The Future

I went into this film with low expectations because it seemed as though it would be just another film full of contrived quirks and gratuitous plot twists meant to seem original, and while my husband is a full-force Miranda July fan, I can take or leave her work.

But I was floored by how good it was. Perhaps due in part to my lower expectations. But I thought it was touching and poignant - and very funny (the whole theater laughed out loud a few times). I cried at the beginning, and I cried (sobbed, really, while having to cover my mouth to mute myself) at the end. I really enjoyed July and Hamish Linklater; especially Linklater, who seemed like a more accessible character while July still bordered on the wide-eyed, "unique" indie-chick stereotype. Though she did break through that enough moments in the film for me to enjoy her character. The cat monologues that I had cringed at when I read about them prior to seeing the film actually worked quite well for me.

I don't think this is a movie I'll re-watch often in The Future, but it's definitely one I think people should see at least once or twice.

Controversial The Future is a 2011 film that tells the story of an eccentric couple in their mid 30s who lives in a Los Angeles tiny and bohemian flat. Narrated by Paw-Paw, the injured stray kitten that they have adopted, the film tells how Sophie (Miranda July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater)'s lives change dramatically during the month that they have to wait for taking the cat home. Its initial naiveté ends up being blurred by the shadows provoked by the protagonists' decision to break with their daily routine to fight for their own dreams as if they have been told they have only four weeks to live. Soon the adventure is over and in their blind and desperate search of their paths their steps grow more and more away.

Heartbreaking, absurd, surrealistic, twee and bizarre at the same time, The Future is a piece of independent cinema that cannot be overlooked just because of the presence of disturbing elements such as the talking cat (whose high-pitched, childish voice rumbling in the dark is a powerful beginning by the way). Miranda July, director, writer and star of the film, is not just "being weird for the sake of being weird", but uses fantastic and bizarre images and situations to talk about our biggest taboos: the frailty of love, the futility of dreams, the anxiety about the passage of time and…the fear of death.

With their scruffy curls and their apathetic attitude towards life, Sophie and Jason seem to be the perfect couple. By seeing them lied down on the couch with their feet entangled, the spectator realizes that they felt really comfortable being together. The image of Jason peacefully sleeping over Sophie's chest (sweet for some, twee for others) is also a very faithful representation of true love, as well as Jason's attempt to stop time forever reflects very well how heartbreak feels. Miranda July said in an interview that she intended to describe: "the bittersweet vertigo of true love". Despite the audience does not doubt in the sincerity and profundity of the feelings of the couple, it is forced to see how circumstances and human weakness makes their love begin falling apart.

Firstly, to understand why they (as us ourselves) start panicking when the words "a 5 years commitment" are brought up, it is necessary to come back to the kitten wounded in her paw. Like Paw-Paw, who patiently waits for the couple to start his real life (she's even counting the days), we are always waiting for something good to happen, for the real beginning of our lives. And when we reach the thirties, we start to question ourselves if that beginning is not already gone, get depressed for having wasted the first half of our life and look at the future even more anxiously than before.

This is more or less what happens to Sophie and Jason, whom the idea of looking after a kitten -requiring a total care- for the next five years of their lives, make them think of their (scary) future: "We're 35 now ... by the time the cat dies, we'll be 40 ... and 40 might as well be 50 ... and after that, spare change." "Spare change?" "Less than a dollar-- not enough to get anything you want …" Jason's words reflect our anxiety about the passage of time as we cannot help feeling frustrated when the years pass by without us having reached the milestones we set for ourselves. Nonetheless in the film July, who said of life "I rush through it, like I'm being chased", warns us about the dangers that this feeling of "being always late" (late to live?) provokes. The Future not only make us consider how useless is to be always projecting into when it's going to be "better", but also make us question the importance of our lifetime dreams. It kind of helps us to get rid of the endless frustration caused by the contrast between our high expectations and our day-to-day reality. Like Sophie and Jason, everyone suffers from the Cervantine conflict, that is to say, the conflict between the world as we have imagined it and the world as it is. The story of Sophie and Jason somehow questions the futility of dreams, often unattainable and absurd (remembering Jason's: "I always thought I'd be a world leader").

How is it possible we cannot live happily just because we have not achieved some pretentious (generally childish) life goals? The Future, although has not the answer to the question, teaches us to open our eyes to our own limitations and stop feeling as if we deserved something better in life so as to start really enjoying ours. Life is not about waiting things to happen, but making things happen, as July said in No One Belongs Here More Than You: "Don't wait to be sure. Move, move, move"

July says that she intended to describe "the bittersweet vertigo of true love". Here an intense fear (vertigo) is intimately linked to an intense love, as imagining spending a whole life with someone is scary because from the beginning everyone already knows how the story ends, one dying in the arms of the other. Hence marriage makes you inevitably realize your own mortality and finiteness.

Some optimism is hidden, nevertheless, behind the pessimistic tone of the film. No matter what happens we always have to remember the enigmatic words of Joe Putterlik played by Joe Putterlik himself, an eccentric old man who Miranda met in a street market. This old man who participated in the film shortly before dying, tell us with his example that until you are dead, never is too late to live. So remember: "This is just the beginning".

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain"

Anonymous

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...

Directed, scripted and starring by Miranda July, The Future is a film that has been selected for the Berlin Film Festival in 2011 and the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

The story revolves around a couple that proposes a change in your life. They hate their jobs and the idea of adopting a cat makes it arise a new way of life. However what is proposed as a change eventually becomes routine. The fear of failure and responsibility makes the personality of both becomes complicated and often result surreal. The time is always the reason for the changes. The fear of an uncertain future and nonconformity with the present makes it parodies on numerous occasions the fact of stop the time. Specifically, the period in which Sophie and Jason are prepared to adopt a cat is the time when the personality of both becomes strange. There are surreal elements and nonsense conversations that show complex emotional states. The failure in work and routine makes Sophie feel prisoner to her feelings. The figure of Sophie has no splendor. It is a figure off and apparently weak. Her look is sad and never denotes happiness. In the same way the character of Jason is strange. He is the partner of Sophie and lives with her in a small flat and messy. His way of understanding things is similar to Sophie. Both fear the passage of time and want to be free. Marshall's character represents the freedom for Sophie. The way in which both are known is strange and simultaneously comic. Sophie looks out the window screaming and tries to listen to Marshall. The scene reflects a comparison: Sophie appears as imprisoned in her own home and as the only escape she has the window that looks out for help. The fact that the cat, paw paw, has a voice allowed to know their feelings and desires. The image is of an animal that is locked behind bars waiting for a change in his life, hoping in this case to be adopted. The comparison is similar to Sophie. Both are locked and desire freedom. The passing of time is also reflected in this character and appear feelings like frustration or even desperation to be adopted.

It's a surreal and complex film. The argument at first is easy but when the acts are performed we can see each character's feelings. We can see a lot of nonsense and abstract scenes. Adopting a pet is just an excuse for the change. I would like to highlight the rhetorical conversations about the passing of time, old age or the future. Personally I find this film hard to understand. There are many situations that make no sense as the act of talking to the moon, giving life to a shirt or the fact stop time. I think film is not made to be enjoyed, but it raises very philosophical thoughts on life. The emotional charge of the characters leads to surreal situations and even extravagant. These situations, in my opinion, have more weight than the argument itself.

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.