Six years ago, the indie film Me and You and Everyone We Know took everyone else by surprise. It was a smart, funny first-time feature by the short story writer and performance artist Miranda July. Her second film, in which she also stars, is called The Future – it opens this weekend.
It’s the story of a couple in their mid-thirties who are trying to figure out what they should do with their so far slackery lives. Step one: they decide to adopt a stray cat and their perspective on life changes. Seriously changes. (Did we mention the cat can talk?)
On the movie’s website, Miranda July created an online oracle project that sends personal fortunes to subscribers by e-mail. So we decided to put her psychic-advice skills to the test. We asked you to send us the essential dilemma of your life, and your submissions poured in.
July offered personalized readings to a few lucky listeners, including a new mother who shared her fear she’d start making “mom art.”
Experimenting with psychic reading was “really liberating and kind of terrifying,” July tells Kurt Andersen, “the challenge for me is not to instantly fictionalize these people and make them characters in a story in my head.”
Bonus Track: Another Fortune Told
When July intuits the fortune of a listener named Nick, she initially has two visions: “hills … and you being kind of loose and romantic.”
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“What’s on your mind?”
A survey of all the responses to Miranda July’s question.
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