Hidden Movie Gem: “Me, You and Everyone We Know”

Today’s Hidden Movie Gem guest post comes from Sabina Giado.

Movie Title: Me, You and Everyone We Know

Year: 2005

Writers: Miranda July

Lead Actors: Miranda July and John Hawkes

Director: Miranda July

Plot Summary: A group of people struggle to connect — in all senses of the word.

Why I Think This Movie Is A Hidden Gem: It’s really a cultural-studies art-faculty kind of concept. The struggle to connect? Really? But this is one of those delicate unassuming movies that might make even the stone cold cynic question their beliefs. In structural terms, this movie is a hidden gem because it juggles multiple protagonists beautifully; using the love story of the father Richard and the artist Christine as an umbrella plot. The arc of the other protagonists mines surprises from their everyday interactions. I loved this film because I never knew what was going to happen next but I felt that all of it could believably happen. And surprise is something I’ve felt all too rarely at the movies lately. I also felt there was also a rare clarity and unity of vision. This movie wasn’t pretending to be like anything else. It had a tone and it stuck to it. That’s truly admirable.

My Favorite Moment In The Movie: My favorite moment is when, as part of her video art submission, Christine challenges the art director to call her, say Macaroni and hang up. If she reaches that part of the video. Which she did.

Which artist hasn’t felt that desperate desire to be seen? Or acknowledged?

My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie:

Richard and Andrew — two guys who desire women in two very different ways.

Richard: When me and Pam were first in love, we hated to be apart even for an hour.
Andrew: Oh yeah, I had something like that once. A real fuck-athon.
Richard Swersey: No, we just slept. We loved to sleep when it was time to sleep. Not sex- we had sex, but what we really loved was to sleep like babies all day long.
Andrew: That sounds perfect.

Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie:

- A biracial family that’s really no big deal.

- How to write sexual situations delicately, focusing on the humanity, rather than the sexuality.

- How to condense story beats to their barest minimum to get the strongest arc for each character in the shortest time.

Movie Trailer:

Thanks, Sabina! To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!

Tomorrow: Another Hidden Movie Gem!

Note: We filled up the month of October and have a few left over for November, so I don’t need any more guest posts. Thanks to everyone who participated!