Dir Miranda July, USA, 2011.
The Past:
Miranda July. The very name conjures up memories of Kill Rock
Stars, video fanzines... Olympian visions of all the
like-totally-rad-and-awesome queer and feminist times that everyone
must have been having in the Pacific Northwest in the late
nineties... that sort of thing. Riot Grrrl gave me two
things. 1) A queer feminist consciousness that was rooted in the
now (whoop). 2) A flawed community built on middle class white
privilege that would eventually come crashing down in a mess of
Hello Kitty hair slides, classism and racism (sob). I should have
remembered that before I forked out for tickets to Miranda July's
Masterclass at LFF and her new film.
The Present:
Miranda July told an anecdote in her Masterclass at the BFI this
weekend that I found deeply problematic. She said she hadn't worked
(in what she termed a 'real' job - she is clearly a deeply
disciplined and productive artist) since she was 23. She survived
on cheap rent and by stealing food. In fact she was fired from her
first job at Goodwill (a charity shop) for stealing. She told this
story and the majority of audience laughed. I was pretty much
disgusted and started wondering why I had come to the event. Yes I
loved her short stories, and that video she made in 1999 for
Sleater-Kinney. But art, and artists, don't have to mock those that
work. They should not exist at the expense of the poor or working
class. The world does not owe Miranda July free food because she
wants to make charmingly twee observations about the world. She
could do that and work too. Most artists I know do. But no, instead
she tells funny stories about shoplifting, looks wide eyed and
beautifully awkward and makes a feature film about two middle class
white people in their mid-thirties who decide on a whim to quit
their jobs and wallow in the disconnectedness of their lives. The
film is set in the present but does not make reference to the
global financial crisis of the last few years. Without jobs the
characters still manage to eat, run two cars, charge their many
Apple products without any bother... I know art does not have to be
political or realistic but The Future is so disconnected from the
world most people I know have been living in that it left me
feeling unnerved and alienated. I felt somehow tricked that I had
spent money going to see it. Early on in the film Miranda July's
character says something along the lines of, 'I always wanted to
follow the news but I get so behind that I guess there is no point
trying to'. How troubling to hear this, and how illuminating given
the lack of real life context to a film made in such turbulent
times.
The Future:
Political squeamishness aside,The Future is, for the most part,
interesting and well made. It is an exploration of the breakdown of
the relationship between a young couple trapped in that difficult
moment before they get to that 'future' we all wait for where
money, children and the meaning of life magically present
themselves to us. There are some beautiful shots of the interiors
of rooms, some clunkily obvious lighting (look it is dark on screen
now, just like the mood of the characters), a talking cat and some
quirky performance art. It is weirder (in a good way) than Me and
You and Everyone We Know and while it is difficult to find any
feminist message in the film (I know there doesn't have to be one
but given the context of her early work it is surprising there
isn't) it is refreshing to see a female director able to realise
her unique vision and be able to sell it to such a large audience
of people in nice jumpers.
If you like whimsical films about straight people having
personal drama while doing some really fabulous things to curly
hair, you should probably go see this.
