An Ode to Los Angeles Even Woody Allen May Like

Woody Allen’s Manhattan comes up the most when speaking of the interesting visual perspectives and black and white photography of In Search of a Midnight Kiss, Alex Holdrige’s new beautifully captured homage to Los Angeles. But given Woody’s vocal hatred of the City of Angels, the comparison can feel contradictory as we watch the sun-drenched, parking lot-filled, and apocalyptically empty Downtown LA. The city serves as a backdrop for the impromptu roamings of Wilson and Vivian, two twenty-somethings verging on thirty-somethings, who search not for sweeping romance nor for existential answers, but for all the drive and hope and change symbolized in the midnight kiss on New Year’s.

It’s been six whole years since Wilson (Scoot McNairy) has had sex. So on the days approaching New Year’s (which, as Holdrige notes in his introduction, see a 300% rise in personal ads), his roommate suggests that he pull himself out of his pot-smoking, masturbating, wallowing routine by posting a personal ad on Craigslist. Said Craigslist posting—sarcastically beginning “misanthrope seeking misanthrope…”—causes an ever-exciting encounter with wannabe actress and LA-newbie, Vivian, who is running away from her ex-boyfriend and a secret that is swelling inside her.

In Search of a Midnight Kiss revels in the spontaneity that can only be allowed in a life not yet bogged down by kids, family, and the search for that proverbial white picket fence. The plot is less original than self-indulgent; we’ve seen this serendipitous meeting of lovers in Before Sunrise and Quiet City. And at times, it falls cleanly into the mumblecore formula of white, post-collegiates idling and talking about life. Their biggest dramas are played out over cell phone calls and their highest goals in life are romance. In fact, In Search of a Midnight Kiss does feel like L.A.’s answer to last year’s Quiet City, which showcased often unfilmed quarters of New York City.

However, Holdridge’s excellent characterization of members of Generation Slacker attempting to get up and finally make something of themselves is honest, witty, hopelessly endearing, and tenderly personal. Scoot McNairy fills the lost shoes of Wilson to cute, awkward, nerdy, and cowardly perfection without falling into the trap of trying to emulate its modern-day pioneer, one Seth Cohen. When Wilson lets out a snort-filled giggle after sharing his confession (being caught masturbating to a photoshopped picture of his roommate’s hot girlfriend that very morning), the audience is sold. Sara Simmonds is then faced with the heavy task of dramatizing the fiery, sexy, spontaneous damsel to come and save Wilson from his boredom and distress. But, given the toned-down vérité style of the characters, her performance can often feel fake. Especially next to the effortlessness of Scoot McNairy’s dramatization of what could more or less be himself.

Ultimately, what pushes In Search of a Midnight Kiss past the forgotten pile of honest love stories in independent cinema today is Robert Murphy’s breathtaking ode to the oft-underrated Downtown LA. Shot in black and white, every bus stop to every abandoned theater and lost shoe could make even Woody Allen reconsider LA. Another plus is the slew of exciting cameos, most notably from a forty-something father responding to a personal ad, Wilson’s fun-loving mother, and Vivian’s apartment-burning ex (none other than cinematographer Robert Murphy). They pepper the film with absurdly heart-warming comic relief.

In Search of a Midnight Kiss is the kind of film that, despite its small flaws, tears through our city-bred cynicism like a lightning bolt in our sooty air. The film embodies every endearing protagonist, every spontaneous adventure, and every dream of tender romance and solid friendship we like to keep hidden deep inside ourselves. Well, watch out New York, because behind the black and white lens is the “coiled sexual power of a jungle cat,” and it’s about to rip through your facade and let all the soft insides come spilling out.