If a young filmmaker was to make a romantic comedy in Los Angeles, using the city not only as its setting but also as its guide, its muse, maybe even its soul, where might he be best-served in finding a model for such an undertaking? Oddly enough, he might try Manhattan. Alex Holdridge's new film, "In Search of a Midnight Kiss," which kicks off the Downtown Film Festival tonight ( www.dffla.com), is a bittersweet, often melancholy film that gives L.A. a bit of a New York spin -- a la Woody Allen's "Manhattan" -- despite the apparent contradiction.
A significant portion of "Midnight Kiss" finds the protagonists, each in search of a date as they approach the emotional abyss that is New Year's Eve, walking the streets of downtown L.A. amid its old banks and theaters. Shot in HDDV and transferred to a color-corrected, rich, black-and-white 35-millimeter, "Midnight Kiss" has a few modern conceits that distinguish it from Allen's classic New York film (the lead couple meets via Craigslist, for one), and each film gives a unique homage to its respective city.
" 'Manhattan' is a very good film to compare it to: They both glorify architecture and are classic in their style -- very wide shots and very clean," said Holdridge recently, just before heading off for the film's New York premiere. "I wanted the story to be modern but to give it an old-fashioned flair by using as long lenses as possible, and shooting over the shoulder -- a '40s or '50s style of shooting -- to break against how modern the story is."
Holdridge and his director of photography, Robert Murphy (who plays a small, villainous role as the female lead's ex), were cognizant of the visual as well as the psychological in their approach to tackling one of the world's most filmed cities.
Settings include the well-trodden (that is to say frequently filmed) La Poubelle restaurant in Los Feliz, the beach in Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Pier's Ferris wheel on a final spin prior to being replaced. Meanwhile, the fleeting, single shots of a number of buildings downtown are the most elegiac, encountered not as settings but as subjects of emotional intent.
Having gone through a very difficult transition after arriving here from Austin, Texas, in the summer of 2003 -- he'd lost his girlfriend, his car and went broke (all of which is represented in "Midnight Kiss") -- Holdridge aimed to infuse this inner turmoil into the downtown landscape.
