In Search Of A Midnight Kiss

The making-of featurette comes in at an absurdly brief five minutes, much of which feels like electronic press kit-style promotional padding (sequences from the film itself, actors describing their characters), but there are still some worthy moments here, such as writer/director Alex Holdridge declaring the film to be designed for viewing by lonely cynics over the Christmas/New Year period. His suggestion, towards the end, that his film's main concern is "a plea for people just to be a little bit nicer to each other" may surprise some viewers, and even get them returning to the feature.

The seven deleted scenes (13 minutes), some just extended versions of sequences that made the final cut, are certainly watchable, although it is easy to appreciate the considerations of economy that led to the deletions. If nothing else, the much longer scene of Jack's insane phone threats reveals how well the final film has been edited. You certainly do not notice the scene's absence.

Best of all is the full audio commentary, featuring Holdridge, Scoot McNairy (Wilson/producer), Seth Caplan (Producer), Brian McGuire (Jacob), Sara Simmonds (Vivian) and Robert Murphy (Jack/DP). "All this stuff is just a stone's throw from our real life," declares Holdridge near the end, and sure enough, we learn that he, like his protagonist Wilson, once worked in an Austin videostore before heading for LA (overturning his car en route), having a screenplay stolen while chatting in the street with his sister, and moving into the apartment of his friend McGuire (whose actual apartment, without any changes to its interior, was used for Jacob's apartment – and who really did wear a diaper at a drunken party). Most of the film was shot guerilla style on a small HD camera, and in order to get the exterior shot of Vivian entering the old downtown theatre, Simmonds had to pretend to be going for a dance audition inside. To make themselves cry convincingly in the final scenes, both Simmonds and McNairy thought about McNairy's car, which had just been keyed by vandals while parked near a location.

All this makes for a breezy, personable commentary packed with trivia that relates to the film's rather particular brand of realism.