Welcome to the world of Miranda July where things are wonderfully weird and extraordinary. Miranda got her start in film after moving to Portland, Oregon and doing performance art and putting on successful one woman shows. She soon created several shorts from 1996-2003 prior to her first feature length film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2005. In fact, all three of her films had their premieres at Sundance.
Miranda July isn’t a filmmaker to be ignored. Her movies are full of odd and unique characters often centering on the strange or hesitant relationships amongst them. She creates worlds that are so intricate and bizarre. Me and You and Everyone We Know is about a blooming relationship between two people, Richard and Christine. Richard is a shoe salesman who is newly single and wanting to nurture his relationship with his kids. When he meets Christine, an amateur video artist and senior cab-driver, he is thrown for a loop somewhat. He thought he was ready for something amazing like this, but he is scared. There are a cast of interesting characters of all ages, and their stories all intertwine and come together in the end. The awkward and uncomfortable humor that Miranda uses in her films really makes these characters likable. Some of them don’t seem like real people, yes, but I think she is highlighting certain facets of humanity that some people may not even notice. There is so much to people and relationships—you could go on forever about the nuances and never even scratch the surface. There are, of course, a lot of memorable quotes in this one like “pooping back and forth, forever” that make me appreciate the movie even more.
Her most recent movie, Kajillionaire, premiered at Sundance in 2020, and I had the pleasure of seeing it there on the big screen before the pandemic was in full swing. I have to say it is my favorite of July’s movies so far. It is about a family of con artists that stars Evan Rachel Wood, Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger, and Gina Rodriguez. Gina was a delightful surprise. I know she is skilled in both comedy and drama because Jane The Virgin is great, but the way she handled this character and role was perfect. She quickly assimilated into the weirdness of the family and environment, and she really brought out something lovely and beautiful from Evan Rachel Wood.
Evan Rachel Woods’s character’s name of Old Dolio and the voice she chose to affect completely sold me. Miranda July’s brain is just the best. I’ve thought about that name and that character numerous times since watching the movie. Old Dolio is twenty-six years old and living with her parents in what appears to be some sort of damp, dark office building attached to a factory. The walls leak a strange pink bubble, slime at a specific time each day that she and her parents have all set their watches in time to, so they can go scoop it out before it ruins their home. This family’s entire life consists of executing scams and cons just to get buy. Most of the scams are inane until they meet Gina’s character, Melanie, mid way into the story. The movie really shows how our relationships with our parents can affect us and also the issues with poverty and homelessness in the country.
We all need love, and there are certain ways in which we’re missing it. For Old Dolio, it is the closeness she never had to her mother and even something has simple as being held. She doesn’t understand it. She has never been embraced by her parents nor heard them say how much they love and appreciate her. She realizes how much of a pawn she has become in their scams. They like her for her usefulness, and the thrill of the con is more important to them. It’s tragic. Through Melanie, she learns what it is to be loved and that there are parents who actually do love and care for their children. Instead of seeing them as tools.
I’m very excited to see what Miranda July has in store for the future. She is a wonderful storyteller. Everything down to the clothes the characters wear is a specific choice because she is careful and meticulous in creating these worlds. She is able to depict the subtleties of humanity and the uncomfortable aspects of it easily. Her world is full of bright colors and funny, vulnerable people. Her films show us there is beauty in the bizarre. Be sure you don’t miss out on them. As for me, I am hoping to see Criterion put out her other two movies after Me and You and Everyone We Know since I have yet to gain access to The Future.
When I’m not busy daydreaming or having an existential crisis, I can usually be found watching a movie or TV, listening to music or a podcast, or with my nose in a book.
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