This is a Miranda July film, with all the oddball conversations and interactions between characters that go with it. She truly is a love her or hate her director, as quirky is something she does a lot of and it can grate pretty quickly if that is not your thing.

The sense of depression and melancholy that feature in her films will either be welcome or irritating, depending on your expectations or your mood. Here’s the plot - Sophie and Jason have been together for four years, and decide to adopt a cat. They are told that the cat they have chosen will have to remain in the animal shelter for another 30 days.

They go away and think about what they will do with this time before they make the commitment of bringing this cat into their home. For them this is a huge decision, as they will now be adults with responsibilities and will no longer have the freedom they previously enjoyed.

They both pack in their jobs - him to become an environmental campaigner, her to concentrate on her dancing - 30 days, 30 new dances.

She quickly becomes frustrated, however, at her lack of progress and a few days in, as she sits in their living room despairing, a picture falls off the wall - it is a drawing that Jason purchased for charity while in the animal shelter on a separate visit.

On the back is the number of the man who drew the picture, and she calls him, thereby drastically altering the course of these 30 days. Meanwhile, the cat that the couple has chosen waits for its new owners to collect it - its voice was the first thing to be heard before the film started.

It sounded to me like a creepy kid with laryngitis, even though it turned out to be July herself, who also plays Sophie (fair play, I never would have guessed).

Every so often during the tale a very cheap imitation cat paw appears, moving along the newspaper of the cage it is living in during this time, and the cat talks about its wait for its new owners to return.

There is a lot of symbolism in this film, and many of the metaphors went over my head - I recognised them for what they were, I just didn’t know what they meant. It was difficult to see where a lot of what I saw as awkward dialogue was going, although the two main characters are undeniably very sweet with each other and I did find myself rooting for them during their trials and tribulations.

Despite the fact that if I knew them personally I may be tempted quite frequently to bang their heads together. They play games such as pretending to stop time and agreeing on a song they would play if one of them lost their entire memory, and these games feature quite regularly throughout the course of their 30 day wait to adopt a cat.

If you want something totally different from the mainstream fare showing in any 12 screen theatre, this just may be your thing. However, if films that leave you scratching your head aren’t your cup of tea, you may want to avoid. 6/10

The Future is out on the 4th of November.

Christine Brookes