Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

laursene Some fine moments, but overall doesn't hang together. However, the t-shirt dance (which I take it started out as part of a performance piece) conjured the sort of eeriness David Lynch achieved in some of his early films (before they turned all forced and self-conscious). The strangeness and physicality of it transcended the rest of the movie and, perhaps unfortunately, showed up what it was lacking. But it's one of the best film presentations (lighting, music, camera) of a "live" performance I've seen. Also reminded me a bit of the wonderful scene in "Chuck and Buck" in which Buck seduces his old friend in a bar. Are we nothing but human? Are we not also something else?

maxphotog I gave this film a 7 because of the emotional response to the cruelty demonstrated by the characters in the film.These characters destroyed the hope of an innocent being.I had more feelings for the poor cat than I did for either character. That their complacency and cruel disregard for the promise of unfulfilled hope they gave to this poor animal led to an innocent beings death.Truly despicable that they should allow such innocence to perish because of their stupidity and selfish disregard for life.Both characters should have perished in the end for the cruel ending they brought upon an innocent creature who's hopes were destroyed by an undeserved death.To allow to die through false hope is terribly cruel to an innocent creature.

rooprect "The Future" is an excellent, surreal, cold comedy in the tradition of the great Spike Jonze & Charlie Kaufman films "Adaptation", "Being John Malkovich" and the brain-blasting "Synecdoche NY"."Cold comedy" is a term I just made up to describe the way they make me feel. They make me laugh, but I also feel an uneasy chill up my spine. Maybe it's because the underlying story is somewhat cynical, with a chilly, brooding philosophy of life. But these films manage to poke fun of this hopeless condition in a way that tickles your funny bone.I preface this review with a warning. As often, whoever wrote the DVD packaging is an idiot. This is definitely NOT a "whimsical romantic comedy" or whatever they advertise. So if you're expecting something cute & fun like "When Harry Met Sally", you might want to move on. Instead, what we get is a very, VERY oddball farce centered around a young clueless couple. If you liked "(500) Days of Summer" which, itself, is prefaced with the narration "This is not a love story", then keep reading because you'll probably like this movie too.If you're an animal lover, particularly someone who has rescued a dog or cat from the local pound, you'll be drawn in instantly. The story begins through the eyes of a stray cat "Paw Paw" in a shelter, nervously waiting to be adopted by the couple before time runs out. The voice of the cat becomes the voice of wisdom throughout the film. I've never seen a film that takes such a thoughtful & innocent approach as through the eyes of a raggedy, injured cat waiting at the pound.The first half of the movie is so bizarrely funny, with such unique characters living in their private bizarre bubble, it feels something like "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure". But now imagine "Bill & Ted" if it were directed by French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. Starting to get the picture...? In the director's commentary on the DVD, writer/director/star Miranda July calls this a very "still" movie. There are long breaks between characters speaking. There is a lot of silence, allowing us to soak in the depth of the moment. She jokes about one scene where the leading man dramatically rips off his headphones, and she calls it the big action scene, the equivalent of a car crash in this movie. Haha.The slow, deadpan delivery makes the humor even more pervasive. I laughed out loud several times in the first half. But midway through the movie, the mood shifts suddenly and drastically. The remaining half is no longer a comedy but more like a soul-searching philosophical adventure. At first I hated the unexpected change (as the title of this review implies) because I was really enjoying the oddball comedy.But, as the recurring theme of the movie implies, "the beginning" is only temporary. Life changes drastically. Love changes drastically. The plot, theme and mood of the film illustrate this perfectly. I can't say much more without ruining the story, so just be ready for anything. Ride this crazy roller-coaster to the end.The acting and particularly the casting is flawless. The chemistry between the two leads, Sophie (Miranda July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater) is so perfect you'd think they're soulmates in real life. Another excellent piece of casting is Joe Putterlik who plays the old man. He is NOT an actor! Miranda found him while answering an ad in the Pennysaver classifieds, and she was so taken by his authenticity that she cast him in the role.Another thing I really enjoyed was the great use of symbolism. You have to pay close attention, or even see the movie twice like I did, to catch most of it. Especially in the 2nd half when things become very poetic and sublime, you have to be on your toes.If you like surreal comedy, like the films I mentioned earlier, films by Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "The Science of Sleep"), the early Johnny Depp flick "Arizona Dream", the Paul Giamatti comedy "Cold Souls", or maybe even the grandfather of modern surreal comedy "Catch 22", don't hesitate to see this movie. See them all. Whenever I stumble on a film like this, I'm reminded that cinema is a true art form.

