When a couple decides to adopt a stray cat their perspective on life changes radically, literally altering the course of time and space and testing their faith in each other and themselves.
‘Quirky’ is the word most frequently bandied about when describing the work of Miranda July. The Future is a far more disturbing and sombre film than this adjective would suggest.
July’s second film, while not quite as perfectly realised as her debut, nimbly avoids the ‘sophomore slump’, providing the curious with another window into her highly idiosyncratic world.
Winningly weird or suffocated by whimsy? Magical or morose? July’s romantic fantasy of stagnation and romantic drift has depths, but they’re hidden behind walls of kookiness. The Future... is uncertain.
The flag the director planted on the American indie hill with her first film has been knocked askew here. The Future looks anything but bright.
A playfully self-aware dig at the emptiness of some modern lifestyles that will make you check your own.
July's film-making is a taste I have yet fully to acquire, but she has a distinctive vision, a style, placed before you on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. I took it.
It's parodic Sundance independent cinema – pure, aimless, triple-brewed whimsy.
While The Future is excessively kooky, it’s not cookie-cutter; nobody but July could have made a film so defiantly insufferable.
While July has created a quite powerful symbolic journey through middle-aged love, it feels like she’s still finding her form in what is a worthwhile exploration of the romance genre.
Profile: Miranda July
The Future
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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