Not yet registered? Create a OverBlog!

Create my blog

A film review of 'You, Me, and Everyone We Know' (2005)

Miranda July’s 2005 feature début as writer/director easily accommodates Indie hits of the last decade such as Wes Anderson’s 'The Royal Tenenbaums' and Sofia Coppola’s 'Lost in Translation'. This article is a review of 'You, Me, and Everyone We Know', as part of Indie cinema.

Rise of the Indie

At the beginning of the noughties, the films of Anderson, Coppola, Alexander Payne and others became the voice of Indie in America. They crossed over into the mainstream and caught the attention of the academy at the same time. These films are not to everyone’s taste. Some critics call the slow-pacing, dreamy visuals and surreal performances, as pretentious and boring. To others, they are the voices of a disenchanted generation which was fed up with on-screen representations of a lifestyle, which was different from reality.

The film

'You, Me and Everyone We Know' would make a great double header with the controversial 'Happiness'. It caused outrage on release, with its blacker than black humour on topics such as paedophilia and domestic abuse. It also gave some of the actors involved career-best roles, catapulting people like Philip Seymour Hoffman into stardom. If you enjoy dark ensemble comedy, then 'You, Me and Everyone We Know' could be for you. Christine Jesperson (played by Miranda July) is a lonely performance artist who meets Richard Swersey (the excellent John Hawkes), a single father of two boys. They have a definite fondness for each other, but struggle to connect. Richard’s sons' love lives are almost as chaotic as their father's. Six year old Robby is having an Internet romance with a stranger, and his fourteen year old brother Peter, has become a guinea pig for local girls to test their skills and knowledge of romance on. As with many Indie films of the decade, the music score is very good - courtesy of Michael Andrews, who also scored Indie classic 'Donnie Darko' and some of Judd Apatow’s productions. The young actors give excellent performances, and the leads have good on-screen chemistry. The darkly comic moments are impacting. Nonetheless, this film, along with some of the other aforementioned films, is an acquired taste. Some will find the pacing and poetic dialogue pretentious and dull, whereas a small few will take the film to heart. Roger Ebert named the film amongst his best films of the decade 2000-09. It is a film which can highly influence its viewers. Fans of American Indie cinema of the noughties, should definitely watch the movie.

Same category articles Cinema

A review of Marx brothers' Duck Soup (1933)

A review of Marx brothers' Duck Soup (1933)

Set in the fictional country of Freedonia, at war with its neighbours Sylvania, this movie has the Marx brothers at their zany best, and contains some of the funniest one liners in movie history. This article is a review of Duck Soup, widely thought to be the finest of the Marx brothers films.
How to keep track of upcoming DVD releases

How to keep track of upcoming DVD releases

We all love our films and music. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to try to keep track of when our favourite film is going to be released, or when our favourite music artist has his live DVD out. Movies coming out are easy to pre-order and keep track of and this article will try to help you to do just that.
A review of 'Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too' (1974)

A review of 'Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too' (1974)

Everyone is familiar with the popular, but not too bright, bear known affectionately as Winnie the Pooh. Equally well-known are his friends that include Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore, the donkey. Yet, most people will be familiar with these characters through the books written by A.A Milne. However, Disney made a few films involving these characters, here is a review of the 1974s 'Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too'.
The Eternal Jew (1937): The facts

The Eternal Jew (1937): The facts

This article is a review of the Nazi anti-semitic propaganda film, The Eternal Jew, released after the Nazi occupation of Poland.