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For the last few years, slacker comedies have been all the rage. They’ve been so popular, in fact, that actors like Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill have built their entire careers by playing aimless, unmotivated freeloaders. But I think it’s pretty safe to say that you’ve never seen slackers quite like the characters in The Future, a quirky little indie drama about a couple of 30-something hipsters on a mission to give their lives some kind of meaning.
When Sophie (writer/director Miranda July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater) first decided to adopt an ailing stray cat, it seemed like a great idea. They were told that the cat had just six months or so to live, so bringing the cat into their lives would require just a short-term commitment.
Later, though, when they discover that their new pet could live for years with proper, loving care, it changes everything. With the cat under a vet’s care for one more month, Sophie and Jason suddenly realize that they have just 30 days until their lives are, for all intents and purposes, over.
With the end of everything looming over them, they decide to make the most of their last 30 days of youth and freedom. They quit their soulless jobs and set out to do something real and profound—but their quest for meaning and fulfillment takes them in very different directions.
As oddly profound as it is profoundly odd, The Future is a simple, laid-back indie that’s sure to resonate with the notoriously directionless and self-absorbed members of Generations X and Y. The main characters, a couple of lovably careless and clueless aging slackers, are suddenly painfully aware that, at 35, they’re unfulfilled and bored with life in general—just going through the motions. The best years of their lives, they realize, are racing by—and they’re just sitting there on their thrift store sofa, surfing the Internet, doing absolutely nothing about it.
Of course, the realization sends them both scrambling—all because of something as small and seemingly insignificant as the adoption of a new pet—and both learn very different lessons from their awkward search for meaning.
Granted, it’s a gradual and often bizarre journey, with strange touches like the occasional narration by the couple’s cat-to-be, who’s left in a cage, anxiously waiting for the month to end. But the film’s quirky moments make perfect sense—especially after you let them simmer for a while—and its offbeat sense of humor keeps it entertaining.
The Future is as laid-back and aimless as the characters themselves. It’s certainly an odd little film, but July’s storytelling is simple and clear and unpretentious, resulting in a remarkable, relatable film.