MaximumMadness Miranda July. I have a lot of respect for her as a human and an artist. She's a fantastic example of a strong-willed female artist (something the world takes for granted), and she has an admirable body of work behind her. But her filmmaking has left something of a sour taste in my mouth, mainly personified by her second feature-film, the subject of this review- "The Future."The film is an example of something I've noticed over the past few years, mainly following the phenomenal film "Juno" by Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody. I call it "Indie Syndrome", where films try too hard to be quirky and of an "Indie" mindset. And it shows and hurts a lot of films. (Particularly movies like "(500) Days of Summer", which tried so hard, it felt like a parody of the "indie" style.)July stars as Sophie, and Hamish Linklater stars as Jason, Sophie's boyfriend. They are essentially a self-absorbed, self-important, self-promoting, pretentious couple. They're the sort of people who think their crud don't stink, and think that life as they know it ends at 40. The main conflict of the story begins when they rescue a cat (off screen) that they name "Paw Paw", whom is staying at the vet clinic for a month. Sophie and Jason plan to return after the cat's stay at the clinic to adopt him, but in the meantime, they become over-fascinated and over-fearful of the idea and responsibility of caring for another living thing. Things are exacerbated by the fact that if they don't adopt, Paw Paw will be put to sleep due to overcrowding, turning the poor cat into a sort of McGuffin/Time Bomb story thread.In the meantime, while trying to re-evaluate their lives and relationship and responsibility, a series of increasingly bizarre vignettes, skits and sub-plots commence, which is where the movie falls apart. Everything from Sophie cheating on Jason, to a bizarre living t-shirt that she sees crawling along the road, to a humorous but overblown subplot about Sophie starting a YouTube dancing video series is explored. But too much of it doesn't gel together, and feels forced.All the while, the film occasionally cuts back to Paw Paw (actually at times a human being in a cat costume for no real reason), who narrates the story in an insidiously strange, high-pitched voice using simple, child-like logic and language. (Although, be warned, the cat isn't the only non-human character to speak.)This is an exceedingly hard movie to review. The production is, to its credit, very competent and well-made. July's direction is perfect for this type of film, and from a dialog standpoint, her script is halfway decent. Costume and production design is great, and the ethereal music choices are fascinating. The acting is also very decent.But it all boils down to that "Indie Syndrome" I spoke of earlier. It's near impossible to take this film as seriously as July and the cast want you to take it. The film reaches a point where you'll scream if it doesn't stop being so "Indie" and weird... but then it just gets more "Indie" and weird. It's hard to sit through at times. (And I'll admit, I did a lot of fast-forwarding while watching it, just so I could see enough key scenes to write this review) By the time Paw Paw is on his second or third narration (with that voice that makes you want to strangle the poor cat), or the ump-teenth scene focusing on Sophie's dance video, or the hundredth-or-so scene where the couple says or does things implying they see themselves as way more important than they are, you'll want to scream. This film, for all intents and purposes, ruins itself by trying too hard. July really should have gotten a more traditional screenwriter to do a ghost-second-draft that removed all of this forced, contrived nonsense that she seems to have thrown in only to appear quirky, artsy-fartsy and weird. I hate to over-use this word, but July made this film way too pretentious, and it hurts the work.I'm giving "The Future" a 5 out of 10. It's not terrible. In fact, some of the scenes are exceedingly well-done, and without spoiling it, the ending is actually very poetic and well-written. But it tried way too hard to be artsy and weird, and it hurt the film overall.