Me and You and Everyone We Know

Originality is difficult to achieve, but when it's done, and it works well, it's usually described as a masterpiece. Writer and Director Miranda July's debut feature Me and You and Everyone We Know is so original and different that it's hard to put into words. At times, it feels like a collage of weird situations with quirky characters and fascinating dialogue, but is so much more than that. A winner at Sundance and Cannes this year, the movie is about lonely people of all sexes and ages, and their search for relationships.

The very likeable July plays Christine, a performance artist (and Elder Cab driver) who falls in love at first sight with a show salesman named Richard (played by John Hawkes). They share a magical scene walking down the street which instantly reminded me of Richard Linklater's Before Sunset, as the 2 (who had just met a day before) talk about the different stages in their relationship, from when they met to the time when they will eventually split, deciding if it'd be in 5 years or 20 years. Their relationship is non-existent of course, which makes their conversation even more great and fun with every step they take towards the street where they'll separate and go their own way. Such a beautiful scene, and that's only 15 minutes of the movie's 90 great minutes.

They are the stars, but the movie has many more great characters. Richard is a recently separated man with 2 young sons, who like to create ASCII images in the computer and fake personalities in online chatrooms. 6 Year old Robbie (Brandon Ratcliff) is one of the best kid characters ever put into a movie, and he gets most of the laughs in the movie as he types in and makes for some of the weirdest lines ever. His older brother Peter (Miles Thompson) makes friends with their neighbor Sylvie (Carlie Westerman), a very smart little girl who has her future planned as a homemaker. He also befriends Rebecca (Najarra Townsend) and Heather (Natasha Slayton), two sexually curious teen girls who like to tease their adult neighbor Andrew (Brad William Henke) who works at the shoes place with Richard.

So many characters, and all very important to make this work, a movie with many stories and situations but no real big plot, though the idea is there. Me and You and Everyone We Know is about people searching to connect with other people, and how not easy it is. What is easy is to appreciate Miranda July, who's made a genuine and artful movie that yes, is a masterpiece.