The Future

Few films have been narrated by an ailing stray cat in an animal hospital. But this quirk is entirely in keeping with the offbeat insights into relationships and responsibility provided by director Miranda July's long-awaited follow-up to her splendid debut, Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005). July also stars as children's dance teacher Sophie who, along with partner Jason (Hamish Linklater), decides to live life to the max in the month before they adopt the wounded feline that will take their romance to the next level. Instead, the 30-something couple find themselves drifting apart after she starts an affair with divorced sign-maker David Warshofsky and Linklater's eco-campaigning brings him into the orbit of eccentric widower Joe Putterlik, who affords a disconcerting peek into things that are yet to come. Some might bridle at the digressions and reveries that leaven the droll comedy with small doses of deadpan realism and idiosyncratic fantasy, but those prepared to accept July's askew view will be amused and touched.