Director: Miranda July
Starring: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, David Warshofsky
Certificate: 12A
Running Time: 86 minutes approx
Extras: None
Quirky, strange and off-the-wall are all phrases and adjectives that have been overused to describe various comedies and dramas in the last few years; seemingly there is no end to the saturation of these words as Miranda July’s sophomore effort THE FUTURE (2011) proves. Following up the critically well received ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW (2005) has taken July time and she’s chosen an odd subject, the adoption of a cat, as the centre of this film.
Jason (Linklater) and Sophie (July) are two people who are stumbling through life, seemingly content with their lot and their choice to adopt Paw-Paw the cat (oddly voiced by July). Jason works from home as a one-man IT helpdesk and Sophie is a dance instructor (of sorts) working with children, they live in a one-bedroom apartment and don’t appear to have a TV, spending all their time either spewing nonsense or on their laptops. When the opportunity arises to adopt Paw-Paw, who has only 5-6 months to live, they decide they are ready to commit to the adoption and then go about their lives following the cats demise; nothing is that simple though. Following the final decision to adopt Paw-Paw they learn of a wait of 30-days before the cat can be re-homed and the possibility it could live for up to five years so decide to live the 30 days as if they are their last, quitting their jobs and doing what they want.
If this premise sounds interesting to you, I can assure you it’s not. The film is about as far up its own back-side as is humanly possible; Sophie is an egotistical socially awkward bore and Jason is a man eager to please everyone and whilst nicer than Sophie is no more interesting. THE FUTURE infuriated me the script is truly, truly dreadful and worst of all I just didn’t care, well maybe I cared for one thing, Paw-Paw the one saving grace of the film; the voice is stupid yes but it’s the only character I could generate any emotional feeling towards and there is a lot of sadness to be found whilst the cat is waiting to be picked up by Jason and Sophie, any emotion passes the second Paw-Paw leaves the screen though.
Miranda July was praised by many as one of the most exciting indie film-makers to appear in years upon the release of her feature-length debut in 2005; those singing July’s praises should take a long, hard look at themselves in the mirror as watching THE FUTURE is one of the most miserable film-watching experiences I’ve ever endured. It saddens me that people have poured so much effort into this film and I get no pleasure from discarding their efforts in such a way but it is a dreadful, horrible, nauseatingly pretentious piece of film-making.
THE FUTURE is available on DVD now.
