The Future

Directed by Miranda July

(R)

***

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Before you learn to appreciate Miranda July’s The Future, be prepared to be annoyed, said A.O. Scott in The New York Times. July, a polarizing performance artist/writer, seems intent on testing the limits of her audience’s patience before this “wonder cabinet of a movie” finally reveals its treasures. Starring in a film that she also wrote and directed, July plays Sophie, a 30-something slacker who, with her partner, Jason (Hamish Linklater), is inching toward adopting an ailing cat. “Yes, it gets weird,” said Ty Burr in The Boston Globe. Weird as in it’s narrated by the cat and Jason eventually learns to stop time. Surprisingly, though, “the more surreal The Future gets, the more focused it becomes, until it seems as if physical reality itself is arguing with these two to get it together.” The film proves that July is “something of a magician,” said J. Hoberman in The Village Voice. Somewhere amid the movie’s quirks, “Sophie’s (or is it July’s?) coy narcissism becomes a criticism of itself, and her ‘sadness’ turns into something truly sad.” In short, a viewer’s irritation gives way to heartbreak.