AFI Film Festival - In Search of a Midnight Kiss

Here’s a cute little romance that follows Wilson (Scoot McNairy), a single, lonely writer in Hollywood who, upon the urging of his friends, reluctantly posts on craigslist (“misanthrope seeking misanthrope”) to find someone to spend New Year’s Eve with. He receives a call from Vivian (Sara Simmonds), a cute, chain-smoking blonde who, after interviewing him, gives him until sunset to prove that he’s worth her time on New Year’s Eve. Together they walk through Los Angeles, visiting different sites, eating ice cream, and getting to know each other.

Shot in black and white, this movie creates an intimate vibe between two strangers. The snappy dialogue makes these characters believable and keeps the audience interested, though the bulk of the movie is simply two people walking in LA one afternoon. In fact, the film accomplishes an even more difficult task in making you believe that one could actually spend an afternoon walking around LA, rather than driving from destination to destination (in reality, such is not the case). The supporting cast is peppered with colorful characters, including Wilson’s roommate Jacob (Brian McGuire), who is agonizing over the right moment to propose to his girlfriend, Min (Kathleen Luong). The story airs on the side of typical romance, but inevitably ends up being very cute and comes up with an original, ominous ending for the audience to interpret at will.

In a Q&A just as delightful as the film, a chunk of the cast and crew came up to talk about the movie. It turns out that the director suffered a lot of the same mishaps as his main character, like moving to Hollywood with a screenplay in negotiations to sell, only to have his bag stolen out of a stroller he was four feet away from, and therefore losing any copy or record of the script he had. The cast and crew were all really close and had been working together for years on small independent films shot in Austin. This was their first LA film and they shot it in a mere two weeks, guerilla-style. An impressive feat on its own, but the film is great as well, so they get major props from me.