Anodyne
Monday, August 01, 2005
 

John Hawkes and Miranda July in character, from July's amazing directorial debut, Me and You and Everyone We Know. Hawkes' Richard the shoe salesman held my attention all the way through, with his nervous squinty eyes and almost supernatural attention to natural phenomena -- to stray birds in the branches outside his window; to the full moon, which, in a wonderful cut, transforms into light reflecting off July's compact, which she aims round the darkened shoe department, hunting him.

The only downside to this otherwise well-written, wonderfully acted, and stylishly directed film is the cheap shots July lobs at the world of contemporary art. I don't blame the film's creepy curator and even creepier assistant for initially blowing off July's overemoting "video performance artist" character; given identical circumstances, I'd do the same without a second thought, having encountered many folks who think they can land gallery shows through sheer force of will. July seems to acknowledge this quandry when she shows her character watching her own "autobiographical video art" in a museum -- "art" which seems much more formally limited, technically impoverished, and uninteresting than the film framing it. Posted by Picasa
- posted by cjb @ 2:51 PM


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