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Me and You and Everyone We Know



With this compassionate, startling comedy that could have come from no other artistic sensibility, the brilliant Miranda July reveals a world both familiar and strange—an original vision of creativity, sexuality, childhood, and loneliness through a series of braided vignettes around a pair of potential lovers: Richard, a newly single shoe salesman and father of two (John Hawkes), and Christine, a lonely video artist and "Eldercab" driver (July). While they take hesitant steps toward romance, Richard's sons follow their own curiosity toward their first sexual experiences, online and in real life, venturing into uncharted territories in their attempts to connect with others. Playful and profoundly transgressive, Me and You and Everyone We Know is a poetic look at the tortuous routes we take to intimacy in an isolating world, and the moments of magic and redemption that unite us.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• High-definition digital master, approved by director Miranda July, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New documentary about July's artistic beginnings and the development of her debut feature
• Open to the World, a new documentary by July about the 2017 interfaith charity shop and participatory artwork she created in collaboration with Artangel
• July Interviews July: Deauville, 2005, a discovery from July's archives, newly edited
• Six scenes from the 2003 Sundance Directors Lab, where July workshopped the film, with commentary by July
• The Amateurist (1998) and Nest of Tens (2000), short films by July
• Several films from July's Joanie 4 Jackie project, and a documentary about the program
• Trailer
• PLUS: Essays by artist and scholar Sara Magenheimer and novelist Lauren Groff

pianocrash wrote: Tue May 31, 2005 6:37 am Official film site, apple stand-alone trailer site (quicktime) & Miranda July's official site

Being a fan of her performance art-derived video work, I am truly excited about this film, even more by the glowing press it's been receiving recently.

you can also catch clips of the film with the current RES magazine featuring miranda on the cover.

Just saw it. It is..amazing. Best film of the year, so far.

I just picked up the DVD and enjoyed the film very much. The opening performance art-thing had a definite Laurie Anderson vibe, which I liked, and I thought there were some great moments throughout the film. I agree that it was a little too "precious" for my taste, but it wasn't too much of a problem. To me, the film was like an optimistic "Happiness," and I look forward to seeing what July will be doing in the future.

And the first "pooping back and forth" scene was hilarious.

I saw this last night and found it enjoyable and interesting enough but also derivative in many key respects. I actually think something like George Washington has much more going for it in storytelling and character depth.
It's a worthy entry in the sub-genre of ensemble drama in which characters' lives are separate but connected and interlocking. For me, this one easily surpasses a bombastic, hollow film such as Magnolia. It's really the sub-genre itself, very popular in the 1990s, that's verging on becoming hackneyed.

badlydrawncow wrote:i have to agree with you that the film was a bit too precious/cute... as if you could tip it over and watch it shatter. it isn't a bad or good thing, i got over it after the first half and enjoyed the rest of the film. a nice surprise, esp. since i went in thinking i would be dissapointed after talking to a few friends who watched it before i did. anyway, i need another watch before making a final opinion, but the film felt like punch drunk love, mashed with ghost world and at certain parts i <3 huckabees. yay for comparrisons.

I finally caught up with this film on DVD and I agree with another person who felt it was one of the best films of the year. I thought that it was a very sincere, intensely personal film. And I liked the eager optimism of the characters. One line that stuck in my head was when Richard says at one point, “I'm prepared for amazing things to happen.â€

Fletch F. Fletch wrote: Yeah, that scene was very, very funny. It's one of those scenes you end up quoting for days afterwards.

I might be the only person who likes this movie, but thinks they take the whole internet poop joke one step too far, since I have a hard time believing it wound up on a banner. Plus, the entire subplot basically hinges on the fact that the kid is adorable.

Fletch F. Fletch wrote:Another thing I liked about it was the two leads. After years of playing minor, blink-and-you'll-miss-him roles in films like From Dusk Till Dawn and The Perfect Storm, it was great to see John Hawkes finally in a significant role. He was perfect in the role and I hope this leads to more meatier roles in the future.

He's great in Deadwood. In fact, I sometimes find him to be a far more compelling presence than Ian McShane and Olyphant. I think he works well with Paula Malcomson.

Fletch F. Fletch wrote:It's weird but Miranda July, in this movie, constantly made me think of Zooey Deschanel with a dash of Maggie Gyllenhaal (the same sad eyes) and an Olive Oyl quality of a young Shelly Duvall.

