Me and You and Everyone We Know
Review by Sylvia Allewelt
Independent films often have the great advantage of taking
a bolder approach to subjects; such is the case with Me
and You and Everyone We Know, written, directed and starring
performance artist Miranda July.
It is an original, often very funny, tender look at love,
sex, growing up, growing old and relating to others.
An aspiring performance artist, Christine (Miranda July),
strives to get her work in a contemporary museum exhibit;
meanwhile her day job involves driving a taxi for senior citizens.
On a routine shopping trip with a customer, Christine meets
philosophical shoe salesman Richard (John Hawkes), and takes
a fancy to him. Richard is going through a divorce; couple
that with his two kids, Peter (Miles Thompson) and Robby (Brandon
Ratcliff) living with him in a tiny apartment – poor
Richard doesn’t know which way is up or what to make
of Christine’s obvious manoeuvres to get his attention.
Peter and Robby visit online chat rooms while dad’s
at work. On a lark, the boys meet an older woman in a sex
chat room and Robby suggests activities a 6-year old would
be interested in. The woman’s curiosity is peaked, a
romance begins and Robby goes back to the room again alone
and sets up a date.
Meanwhile Peter gets propositioned for a blind test by two
classmates, Heather and Rebecca (Natasha Slayton and Najarra
Townsend), to see which girl provides the superior blowjob.
Richard’s colleague, a bashful and hapless Doug (James
Kayten), strikes up a flirtatious conversation with Heather
and Rebecca, nervously asking if they are legal age. What
goes on next in Doug’s attempt to get their interest
is a series of lewd postings on Doug’s front window,
which the girls view daily with both shock and laughter.
The scenes which might have been disturbing came across as
guileless and clumsy attempts to connect to another human
however it could be done. This is achieved through the actors
giving their characters truthful qualities and Miranda July’s
direction.
Strange, awkward, funny and poignant in turns, this is a
movie worth seeing.
4 out of 5
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Australian release: Thursday the 27th of October, 2005
Cast: Miranda July, John Hawkes, Miles Thompson, Brad
Henke, Brandon Ratcliff.
Director: Miranda July.
Website: Click
here.
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