Blog From The Bench

Haven't posted here in a while, but after glancing through some of the reviews posted here, I thought I should squeeze in some thoughts on a no-budget relationship dramadey between the thoughts on chocolate bars, fantastic quartets, etc. Anyway, here's my thoughts on the current indie darling which is playing at most independant theatres.

ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW (2005)
Directed, Written By and Starring Miranda July

I'm not quite convinced that it's good, but it's certainly interesting. A pointed and relevant examination of both technology's ever-increasing power to shape human behavior and the popular idiom "it takes a village to raise a child," Miranda July's debut film nearly strangles itself by sheer "quirkiness" overload (a problem currently plaguing the American indie scene), but from the static emerges something undeniably intriguing. By the end, the film has become an interesting look at the eroding idea of community in modern America, and the startling phenomenon of complete disconnection between people whose lives are very obviously overlapping.

At times it feels like ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW is relying too much on pure shock value (it was certainly getting a reaction from the primarily gray-haired audience I watched it with), but at the same time, it's July's audacity that pushes the film's most provocative points. What is technology, particularly the internet, doing to us as a society, as individuals? As one storyline demonstrates, online communication gives us an outlet to share sides of ourselves we wouldn't dare reveal in a face-to-face encounter, but is that increased emotional vulnerability useful and healthy, or simply another illusion? Is the internet connecting us, or building more boundaries between us?

Obviously, ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW brings up more questions than answers, but the points that are made manage to be both stomach-turning and deeply funny, giving this mess much more relevance than I had initially expected. 7/10