MindMap-SA Issue 7

to and as Sophie puts it, “after50 the rest is just lose change.”The only trouble with this film is that isassumes that one is aware of this crisisof growth and that as a result internalrebellion against this sort of unrelentingnothingness is dual. First is the needto live by trying to become somethingimmediately because you never havethe luxury of time. Hence the need tobe a YouTube hit or a careless environmentallobbyist as Jason does. Thenthis is followed by an actual rebellingagainst the method that you were usingto rebel in the same place. This issomewhat implausible is perhaps theone area where the film loses its meticulousness.But July makes up for all thatthrough slow dialogue-focused filming.She places an emphasis on mid-shotsbecause that is the way we often seepeople and things only half the distance.The raciest part of the narrative comesforth as Sophie cheats and leaves Jasonfor a man that she had only cometo know from having called his phonenumber on the back of a drawing thatJason had purchased. what July is sayingher is that regardless of our tentativestreaks and our attempts at finding a signor being psychologically in the presentthere will always be a mild chance thatthe things we seek or that what flattersus the most will be discovered by completeand random chance and that thatis the saddest part of life. This grey arewhere you have absolutely no control.It is worth believing that what July issuggesting in this film is that with ageone must be willing to surrender a certainawareness and power in order tofind themselves at ease with their lives.It’s the only way to be happy. But unThis film is about uneventfullywalking towards middle ageand the cat is the metaphor forthat inevitable process. The fearthat there is this one quiet placethat people of a certain age getto and as Sophie puts it, “after50 the rest is just lose change.”fortunately Sophie is not adept to relinquishingthat power and it resultsin her not even being able to maintainthis new found romance as she growsmore demanding and anxious that thisnew relationship is not as perfect as initialimaginings had suggested. This isa museful film that plays around withcomplexities of individual characterand lets them bounce off each othereasily. It has a strong emotional subtextand finds its derivative in July’sskill as a gracious and rich storyteller.