In Search of a Midnight Kiss (2007)

Broke and alone on New Year's Eve, Wilson just wants to spend the rest of a very bad year in bed. But, when his best friend convinces him to post a personal ad, he meets a woman bent on finding the right guy to be with at midnight.

Director:

Alex Holdridge

Writer:

Alex Holdridge

Stars:

Scoot McNairy, Sara Simmonds, Brian McGuire

4 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Scoot McNairy	...	Wilson
Sara Simmonds	...	Vivian
Brian McGuire	...	Jacob (as Brian Matthew McGuire)
Kathleen Luong	...	Min (as Katie Luong)
Robert Murphy	...	Jack
Twink Caplan	...	Wilson's Mother
Bret Roberts	...	Bui
Ann Chatterton	...	Neighbor #1 (as Annie Chatterton)
Cindy Drummond	...	Neighbor #2
Giorgio Pierangeli	...	Maitre d'
Michael Pierangeli	...	Young Boy
Bruce Jay	...	Stevie
Stephanie Feury	...	Jacob's Mother
Julie Levin-Pierangeli	...	Wilson's Sister
Kennedy Rich-Collins	...	Vivian's Mother

Storyline

On New Year's Eve, Wilson, a twenty-nine-year old guy has just had the worst year of his life. He emigrated to Los Angeles, has no date, no concrete plans and every intention of locking the doors and forgetting the last year ever happened. That is until his best friend, Jacob, browbeats him into posting a personal ad on Craig's List. When Vivian, a strong-willed woman hell bent on being with the right guy at the stroke of midnight responds, a chaotic, sometimes hilarious, sometimes touching journey through the black and white streets of L.A. begins. In the waning hours of the year, emotional vulnerability and bitterly honest humor seem to be waiting around every corner.

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Plot Keywords:

New Year's Eve | Midnight | Kiss | Bed | Myspace | 

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Taglines:

14 hours until the new year. 12 million people in Los Angeles. 1 connection shouldn't be this hard.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 August 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Anazitontas ena fili ta mesanyhta

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$13,385 (USA) (1 August 2008)

Gross:

$172,177 (USA) (14 November 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Midnight Kiss Productions (II)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Black and White Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

In the scene at the New Years' party with Wilson and Vivian are on the roof with Jacob, when Wilson tells Jacob that Vivian hit him, the couple have cans of beer. However, in the next shot, Jacob asks them both if they would like a drink, and neither of them have cans in their hands.

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Quotes

Wilson: Misanthrope seeks misanthrope. Honestly, if you respond to this ad then you are probably not the kind of woman I'd go out with. I guess I'm lonely and it's new years and I'm willing to embarrass the hell out of myself with this ad. About me: My girlfriends over the years have been intelligent and beautiful, in the end they have all broken my heart, whatever that means. My friend says I have to have a foto, so here it is. Talk to you soon. Wilson.

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Connections

References All About Eve (1950)
mentioned in dialogue

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Soundtracks

"Lines"
by Okkervil River

User Reviews

It rambles, redeems itself, and ultimately works - and how it works!

Can love be found in the sparkle of damp streets? A soft-focus moment as desire is swept and sublimated into the tenderest kiss?

Do these scenes elicit warm memories for you? Or is it an emotional jack-off to a place you want to be in but can't?

In the last few days of each year, activity on sites like MySpace and Craigslist swells 300%. So many looking for love on New Year's Eve. Our ex-video-clerk (and award-winning film-maker), Alex Holdridge, has made them a movie. A dark, perverted, gritty, romantic comedy that, like a new relationship, comes with big indie warts-and-all. Then turns them around in an artsy, offbeat triumph.

Opening black-and-white photography of couples kissing exudes style. Tasteful snogging on sidewalks. Smooching by a river. Under neon. Christmas illuminations. Streetlights and shadows, and quiet corners. Sinatra croons "As Time Goes By" and a convenient voice-over says: "It's not just another kiss - it's all the hope of romance of the year culminating in just one moment."

But lets get real a minute. Our protagonist, love-luckless Wilson, is segueing the female half of one such scene into a private erotic fantasy. It features his best friend's girlfriend, Min. (Here the comedy plays to our discomfort). Determined to find him a life, Jacob and Min cajole him into placing an online dating ad. Vivian, neurotic blonde with openly cut-throat approach, soon 'interviews' Wilson as her potential New Year's Eve date.

Gutsy performances and shambolic production values keep Midnight Kiss rooted to some recognisable reality rather than the glossy romcom it could easily have become. Rambling dialogue is cringeworthy from the characters' awkwardness rather than lack of writing talent. What at first sight seems like an amateurish losers' mess, gradually earns its wings as human interaction shows Wilson to be more substantial and interesting than his tosser persona would credit; and Vivian to be more human than her pill-popping intro would have us believe.

Vivian's location sets were almost too realistic for the film's own good it seems. Twice, the cast and crew were threatened with police action when downmarket hotel managers were spooked by the sight of empty liquor bottles and prescription drug pill boxes. Much of the movie is made in downtown Los Angeles or Sunset Boulevard - surrounded by derelict theatres and decrepit hotels. But its verité style lovingly exposes both the city's decay and its beauty. Originally conceived as bitter critique, its ultimate appeal (like 'thelostshoeproject.com' that Vivian champions - 'everyone is searching for something') is one of jewels in the dust.

Pacing is adroitly achieved through abrupt changes in emotional resonance. From initial, self-consciously polished cinematography, we are thrown into Wilson's desultory world. And just as we want to lose patience with him, Vivian erupts into the dialogue, kicking ass all the way from Texas to L.A. A subplot involving Jacob and Min's romance distracts us long enough for the outcome of Wilson and Vivian's date to develop the needed tension. And perhaps the fact that the film doesn't sell out at the end persuades us to view the whole episode more kindly. The palpably low-budget allows the skills of the filmmakers to shine through - whereas a market-perfect production could well have glossed over them. Rather than a movie for couples out on a date, In Search of A Midnight Kiss is for all the people who wish they were out on a date. Or for couples brave enough to ask if they are any better off.

The film, for all its flaws, connects in a way that sanitised romantic comedy can not. Perhaps in idealising love it is all too easy to ignore the grubbier roots and miss what is in front of our eyes.