Nouvelle Vague!

In Search of a Midnight Kiss is an award-winning American independent comedy/romance written and directed by Alex Holdridge. Produced by Anne Walker, (Before Sunrise, Dazed and Confused)
It stars Scoot McNairy (Art School Confidential, Six Feet Under) and Sara Simmonds (Echoes of Innocence).

The film is set in 24 hours, where Wilson (Scoot McNairy), a twenty-nine-year old guy who has just had the worst year of his life, is new to Los Angeles, has no date, no plans and every intention of locking the doors and forgetting the last year ever happened. That is until his best friend, Jacob (Brian McGuire), pushed him posting a personal ad on Craig's List. When Vivian (Sara Simmonds), a persistent hellish young woman, on a mission to find the right guy at the stroke of midnight responds, a chaotic, sometimes hilarious, sometimes moving journey through the black and white streets of L.A. begins.

With sharp and funny dialogue, and beautiful shots, fans of Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset will love In Search of a Midnight Kiss. When the two embark on a spiritual and emotional odyssey. Bonding through the act of conversation. When perfect strangers connect so intimately over the course of a single day.

Monochrome, a Nouvelle Vague version of Los Angeles, In the Search of a Midnight Kiss is a very enjoyable experience, the low budget made it a tight production. More importantly it gives hope to film makers who have a low small budget.

Referring to the French New Wave ,a group of French film-makers between the years 1958 to 1964. François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer. Changed notions of how a film could be made, driven by a desire to forge a new cinema, with characters often marginalized, young anti-heroes and loners, with no family ties, who behave spontaneously.
The French New Wave directors took advantage of the new technology that was available to them in the late 1950s, working on location rather than in studio. Quickly and cheaply shot with portable and flexible equipment, encouraged experimentation and improvisation, generating more artistic freedom, giving films a casual and natural look. Available light was preferred to studio-style lighting and available sound was preferred to extensive studio dubbing. In A Bout de Souffle by Jean-Luc Godard (1959), the cinematographer Raoul Coutard, who worked on many of the French New Wave films, was pushed around in a wheelchair, following the characters down the street and into buildings.
French New Wave cinema was a personal cinema. The film-makers were writers who were skillful at examining relationships and telling humane stories.
In Search of a Midnight Kiss, as in the French New Wave, the actors are charismatic and talented, and yet they're always believable as human, all too human – beings.

Many contemporary filmmakers, including Quentin Tarentino, and Wes Anderson, claim influence from the New Wave. Quentin Tarantino dedicated Reservoir Dogs to Jean-Luc Godard and named his production company A Band Apart, a play on words of the Godard film Bande a Part. Additionally, Wes Anderson's wry comedies are known to carry influence from the French New Wave; for example, the opening scenes of The Royal Tennenbaums closely mimic the style and cinematography used in the opening scene of Agnes Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7.

It seems like The French New Wave never left the scene, In Search of a Midnight Kiss gives us a modern indie version,
looks as if it's shot on the cheapest camera on the market, and yet it also feels magical when a witty, neurotic man and woman walking around a city, exchanging frank theories of love and life.
This film got more audience reaction than I've seen for a long time.
Recommended for those with big hearts.



-Laure Brosson-
Published in www.artnouveaumagazine.com