Narrative

Director's Statement

This is my first real attempt at directing, producing, and writing my own short after I moved to LA about a year and a half ago to pursue filmmaking as a career.

I went into writing the script knowing I wanted to illustrate the complexities of romantic experiences and deviate from the typically-glamorous depictions that are so prevalent in Hollywood. The real spark for the film came unexpectedly was when I was messaging a girl on Hinge who had agreed to meet up when she was back in the U.S. from traveling abroad. On the exact day that she mentioned that she would be back in the country, she ended up unmatching with me. I was no stranger to having plans fizzle out with someone I was into, but this time hurt me a lot harder than before. I felt an extreme amount of mental whiplash after all of my feelings suddenly turned out to be unreciprocated. That was because, psychologically, I was totally wrapped up in the imagined version of how our planned date would go–I would fantasize about the place I would take her to, the questions I would ask her, and the feelings I would potentially develop. The climax of the film seeks to illustrate this sudden reversal of fortunes by having the audience go through the same feeling of shock and surprise that I felt. Moreover, the conversation that the film’s lead character, Adam, has with Tina afterwards is based on my own journal entries that I wrote during my personal fallout.

I hope viewers are left with a feeling of resonance and catharsis for their own times where they felt let down romantically–not by the other person, but, rather, by their own mind’s illusion about the idea of what might have been.