There is no justice in Los Angeles. There is, however, romance - if you're patient.
I am resolutely vexed. This movie doesn't come out here until August 22. Were I in New York City, where many of my former companions insist I should be - and from where my persisting absence is as yet to them unforgivable - I could see it on August 2 at the IFC Center. Now, twenty days is not what I would usually call a torturous amount of time1 to wait for a film. If entire counties in the United States could stand to stay put and wait three weeks for a local theatrical release of Star Wars, I can very well brave this delay. But why do I want to see it so badly, you unenthusiastically whine? Well, chicklets, it's partially because I fell in love with the trailer (high praise from this discerning teaser whore - I swear, if Apple charged membership to view trailers, I'd actually learn how to use torrents), but also because, to my genuine surprise, my trusted friend Rebecca hated it.
To be fair, Rebecca has actually seen the film so hers is a legitimate reaction (of course, that doesn't mean you should ever distrust mine). Also, I generally defer to Rebecca's knowledge and filmic wisdom. Rebecca is one of those people you meet who you would swear is living proof that the plot of The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes was based on fact, and that there are living descendants among us who carry in them massive quantities of data whose breadth and depth remain incomprehensible to those of us who have ADD2. I am convinced that when Rebecca first touched a computer, the static spark that jolted her skin opened a binary portal, and in that instant she downloaded the whole of IMDB into her brain.
So it was with great interest that I encouraged Rebecca to explain why she found In Search of a Midnight Kiss so despicable. Here are the exact reasons why she didn't like it:
- "It was just very trying-to-be-Linklater-but-not."
- "The lead characters are annoying and their situations are trivial."
- "It's so trite."
- "It's in black and white for NO ABSOLUTE REASON."
Fair enough. Thusly, in taking the above as given truths, I will now list some of the reasons I want to see it3:
- It's trying to be Linklater but it's not.
- The lead characters are annoying and their situations are trivial. (Hey, it's set in LA! I live in LA! We love situational accuracy!4
- It's completely trite.
- It's in black and white for absolutely no goddamn reason whatsoever.5
Another thing that tipped me was that Rebecca seemed to interpret the filming style as a failed attempt to capture realism. As native of Chicago I will forgive her ignorance of the fact that with films set in Los Angeles (and especially films about Los Angeles, although they're kind of the same thing6) you generally don't have to worry about capturing realism convincingly because capturing realism in films set in Los Angeles is [virtually] impossible7.
But also, this film isn't supposed to be realistic. It's about strangers who spend mere hours together and fall in love. As I asserted to Rebecca: I'm thinking of it as an LA fairy tale. Which means it's going to be pretentious and annoying and fucked up and lame, but heartfelt at the core. And then there's the other, unquantifiable reason. It says that two complete strangers can fall in love in Los Angeles.
I want to believe that.
1. Though it is roughly the period of time it would take for a biological event to transform the majority of civilization into wannabe Reavers. But eight more would definitely do it.
2. That is to say, the majority of civilization.
3. For those of you following along at home trying to figure out how I write this stuff, this might be a telling clue.
4. Another Patented Reason to Blindly Love Entourage brought to you by a Shameless Fan of Entourage. (Seriously, why the fuck isn't this moving premiering in the city it was filmed in? So much anger.)
5. Jarmusch references are sooo film school.
6. Finally, something fans of Crash (2005) and The Big Lebowski can agree on.
7. You think I'm joking? Case in point: Crash (2005); The Big Lebowski.
