Me and You and Everyone We Know

What an amazing movie I saw tonight. Miranda July's Me and You and Everyone We Know is a quirky and enjoyable indie film that satisfies like nothing else. Usually, the special screenings at UCLA are indie films that are dark and brooding and utterly depressing (ie. Mysterious Skin, The Ballad of Jack and Rose). So I went into this movie knowing very little about except it has roots in experimental and performance art. How delightfully surprised I was at this comedic gem that examines love, attachment and connection in the digital age. I laughed out loud at one particular scene. Laughed so hard that I didn't make out the dialogue for the next minute. Miranda July plays an experimental artist in this movie, and captures so much innocence that it's spellbinding. Elliot said the movie was like Ghost World meets Benny and Joon. I say the movie was Garden State meets Harold and Maude.

After the movie, the director, the writer and the lead actress, Miranda July, gave to a Q+A. One of the questions about the movie, "What themes were you trying to explore?", obviously upset her because she became defensive. I would understand that, because you'd want the audience to digest the movie for themselves, rather than have the director pre-chew and spoon-feed it. Anyways, I highly recommend this little gem, and it has fast burrowed into my heart like a flesh-eating tapeworm.

After I went home, I did some googling about Miranda July and her other projects. Turns out, we have crossed paths before. I once visited the website, Learning to love you more, where they give you little performance/ installation art projects to do, and you deliver the results. Projects are like, take a picture of your parents kissing, or drawing a scene from a movie that made you cry. Artsy, bohemian stuff like that.