"The Future has all the elements of a recognisable quirky rom com with the advantage of being almost nothing like a rom com"

Rom coms have come a long way throughout the history of cinema, from the playful 1940’s films such as The Philadelphia Story and Gentleman Prefer Blondes to the slightly more lewd rom coms of the 90’s very much shaped by Richard Curtis with films like Four Weddings And  Funeral and About A Boy. The rom com has been a staple of cinema since the inception of film.

Now in the noughties, we’re seeing a new trend of rom com geared towards a younger, more sexualised audience where themes of sex are becoming far more dominant in storylines, you only have to look in the multiplexes at the moment and you’ll see films like No Strings Attached, Friends With Benefits, The Switch, Whats Your Number etc , and what all these films have in common is sex.

So amongst this barrage of crude Hollywood rom coms with their huge budgets, gorgeous A list stars, clichéd stories its wonderfully refreshing to see a film like The Future.

The Future is directed by, written  by and starring Miranda July, her second feature after her debut with 2005’s Me And You And Everyone We Know.  With her first film July really stood out as a unique filmmaking talent,  from a simple storyline involving a shoe salesmen who falls in love with an eccentric performance artist (played by July) it plays out as a beautiful contemporary love story set in Julys very distinct universe.

The Future has all the elements of a recognisable quirky rom com with the advantage of being almost nothing like a rom com, theres no Justin Timberlake or Cameron Diaz in sight, instead we have Jason and Sophie who at first glance are a perfect match, cute , cool, quirky, they share a flat together and exist quite happily in their own little world, with their own silly games such as pretending to stop time  or picking a song to help them remember each other in the unlikely event they get struck by amnesia.  Its this kind of quirky behaviour you might find in a Cameron Crowe film, yet in Sophie and Jasons world it doesnt feel contrived, it feels real and human, and they’ve clearly ended up together because they just click as people.

Together they decide to adopt a stray cat, when they arrive at the adoption centre to meet their new pet they’re told they will have to wait a month before they can take him home because of his bandaged leg.  Jason and Sophie are both convinced because its a stray and its been injured it will only live about 6 months, however the nurse informs them that if they treat him well and he bonds with them he could easily live for 5 years.

Jason and Sophie are dumbstruck by this news, they make the startling discovery that in 5 years time they’ll both be 40 and as Jason morbidly puts it ‘after 40 its pretty much just..loose change’. With this in mind, and counting down the month till they get to pick up their cat Jason and Sophie both set about shaking up their lives, living in the moment and doing all the things they wanted to do they’re just not really sure what they are.

Now of course if this was a Hollywood rom com, about now we’d see someone like Ryan Reynolds taking up bungee jumping or yoga, only to be foiled by a series of embarrassing and no doubt hilarious mishaps featuring a toppling wedding cake or a flatulent dog.

Jason adopts a more spontaneous approach , he quits his job as a tech support operator and lets himself become open to the signs and signals around him, which ultimately lead him to become a volunteer for a tree planting charity.

Sophie on the other hand, who used to be a childrens dance teacher before she quit,  is spurred on by the attractive but nasty receptionist at her work, whose youtube videos cause her a lot of aggrevation.  She decides to do a dance a day and record herself only she is held back by her own awkward nature,  trying to be sexy and seductive instead she ends up dancing rather robotically to some bizarre music far from anything you might hear in a gym.

As the month progresses, Jason seems more at peace with his newfound profession, even befriending an old man who writes rude limericks for his dead wife. Sophie on the other hand is struggling. Out of boredom, or curiosity or instilled with a desire to make the most of her month she ends up meeting with another man.

Like Me And You And Everyone We Know, The Future is grounded in a reality, there are things we can all relate to, moments of laughter and comedy especially in the deadpan interchanges between Jason and Sophie  ‘I always thought I would become a world leader’ ‘that was never really gonna happen was it’.  But all the time you’re aware its a slightly off kilter version of reality, this is in fact Julys own perspective of the world, in reality a couple given a month to adopt a cat wouldn’t drop everything , quit their jobs and take on new challenges. But in Julys world they do and you go with it.

All the while, the film has brief moments of narration, and the narrator is..the cat, Paw Paw. All you see of him are his two legs, one still in bandages. The cat becomes almost like a metaphor, he is the reason they want to better their lives and do all the things they never had the chance to do , but at the same time he is responsible for the break down and destruction of Jason and Sophies relationship. In many ways, the cat is Sophie , they are both damaged, alone and wild as they both proclaim in the film.

Eventually Sophies relationship with the other man develops into an affair, and they start meeting regularly and having sex.  The film shifts in tone at this stage, where the more normal layers of Julys reality start to peel away and we see a more abstract alternate reality.

The Future is a slow moving, meditative, but beautiful little film, and unlike the rom coms of Hollywood, the ending isn’t a traditional happy one,  the credits start rolling as the film is still playing and you get the sense that somewhere out there these characters continue to live their lives, and that with a story like this there can never truly be closure which emulates a far more grown up and realistic look at modern relationships something Hollywood tend to gloss over.

July and her co star Hamish Linklater portray their characters with such natural skill that even though Sophie cheated on Jason you still care about them both just as much as you did at the start. July sparkles in her role as Sophie, the thinking mans Zooey Deschanel perhaps.  She is indeed a fine actress and as her two films testify an accomplished and talented director.

Linklater again is marvellous to watch as the boyfriend who clearly loves Sophie, yet never really shows it but that just goes to show how comfortable they are together.  When Sophie tells Jason she has been having an affair, you can almost see his heart break on screen, but he just doesnt have the strength  or assertiveness to really tell Sophie how he feels, instead he ends up losing her.

The final quote from Paw paw, the cat is ‘Living is the beginning and the beginning is over’. Both Jason and Sophie engulfed by their new lives forget to pick up paw paw, and is put down.  You could argue that the death of Paw Paw is the death of Sophie and her relationship with Jason.  It will be interesting to see how Julys projects progress, but if one things certain the world Miranda July inhabits is quite a brilliant one and I hope we get to see more of it.