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I saw Me and You and Everyone We Know (Miranda July) at the Bayview Village Alliance Atlantis theatre last weekend. I was curious about it after reading the cover article in this year’s spring issue of Filmmaker Magazine. I’d never heard of July, but apparently some people have…? Anyway, it was supposed to be a big deal that she wrote, directed and starred in this movie, so I thought it was worth checking out. It received an “orginality of vision” prize at Sundance, and the Camera d’Or (best first-time feature film) and Critics’ Prize at Cannes. I also wanted to see it because I’d heard that it was controversial, and I’m definitely a sucker for that.

This movie is another one of those “watch how random peoples’ lives intersect”, which I think she manages to pull off (unlike other recent movies such as Heights, which was borderline silly). At first I didn’t know what to think, but as I’ve thought about it off and on over the past week, I have come to feel quite warmly about it. The characters are extremely different from each other, but seem quite real. She deals frankly with issues like love, death, sexual curiousity, innocence and isolation, but doesn’t come across as being exploitative or inappropriate.

She also follows through with her film’s title. Every character in this neighborhood is linked and, knowingly or not, they form a symbiotic community. We see her characters seeking to learn about themselves and the world by pushing their way into personal interactions that may be outside of their normal range. It is both inspiring and frightening, though, when you think about where some of those interactions can lead - but that’s real life, right?