The film “Me and you and everyone we know” has a string of numerous relationships all within the same group of nine people. It contained many socially awkward moments, which made me the viewer at times very uncomfortable. But as the film goes on every character shows deep down what they really want in their lives. The only way a character would express their inner most desires, is with some sort of filter. Every character is always trying to win another character’s approval. The only reason why they would express them is because the filter would not leave them vulnerable to rejection. The point that the filmmaker is trying to make is that though out our lives we are always trying to seek for someone’s approval but we contain the courage to actually express how we really feel.

Sometimes the characters would even hold these feelings in for long periods of time. This is shown in the film when the little boy constantly hears a noise early in the morning. As he investigates numerous times, he eventually finds the source of the noise. It’s a man clicking a quarter against a street sign pole. The little boy asks the man why he is clicking the quarter. He replies that it passes the time. When the boy realizes the answer the lighting becomes brighter on his face, which represents the sun rising. The filmmaker also shows this in the editing by showing the sunrise at a rapid rate. The point that the filmmaker makes is that a human being will hold in their feelings no matter how long unless there is a filter for them to express how they truly feel.

The film Me and You and Everyone We Know is an illustration of how ambiguous or awkward communication practices can mislead and confuse both the individual and groups of people about the motives, validity, and/or reality behind their interactions with the people around them, and demonstrates how this interferes with a human’s basic need for truth, affirmation, and a meaningful place. The writer was able to accomplish this with a complex plot. The situations that the main characters were going through were accented by the stories of the smaller characters such as Sylvie and Peter, Rebecca and Heather, Robbie and Nancy, etc.
The way these side-stories were executed also had a great deal of importance to the successful transmission of the writer’s point. For instance, Sylvie answers the door for Richard who is panicking over Robbie’s whereabouts. She cuts him off and repeats her greeting in order to communicate properly. Sylvie is the only character that communicates clearly and concisely, almost without any hesitation or break in confidence. Continuing with this example, Sylvie answers Richard’s question, but just as he is about to leave, she says, “If you didn’t know me, would you really think I was this tall.” This is perfect example of how all the different aspects of a film, as in the direction, image, writing, etc., all tie together to amplify the writer’s feelings toward relationships. The line itself directly comments on how may know nothing about the people you “know”, let alone people you don’t know well or at all. The scene was shot at a very interesting style of doorway. Sylvie answers via a porthole that hides the rest of her; the person at the door has no way of knowing what is on the other side of that door. This can be tied directly to any situation with any other character. It applies to Robbie and Nancy’s blind communication via the Internet, the indirect communication between Richard’s co-worker and Rebecca and Heather, etc. Sylvie’s scrapbooks are incredibly significant of the idea of a person’s need for a place in the world. This can tie in with the Bird Picture, which symbolizes Richard’s sense of place and belonging.
The last point that needs to be reinforced is the satisfaction of knowing the truth. A very simplistic demonstration of this aspect of the film comes with the use of a “ping” noise that Robbie hears often. He wants to know what it is, but people give him answers that are worth more as a snub more than actual fact. At the end, Robbie finds a man tapping a quarter on a signpost. To signify that Robbie has obtained the truth, his face literally lights up. These examples, along with many others, support the point that communication is a much more difficult venture than people realize and that both trust and are difficult things to obtain.

Miranda July’s film makes a kaleidoscopal attempt at exploring the imperfect life lived and how people are connected, or become connected, through their various personal absurdities: a woman lives out her fantasies through other people’s pictures, a divorced father burns himself for attention, teenage girls explore their sexuality at a creeper’s beckoning and an adult woman unknowingly falls for a child who has seen Two Girls and a Cup way too many times. Through their bizarre behaviors, each connect and interconnect with other characters for different purposes: the father needs the neighbor to pick up his sick kid, the neighbor’s daughter has a soft spot for the sick kid (even though she is put off by his sexual ventures with the girls who need to see who is better at giving blowjobs after the creeper said ‘the tall one’ could liquidate his testicular assets) and an old man needs shoes while the lead actress needs a man. And yet, a lot of these people are connected by symbolism: ))>><<(( is typed by the child and the adult woman goes on to use it as her business emblem, an old man watches a goldfish die as he is on his way to see his ailing girlfriend and the lead actress puts pink dots on her film submission who in turn receives comfortable pink shoes from a man who decides to give her a discount - which is the decision that incites the actress to become a stalker. While this film flops in a lot of technical filming and editing aspects, Miranda July’s story thread of the interconnectedness of humanity does – I guess – deserve its many awards.