She reminds me of Gyllenhaal a lot and she's obviously very talented, but on a purely superficial level, she ain't no Zooey.

Ehhh... I thought it was okay. I dont know, it seemed to be your run-of-the-mill indie flick, but I dont know. There were some parts I thought were interesting and some I didnt. It was definetely a valiant first effort and I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next. I need to see it again, maybe I'll like it more then. I did however, love the soundtrack. I'll be picking that up for sure one of these days.

Andre Jurieu wrote:I might be the only person who likes this movie, but thinks they take the whole internet poop joke one step too far, since I have a hard time believing it wound up on a banner. Plus, the entire subplot basically hinges on the fact that the kid is adorable.

True. Ah, it worked for me.

He's great in Deadwood. In fact, I sometimes find him to be a far more compelling presence than Ian McShane and Olyphant. I think he works well with Paula Malcomson.

Yeah, he is good in Deadwood -- very watchable and not as overtly flashy as, say, McShane.

So in anticipation for The Future (god it makes sentences weird) I'm watching this one. It's really good so far and doesn't have any of the problems these sorts of films usually have. Anyway I came here thinking at least Domino would have given a thorough working on the movie, but that didn't pan out. Anyways I'm getting a deep Solondz vibe from the film. She doesn't shy away from the darkness in her material and fortunately I'm eeked out. The racist stuff against those two kids alone goes so far against this movie's reputation that I don't know how it got there. You won't believe how many times I've seen/ experienced that exact moment. The film's stylized, but it seems more accurate to my life experiences at the least than many films that put on airs of realism.

Interview with Miranda July.

Looks like July has started work on the eventual Criterion release-- she's asking for anyone with a back and forth forever tattoo to contact her, and she's trying to get ahold of Zac Love, who scored her first film (which would be a likely bonus for this)

This one always seemed like a no brainer from the start of Criterion's IFC deal. I remember suggesting it to them back in... 2009 when Criterion were active participants on Facebook asking for suggestions. I still haven't liked a single thing Miranda July has done but this. It's been a while since I last saw it, but remember thinking it was an excellent first feature low-budget directors should aspire to make.

People are really getting tattoos from this film? I remember it being good/charming, but I'll be damned if I've heard anyone (me, you, anyone I know) make any sort of reference to it in the last decade+ moreso than any other indie from that mid-'00s boom.

Can someone remind me how we know this is a forthcoming Criterion release?

It's on Filmstruck's Criterion channel, it's from IFC and a special edition is being planned. Could be a bunch of coincidences, but it's a safe assumption. If it's not safe enough I suppose I jumped the gun on moving the thread, but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck,

...it's a platapuss.

Vindication! Coming in April

I imagine conversation on the merits of this film will go back and forth forever in this thread.

Happy to say I re-watched this back in June, and it's as good as I remember. What I didn't remember is how raunchy the film is. Sex comedies have been very out of style the last decade (think of how 2006's Superbad in today's eyes can be viewed as a comedy where its protagonist wants to commit date rape), but this was a lot more sexual that I remember. It touches upon teenage uncomfortable, mechanical sexuality quite well. Each character also seems to live in a constant state of self-reflection as well where each action seems to be a very conscious reaction to what they just did. Characters do wild acts, say moments of silence for soon to be dead goldfish, pass on sexual opportunities and then almost react immediately to it in a way that's more ego than id. The mid-2000s felt like the last great breathe of fresh air in the American independent movement before its aesthetics just became the mainstream. This is still one of my favorites of the era as it avoids too much navel-gazing (Joe Swanberg), cuteness (Zach Braff), and is just fun in a way few of those films are.

My kingdom for "New documentary about July’s artistic beginnings" meaning that there's footage of the Sleater-Kinney "Get Up" video on a Criterion release.

This looks like a fantastic package of extras. Now bring on The Future!

Yep, looks like a great set of compelling extras, which are not surprising considering July’s been working on the release for over a year at least

They should include Miranda July's short stories read by herself. She's a great writer (as well as a great filmmaker). One of my favorite is The Swim Team (starts at 45')

Sadly, it seems that the deleted scenes from the DVD do not appear on this release