Me & You And Everyone We Know
4.5 / 5

Oddball characters who are strangely familiar to real people we know attempt to make personal connections with others in today's real, but isolating world. This is almost the first sentence of the film's description, but it is quite accurate.

Richard, (John Hawkes) freshly separated from his wife, pours lighter fluid on his hand and sets it afire, assuming that he won't get burned. He mistakes the non-burning trick with alcohol for the lighter fluid and ends up with a gauze-wrapped hand for most of the film. This scene was unsettling and made me wonder what I was in store for.

Christine, (Miranda July, the film's writer and director) a lonely visual artist and cab driver for elderly folks, chances upon Richard at his job at the show store. Soon, she ends up paying him an unnatural amount of attention, making her look really creepy... Her face also remindes me of Mary Kay Letourneau, the teacher infamous for having sex with one of her students.

Richard's 7 year-old (who looks a lot like the young Tiger Woods) innocently forms a relationship with a mysterious Internet chat room stranger, who assumes that he's an adult. He just innocently plays along since he doesn't know anything about kinky adult relationships, and then one day they meet in a park...

Two secondary school girls tease one of Richard's co-workers and he begins to leave them dirty notes posted on his window. In a pathetic way, it's his way to have some human contact. These same girls practice getting down and dirty on Richard's 14 year-old, Peter (whose face reminds me of Eric Bogosian) to see if he can tell who is better at the act.

There are some interesting, romantic scenes, like when Richard and Christine walk down the street to their cars, and Christine describes the walk as being like spending a lifetime together, with the end being the final street they come upon together.

This film is refreshingly original because you simply don't know what is going to happen. There are delicate and raw, viceral moments. The acting is solid all around. Ask yourself if you have ever met people like some of the characters in the film. Winner of a Special Jury Prize (for Originality of Vision) at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and four awards at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. There was a healthy audience for it on opening night at the Globe. Excellent ambient soundtrack by Michael Andrews.

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