Me and You and Everyone We Know
iView Author: Arthi Vasudevan (Delhi, India)
Email: vasudevan.arthi [at] gmail [dot] com
Me and You and Everyone We Know
This weekend saw quite a few films being released, of which Rock On and Wall E were eagerly awaited ones. I, honestly, was in the mood of watching a film that would shake my senses off – wanted to see a really emotionally draining movie. I don’t know but this is what I wanted to feel. There was a lot going on my head and I thought this is what would do me good – get pushed to a mental state that was worse and come back then feeling better. Hopefully.
But I didn’t know which one to watch. I have a few films that I haven’t watched yet but none suited my mood then. Among the latest releases any? Hmmm….No. I went and sat in front of the TV and checked out the fare there. Nothing I wanted to see. Came back and switched on my comp again. Browsed through the list I have again as though something new would just appear on my screen. Obviously nothing happened so without any option I decided on ‘Me and You and Everyone We Know’.
It’s one of those small indie films that I happened to come across while browsing through the net reading about films. I don’t remember what exactly I was reading that led me to Miranda July (she’s directed and acted here) and this small film that she made. But since it was said to be good, I got it later and after that never watched it. Until this Saturday afternoon.
The movie began, on a rather insipid note. Or may be I was watching half-heartedly. Even then I continued. About 90 minutes later, I was sitting with my head in my hands. “What the hell”. I did not understand why this film was made. When I narrate a story, there should be some purpose to it, right? I cannot just amble on. But MAYAEWK did just that. What was Miranda trying to say? I came out confused but the film refused to go out of my mind. So went back on the net and read about this film and what people had to say about this film. Still nothing.
But somehow I went back to the film and saw it again. I had to.
MAYAEWK opens with a scene where Miranda’s character Catherine is giving a voiceover to a picture of a couple sitting on the beach watching the sun set (or was it a sun rise?). The picture becomes the subject of her imagination, a story is born and she narrates it. An aspiring artist, she is still struggling to gain a foot-hold. To earn her bread and butter, she is a cab driver for the elderly thus introducing to her an old man who at the age of 70 claims that he has found “true love” in Ellen, an old woman. Another story we are introduced to is about a couple Richard, a shoe-store salesman and Pam just splitting up. The couple has two sons – fourteen year old Peter and six year old Robbie. Father and sons move to a small house its neighbours being his colleague at work on one side and a family with a young daughter, Sophie, on the other.
Catherine is lonely. Richard is struggling to adjust to his new life as a single parent to two kids. The old man is truly happy after a long long time. Robbie lives in a world of his own as any 6 year old would – looking at in wonderment at any new thing or when he hears a recurring sound throughout the film. Peter is grappling with teenage issues of his own and spends time in online chats.
So when each mind is pre-occupied, it communicates with and responds to others in its own unique way. At times not understood; at times creating awkwardness and making one think about the nature of the relationship; whether it has changed and where is it heading to. Richard portrays this trepidation beautifully – his silences when he is alone, his inability to get his children talk to him, desperate attempts to get their attention hoping that this will get them on track. The kids are aware of this; the kids love their dad but are unable to show it in the manner the father would understand. Kids speak in a language of their own and parents have to understand that. Peter’s trysts with his 2 girl classmates and his budding friendship with Sophie in a way define the priorities for a 14 yr old; priorities apart from the family. Robbie is there but most of the times his imaginative mind takes control. There is an episode where Robbie out of the blue helps Peter in online chatting. Not palatable. After all he is just a six year old but this I found this track quite hilarious. I don’t think a six year old would know matters of flirtatious and double meaning talk but here I actually see this. This seemed unreal but the kid who’s played Robbie is very endearing. All his dialogues are in a drawly monotone and when he looks at somebody it’s an intent stare going right through. Somehow they seem to connect.
Catherine meets Richard at the shoe-store. At times it takes just one comment from the other person that makes you feel that somebody understands you. It is this spark that she finds in Richard that makes her pursue him (not in the manner of the lead heroine chasing after a guy as shown in most films these days) but gently, searching and hoping that he is the one. Solely based on that “insightful” sentence he says at the first meet. He is just out of a major break-up and hence initially pushes her away. The manner in which she shows her pain and frustration is touching. Catherine is an artist and these incidents feed her work. There is this scene when she writes ME and YOU on each of her brand new shoe, wears them and videotapes their movements. ME following YOU; YOU going away; YOU coming closer may be; ME not responding. I loved this scene. It showed what was in her mind so clearly. There’s another when she is reading and keeps circling the letters r, i, n, g – desperately waiting for Richard to call. Her frustration (and what she does subsequently) at the Art Institute head for not responding to her work which she sends through a demo tape is another good one. There’s another about the goldfish. And about Robbie’s discovery of the source of the “ting ting..” sound and other such…
It is these incidents that define the film. Define the characters; the kind of peole there are. It’s human to have insecurities and Miranda depicts these very unobtrusively, just watching the characters struggle and letting them find their way out.
Life is a journey. Miranda July captures a part of the journey of Catherine’s life, Richard’s, the kids’, the old man’s, Ellen’s and others’. The film has no definitive “happy” ending. As life isn’t that. But there is a ray of hope for them. That the future could be better than the present.
And then I realized this film was an answer to the state of mind I was in and wanted to come out of. Sometimes no clue why such things happen. They are just meant to, I guess.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
nice !
very nice article Arthi V
welcome to PFC blogging!!!
looking forward to more pieces from you.
will catch up with this one soon!!
quite a writer.. you are!
@Arti
I AGREE WITH U ARTHI, I HAVE SEEN THIS FILM A BRILLIANT AND HIGHLY ORIGINAL WORK, JUST TO SHARE WITH YOU, LAST SUNDAY 7TH SEPT I GIFTED THIS FILM’S DVD TO FILMMAKER SUDHIR MISHRA !!!
GK
I never had an opportunity to read and review such an amazing article where the author puts her in the place of the director to understand and appreciate not-so-spoken-about movie. While most of us see a movie and just buff it off just like real life incidents, I admire your passion to look into and beyond the intents of the director and bring out the essence to the readers. We welcome you to PFC movie review groups and wish to see many more reviews from you. All the Best!!
@Jaiganesh, Ankur and Venkatesh – Thanks, I just have written what I felt about the film. At times it is very difficult to watch a film that has an unknown starcast, is made by an unknown film-maker. But in the end it turns out that I am the ignorant one. Not them.
@GKD: Good pick for a gift to somebody like Sudhir Mishra. Nice to know some more people know about this film.