Midnight Blue

At first, this movie seemed like your typical Playboy film. Two sex scenes within the first 20 minutes, woo! But then things actually develop into this weird Hitchcock-esque story with multiple twists. All in all, however, the pure brilliance of the writing is ultimately ruined by the poor acting and subpar direction.

Definitive Brode!

I had the pleasure of attending The World Premiere Screening of this film in glamourous Syracuse, NY. It was quite the gala event. The writer was in attendance, and I got to meet him afterwards. He seemed very excited about having his movie produced. After The Premiere I left the classroom, er, I mean, The Landmark Theater, and I discussed the film with several other cineastes who were in attendance. A number of us walked over to the Post-Screening Reception at Sadler Dining Hall, er, I mean Grimadli's Chop House. The studio that produced the film had spared no expense on The Reception. I ate my fill of chicken nuggets, er, I mean, escargot. Later that evening, one of my fellow attendees suggested we head over to a bourgeois afterhours party off of Euclid Avenue. Once there, I had a few too many glasses of Keystone Light, er, I mean, Pinot Noir, at the open bar. Though I woke up in the morning with a bit of a headache from the movie, er, I mean, wine, all in all, it was a most enjoyable evening. Rent this film if you get the chance. You'll love it! :)

...but is that really an accomplishment?

This is what happens when Playboy makes a movie tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. Sure there's no fight on the faces of Mount Rushmore nor bird attacks, but there is wrong man theme, anxiety, obsession with women, staircases, starbursts, and twist after twist after twist. Plus you know if it's by Playboy there must be some nudity!

It's interesting to note the similarities to Hitchcock's "Vertigo". A man becomes obsessed with a woman, and then finds out that she's either non-existent or dead. He then encounters a woman who looks exactly like her. Of course this is the same woman... or is it. You have to wait until the last two minutes to know the whole truth (as part of an epilogue that has about thirty twists in it). The movie is not independent from its true inspiration.

The writing is outstanding at parts, and choppy at other times. This could be the fault of the actors (I hesitate to call them actors), and the directing (which does some interesting things with the camera but fail to tell a decent story). I wouldn't mind seeing a better made remake down the road.

Also, I imagine it is hard to please the two populations that will watch this movie. The Hitch lovers will be annoyed by the presence of unnecessary overdone sex scenes, and the Playboy fanatics will wonder why there are scenes involving people talking. There seems to be at least two different visions going on here.

"Midnight Blue" takes brains and brawn and tries to put them together in one smart sexy movie. They fail but it's good to know they tried.

Absolutely magnificent. Brilliantly written and directed--although most of the actual dialogue was cut out to make it a little less verbose. I guess that could be a good thing. All in all, exceptional. Especially the sex scenes. Totally classic Brode.

-R

It's sad that Brode's agent let this script get sold to Playboy. It really is. This was supposed to be a legit film at one point. On the other hand, nothing is better (for this viewer) than soft-core pornography and bad acting. And, he did get paid for this. All in all, you can't beat adding a piece of smut to your collection that you helped craft.