The Future (Miranda July, 2011)

American independent cinema can turn out real gems that undercut the bombastic mainstream juggernauts. And then, frequently it also turns out ineffectual pieces of whimsy with all the intellectual rigour of wet tissue paper, where any unconventionality in terms of characters and events is held up as some profound statement on the meaning of life. Guess which category this tale of an aimless, largely jobless and mildly quirky Los Angeles couple, intercut with narrative asides from a cat they adopted and magical realist elements, falls into. It doesn't help that it irritates from the word go, with the cat given a croaky little-girl voice to utter pseud wisdom and the lead characters being completely devoid of any gumption. There are a few moments when the script does display a level of self-deprecation, but these turn out to be false dawns and the overall effect is to parasitically drain the viewers' energy as if the intention really was to leave them as listless as its protagonists. Avoid at all costs.

3/10