Miranda July's refreshingly slanted worldview is finally back on display via The Future, which will get its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The long-awaited follow-up to her 2005 feature-length debut, Me and You and Everyone We Know, tells the story of a thirtysomething couple who adopt a terminally ill cat, a decision that has an unexpected impact on their lives — and likely the film's viewers.—-
The Future's distributor, The Match Factory, has this curious description: “Using elements of magical realism — a talking cat who narrates his own sad tale, a living tee-shirt, and strangely familiar Moon — the film bravely creates its own particular universe. With pathos and humour, it invites us to share the bitter sweetness of this moment in the lives of this young couple.”
If that sounds distressingly precious or twee, at least the film's music is undoubtably in good hands: Jon Brion — the gifted producer and arranger who's worked with everyone from Paul Thomas Anderson (Punch-Drunk Love), Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, NY) to Fiona Apple, Spoon and Kanye West — scored the film.
While I wasn't as enamored of Me and You and Everyone We Know as some — it won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance and grabbed four prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Camera d’Or — there's no denying July injects a unique voice into a film landscape that needs every eclectic vision it can get.
And don't think the long layoff between films means July hasn't been busy: In 2007 the multi-talented, now-Los Angeles-based artist put out No One Belongs Here More Than You, a deft, often funny collection of short stories marked by her spare prose style and her unique way of getting at the nature of things via sometimes uncomfortable means.
