounded by an environment of insecurity that makes us wonder about our personal life expectancies. A couple in their thirties decides to adopt an abandoned cat. The cat has an injured leg, and so, they have to wait for a month until it is recovered from its illness to take it with them. Meanwhile, they start to think that they have to enjoy their last month of freedom, because the cat would not allow them to do so any longer.

The cat only appears physically once at the movie, but it has much more importance than that. In fact, it is the narrator. It helps the audience to be put into context, and it sometimes gives sense to some parts of the film that seem to be incoherent. A part from having an important leading role, it will be the one to break out the whole action; the fact of having decided to adopt it will be the turning point of a story that, at first, seemed to be set in a calm atmosphere.

Some important aspects of life are tackled. For instance, the uncertainty of the future is clearly shown. We have to assume that that is the way it is, we are in control of it, but we are not able to know about it. So, life would not be all about wanting to know more about the future, but to be ready to face what comes next. If we stop to think about the future we do not have enough time to live the present. We spend our daily life worried about the future, and what if that future does not exist?

The entire film is enveloped in an enormous pessimism. The way in which the characters act makes us predict that there is no energy in them and they are likely to lose. Instead of taking into account the advantages that life can offer to them, they only see problems around. They even see the fact of taking care of an abandoned animal as a problem, when that should be taken as a satisfaction. That offers the audience the possibility to decide if that behavior is right for you or not; it is a film that would make people think. Furthermore, it is a movie that favors self-reflection. Although the development of the movie does not make the moral to become evident, one can use the film as the starting point of a personal thought with a clear moral: It does not really matter what will happen next, we have to enjoy the everyday and make the most of it.

I was excitedly waiting for this film to appear in the cozy theater in my town. I really enjoyed Me and You and Everyone We Know. When I saw the trailer for The Future I thought the character Sophie is very similar to Christine in the previous film. The feeling of both films are very similar and I say that as a compliment; it gives Miranda July her own unique voice in film.

When I watched the film I regretted having seen the trailer, as it gave away a lot of the key points in the story. I think this is a very good film portraying relationships between couples. I could see a lot of symbols in the film pointing at the gender stereotypes everyone is affected by as being part of a patriarchal society. I like the concept of the cat representing the union of the two people, and how Miranda shows pets in relation to the other couples in the story to show whether or not their relationship survived/withstood time. I think this film provokes thoughts and is meant to make people reflect about their relationships with others. It shows that miscommunication, fear of confrontation, fear of being ourselves, is what breaks relationships. He cannot love her if he doesn't love himself. She cannot love him if she doesn't love herself. We can't have decent relationships when we're not being honest with ourselves. Being honest with another person, loving the other person, comes second to being honest and loving yourself.

I don't understand why this film has so many negative comments in the reviews. I truly enjoyed this and hope to see Miranda continue with more projects.