CINEMA: In Search of a Midnight Kiss

A much better indie offering is this small, richly detailed, and marvellously resonant film, that takes a grown up and intelligent look at modern sexual mores and manners.

It’s New Year’s Eve in LA and sad loser Wilson (Scott McNair) has no plans for the evening. His well-meaning mate Jacob (Brian McGuire) suggests he places a personal ad on Craigslist website and before Wilson really knows what has hit him, he’s feeling the full force of nature that is Vivian (Sara Simmonds) – a ballsy, uptight, vocally needy woman who, it would seem, is just like Wilson deep down; she just wants to find someone to love.

Shot in exquisite, grainy black and white, the film follows this odd couple as they walk through the streets of Los Angeles, and this is the real revelation of the film because director/writer Alex Holdridge shows us hidden gems and locales you would never see in a big budget Hollywood movie. Most extraordinary of all are LA’s original live theatres, now boarded up, yet still with their lavishly decorated interiors intact, but sad and dark and almost totally forgotten. In a way, they stand as a metaphor for both Wilson and Vivian, two sad, lonely people who have so much to offer, if only others would take the time to look. This is funny, witty, wise and bleak, and although there is no neat happy ever after, you do at least feel there is a glimmer of hope.      Dee Pilgrim

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