Big Picture Big Sound

This Future is Bleak

Sophie (writer/director/lead role Miranda July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater) have found a homeless cat whose medical prognosis isn't all that promising. Paw-Paw is estimated to have six months to live. They will be able to pick up the cat in 30 days, when it is well enough to return home to their apartment. For some reason, this makes the young couple very stressed out about their own future. It doesn't make much sense to me, either.

Sophie is insecure and fairly boring, while Jason is mostly boring. Both are searching for something, though neither has a clue what it is that they want. One gets the feeling that someone must have nudged them together at the altar in order for them to have gotten married. Without a single backbone between them, it is impossible to picture them having gone through any courting rituals.

Jason responds to his new need to feel drive by going door-to-door for donations for an organization that is fond of trees. Sophie is inclined to make her mark on the world by trying to find success online. The boredom and blahs of the young couple continue. Change finally enters Sophie's life when she phones an artist named Marshall (David Warshofsky). Marshall is dynamic compared to her Jason. Then again, Paw-Paw is more dynamic than Jason. What choice does she have, but to fall into his arms and into an affair.

The rest of "The Future" is no more fun or rewarding. Even the climax is anti-climactic. I promise that you will not care for anyone, least of all Sophie and Jason. I imagine that Ms. July is trying to tell us something but I was not the least bit interested in finding out her personal, oh so deep views. If no one on screen is willing to put up a clear effort, don't expect me to work hard at figuring it out. I promise that I will not be going back to this future.