Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)

This one is . . . . well . . . . it's interesting. I think I've read one of her short stories or an article by her and seen some of her art but I've not seen any of her films or video art. I just don't know about it. I don't dislike it but I don't know what to do with it exactly. Like that Christmas present from your great aunt you never see who thinks you need this thing because the saleslady at the store said all the kids had them? And the thing is interesting but you've no idea what to do with it. This is sort of the movie equivalent.

It's an ensemble story with sort-of interlocking plots. A white shoe-salesman separating from his black wife (her idea) tried to connect to their children but can't and then sets his hand on fire in front of their house at their bedroom window. The kids spend time at his new apartment while he's at work chatting online to a woman about supposedly sexy topics (ugh. ick.). The younger boy keeps up the chatting in what seems a sophisticated manner for a six year old and ends up meeting the woman who is the museum curator. An artist (July) is lonely, drives an elderly man around, and stalks the shoe salesman after he sells her a pair of pink shoes. The neighbor girl (next door to the shoe salesman's apartment) is off her rocker and collects towel sets (which she irons) and misc to keep in her hope chest--she connects to the older son after having spied on him while two strange neighborhood girls gave him blowjobs so he could rate them. The neighborhood girls are having some strange relationship with the shoe salesman's coworker who also lives in the apartment complex--he leaves notes on his window about what he would do with them if they were 18. The artist tries to get some of her work in the local art museum but she's snubbed until she's a bit clever and addresses the curator personally in her art. Then the artist and the shoe salesman sort of get together. And the six year old is odd and the older boy buys a stuffed animal for the neighbor girl's hope chest.

I just don't know what to do with any of that. I like the commentary on the contemporary art scene and what passes for art now. But I don't know what to do with some of the sweet moments in the movie that are obviously rooted in very disturbing actions: the stalking ending up in a relationship; the online sex chat with a six year old ending up in a sweet moment where she strokes his face, gives him a kiss, and walks off; the self-immolation ending up in a sort of freedom . . . . . . . . I just don't get what the movie is trying to tell me.