The Future

An odd film seemingly about a couple, Jason and Sophie who are stuck in a relationship going nowhere

They lead a samey existence and reach a crossroads in their relationship. Just before this point they help an old stray cat, unsure whether they will be together to look after the cat the rest of its life they eventually decide they will adopt it and promise to return in 30 days.

Jason quits his job as a phone based IT support to educate the public of environmental issues disguised as tree selling. Sophie randomly find the telephone number of a man on the reverse of a painting and makes contact.

Jason finds an older guy who finds purpose in his life selling objects. Sophie discovers the restrictions of a suburban lifestyle.

Throughout this is the story of Paw Paw, the cat. A cat happy with his lot but then for the first time ever has discovered the human touch. Paw Paw is careful not to show too much to the humans but inside is ready for this move, indeed it seems it has been waiting it's whole life for someone to pick it up and want to care, and play and love this cat.

Controversial The Future is a 2011 film that tells the story of an eccentric couple in their mid 30s who lives in a Los Angeles tiny and bohemian flat. Narrated by Paw-Paw, the injured stray kitten that they have adopted, the film tells how Sophie (Miranda July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater)'s lives change dramatically during the month that they have to wait for taking the cat home. Its initial naiveté ends up being blurred by the shadows provoked by the protagonists' decision to break with their daily routine to fight for their own dreams as if they have been told they have only four weeks to live. Soon the adventure is over and in their blind and desperate search of their paths their steps grow more and more away.

Heartbreaking, absurd, surrealistic, twee and bizarre at the same time, The Future is a piece of independent cinema that cannot be overlooked just because of the presence of disturbing elements such as the talking cat (whose high-pitched, childish voice rumbling in the dark is a powerful beginning by the way). Miranda July, director, writer and star of the film, is not just "being weird for the sake of being weird", but uses fantastic and bizarre images and situations to talk about our biggest taboos: the frailty of love, the futility of dreams, the anxiety about the passage of time and…the fear of death.

With their scruffy curls and their apathetic attitude towards life, Sophie and Jason seem to be the perfect couple. By seeing them lied down on the couch with their feet entangled, the spectator realizes that they felt really comfortable being together. The image of Jason peacefully sleeping over Sophie's chest (sweet for some, twee for others) is also a very faithful representation of true love, as well as Jason's attempt to stop time forever reflects very well how heartbreak feels. Miranda July said in an interview that she intended to describe: "the bittersweet vertigo of true love". Despite the audience does not doubt in the sincerity and profundity of the feelings of the couple, it is forced to see how circumstances and human weakness makes their love begin falling apart.

Firstly, to understand why they (as us ourselves) start panicking when the words "a 5 years commitment" are brought up, it is necessary to come back to the kitten wounded in her paw. Like Paw-Paw, who patiently waits for the couple to start his real life (she's even counting the days), we are always waiting for something good to happen, for the real beginning of our lives. And when we reach the thirties, we start to question ourselves if that beginning is not already gone, get depressed for having wasted the first half of our life and look at the future even more anxiously than before.

This is more or less what happens to Sophie and Jason, whom the idea of looking after a kitten -requiring a total care- for the next five years of their lives, make them think of their (scary) future: "We're 35 now ... by the time the cat dies, we'll be 40 ... and 40 might as well be 50 ... and after that, spare change." "Spare change?" "Less than a dollar-- not enough to get anything you want …" Jason's words reflect our anxiety about the passage of time as we cannot help feeling frustrated when the years pass by without us having reached the milestones we set for ourselves. Nonetheless in the film July, who said of life "I rush through it, like I'm being chased", warns us about the dangers that this feeling of "being always late" (late to live?) provokes. The Future not only make us consider how useless is to be always projecting into when it's going to be "better", but also make us question the importance of our lifetime dreams. It kind of helps us to get rid of the endless frustration caused by the contrast between our high expectations and our day-to-day reality. Like Sophie and Jason, everyone suffers from the Cervantine conflict, that is to say, the conflict between the world as we have imagined it and the world as it is. The story of Sophie and Jason somehow questions the futility of dreams, often unattainable and absurd (remembering Jason's: "I always thought I'd be a world leader").

How is it possible we cannot live happily just because we have not achieved some pretentious (generally childish) life goals? The Future, although has not the answer to the question, teaches us to open our eyes to our own limitations and stop feeling as if we deserved something better in life so as to start really enjoying ours. Life is not about waiting things to happen, but making things happen, as July said in No One Belongs Here More Than You: "Don't wait to be sure. Move, move, move"

July says that she intended to describe "the bittersweet vertigo of true love". Here an intense fear (vertigo) is intimately linked to an intense love, as imagining spending a whole life with someone is scary because from the beginning everyone already knows how the story ends, one dying in the arms of the other. Hence marriage makes you inevitably realize your own mortality and finiteness.

Some optimism is hidden, nevertheless, behind the pessimistic tone of the film. No matter what happens we always have to remember the enigmatic words of Joe Putterlik played by Joe Putterlik himself, an eccentric old man who Miranda met in a street market. This old man who participated in the film shortly before dying, tell us with his example that until you are dead, never is too late to live. So remember: "This is just the beginning".

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain"

Anonymous

July's film depicts the quirkiness and clumsiness of those who are, as Conrad put it, about to cross the "twilight between youth and maturity", struggling with their call to adult life (in the form of parenthood, career, responsibility).

Although it speaks about a universal topic, there are many hints in the movie that point to our current generation. One for instance: accumulating whatever mundane knowledge on the internet, instead of sitting still and trying to think. So noughties.

I don't want to say more. If you are, let's say, in your mid 30s, urbanite, have studied liberal arts, and still struggle (or even better: wait) to define yourself, please watch this movie. You will find a part of yourself, and part of the answer to your questions.

"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.

I went into this film with low expectations because it seemed as though it would be just another film full of contrived quirks and gratuitous plot twists meant to seem original, and while my husband is a full-force Miranda July fan, I can take or leave her work.

But I was floored by how good it was. Perhaps due in part to my lower expectations. But I thought it was touching and poignant - and very funny (the whole theater laughed out loud a few times). I cried at the beginning, and I cried (sobbed, really, while having to cover my mouth to mute myself) at the end. I really enjoyed July and Hamish Linklater; especially Linklater, who seemed like a more accessible character while July still bordered on the wide-eyed, "unique" indie-chick stereotype. Though she did break through that enough moments in the film for me to enjoy her character. The cat monologues that I had cringed at when I read about them prior to seeing the film actually worked quite well for me.

I don't think this is a movie I'll re-watch often in The Future, but it's definitely one I think people should see at least once or twice.