THE FUTURE - miranda july
I picked up this movie on a whim and watched it - interesting and heartbreaking - THE FUTURE by miranda july.
The characters, Jason and Sophie at first don't seem very interesting in the sense that as a viewer we are limited to them and they do not yet move beyond each other. I think they are interesting people, but when I first meet them as a viewer we see only their life in the apartment, really; they're very much best friends who love each other and they live together and then they decide to adopt a cat but they won't have the cat until a month. Their decision together to adopt a cat - a new responsibility, makes them consider what they'd really like to try as if they only had one month to live.
It reminds me of someplace between my past apartment and my current apartment; it also reminds me of what I probably feel anxious in a relationship- we don't try hard enough to do the things we individually want to do and our lives and schedules just don't make sense and things just aren't fun or spontaneous. We lose passion and love for each other to continue wanting to learn and understand each other and lose what makes living and sharing life with each other exciting.
There are a few really small moments that I just felt a pang in my heart...
One is where Sophie asks Jason to put on their song but the charger is in the car; neither of them take steps to get it, instead they stop and they just don't play it. I feel like to read back on this moment - it can tell a lot more.
The narrator is the cat, Paw-Paw. The cat's garbly voice, it's wrapped up paw, and cut-aways of the cage's bars really makes me feel shaky. I want to go into the movie and tell them, go love and accept the cat into your life right now but the conclusion might have been the same. Essentially, all conclusions are this: things come to an end, time is there, things happen.
There's another part I appreciate - Jason is talking to the moon and the moon responds - as just some big rock in the sky. Jason stands in front of the ocean it is silent and looking at the moon and then helps move the tides and it is day again. It reminds me of yoga practice where we link our breaths with every movement and really pay attention to within and the feeling and noticing what is really happening.
It's like they don't really see or notice each other; they have become furniture fixtures. I think about Sophie and Jason and they look good together, but are they really happy just to be with each other? I view time and age becomes of characters in the movie itself.
Here is a link to an interview with Miranda July:
http://www.nowness.com/day/2011/7/26/1533/miranda-july-the-future
Can you sum up what the movie is about for you?
My work is never only about the story-it is always about what is inside the people who are in the story. But, in the most basic sense, it's about time: getting through it, minute by minute, stopping it, and the end of it, death.
You’ve said that The Future is your version of a horror movie. Can you explain why?
The character I play in the movie fails to make the dance she sets out to make, and then flees her life. She moves to a world where she will never have to try and fail again. No one cares if she's creative there. This is a sort of horror movie for a person like me, who has created her sense of self through making things. But it's also a fantasy: a fear-fantasy.
I think it is a movie that I want to watch a few times for different reasons.
The characters, Jason and Sophie at first don't seem very interesting in the sense that as a viewer we are limited to them and they do not yet move beyond each other. I think they are interesting people, but when I first meet them as a viewer we see only their life in the apartment, really; they're very much best friends who love each other and they live together and then they decide to adopt a cat but they won't have the cat until a month. Their decision together to adopt a cat - a new responsibility, makes them consider what they'd really like to try as if they only had one month to live.
It reminds me of someplace between my past apartment and my current apartment; it also reminds me of what I probably feel anxious in a relationship- we don't try hard enough to do the things we individually want to do and our lives and schedules just don't make sense and things just aren't fun or spontaneous. We lose passion and love for each other to continue wanting to learn and understand each other and lose what makes living and sharing life with each other exciting.
There are a few really small moments that I just felt a pang in my heart...
One is where Sophie asks Jason to put on their song but the charger is in the car; neither of them take steps to get it, instead they stop and they just don't play it. I feel like to read back on this moment - it can tell a lot more.
The narrator is the cat, Paw-Paw. The cat's garbly voice, it's wrapped up paw, and cut-aways of the cage's bars really makes me feel shaky. I want to go into the movie and tell them, go love and accept the cat into your life right now but the conclusion might have been the same. Essentially, all conclusions are this: things come to an end, time is there, things happen.
There's another part I appreciate - Jason is talking to the moon and the moon responds - as just some big rock in the sky. Jason stands in front of the ocean it is silent and looking at the moon and then helps move the tides and it is day again. It reminds me of yoga practice where we link our breaths with every movement and really pay attention to within and the feeling and noticing what is really happening.
It's like they don't really see or notice each other; they have become furniture fixtures. I think about Sophie and Jason and they look good together, but are they really happy just to be with each other? I view time and age becomes of characters in the movie itself.
Here is a link to an interview with Miranda July:
http://www.nowness.com/day/2011/7/26/1533/miranda-july-the-future
Can you sum up what the movie is about for you?
My work is never only about the story-it is always about what is inside the people who are in the story. But, in the most basic sense, it's about time: getting through it, minute by minute, stopping it, and the end of it, death.
You’ve said that The Future is your version of a horror movie. Can you explain why?
The character I play in the movie fails to make the dance she sets out to make, and then flees her life. She moves to a world where she will never have to try and fail again. No one cares if she's creative there. This is a sort of horror movie for a person like me, who has created her sense of self through making things. But it's also a fantasy: a fear-fantasy.
I think it is a movie that I want to watch a few times for different reasons.