Review: In Search of a Midnight Kiss

I've done nothing but watch movies for the past week, but as a result, I've been slacking in my blogging duties. Starting today, however, I have a glut of material to work with. I figured I'd start with a little indie movie that I only heard about through the Landmark Theatres website, and that might just be one of my favorite films of the year so far.

"In Search of a Midnight Kiss" is the story of Wilson (Scoot McNairy), a screenwriter who moved to Hollywood with starry eyes and a screenplay that'd help him make it big. Soon after arriving, his laptop, holding the only copy of the screenplay, was stolen, and his girlfriend left him when he moved away from Texas. Our first impression of Wilson comes as he's photoshopping the face of his roommate's girlfriend onto porn for the sake of jerking off to her. Not only does his roommate walk in and see this, but he then brings the girlfriend in too. Within ten minutes of the movie, all I wanted to do was give the poor guy a hug.

His roommate, Jacob (Brian McGuire) is a longtime friend, though, and rather than get indignant, he decides to help Wilson. Since losing his screenplay, Wilson has done nothing but pass his days smoking a ton of pot and eating ice cream. It's New Year's Eve, and it looks like Wilson will be doing more of the same. Jacob goads Wilson into putting up a dating ad on Craigslist, which Wilson starts off with the words "Misanthrope seeking Misanthrope". Strangely enough, he gets a response from a woman, who calls him for a meeting and says he has ten minutes to impress her. Wilson runs with this, and ends up paired with Vivian (Sara Simmonds). After these ten minutes, Wilson can tell she's fairly out of her mind. She's the kind of girl who's constantly engaging guys in psychological warfare just to test their merit, while also simultaneously drawing them close and holding them at arm's length. She tells Wilson that he has until six o' clock to show her that he's worth staying with all night. As they wander the streets of Los Angeles, they begin to let each other in, little by little.

If this sounds like "Before Sunrise", there are definitely a lot of similarities, right down to the two films sharing a producer. However, where "Sunrise" featured two young, idealistic pseudo-bohemians wandering through scenic Vienna and pondering life and the hope embodied by the future, "Midnight Kiss" is far less bright-eyed. The film is shot in gorgeous black-and-white, and the protagonists are a pair that might be meant for each other, but couldn't really function with anyone else. He's an insecure, dejected mess; she pops pills and compulsively lies to avoid telling even herself the truth.

As their night stretches on, they encounter a psychotic ex-husband, a party where a relationship is stretched to the limit before their very eyes and the very real issue of having to enjoy one's midnight kiss while stranded in deadlocked traffic. More importantly, though, Wilson starts to break through to Vivian, through all the walls she's built up for herself, and they both find something a little redeeming in each other.

The ending is not the one most people would expect or want, but it's the most honest one that this film could possibly have had. Really, it's perfect for this time of year. The summer is drawing to a close, and those wonderful, fleeting romances are coming to an end. Sometimes, though, even if it's for the summer, or just for one night on one New Year's Eve, finding that right person to kiss is all that has to matter, or will ever matter, and the morning never has to come.