Midnights with Adam (2013)

Over the course of one night, a newly out-of -the-closet young man struggles to hold back his feelings for his straight best friend while dealing with the problems and complications of being different in a hetero-normative world.

Director:

Yudho Aditya

Writers:

Yudho Aditya (story), Yudho Aditya

Stars:

Paul Yen, Amanda Kathleen Ward, Ben Whalen

Cast

Credited cast:
Paul Yen	...	J. Harper Lee
Amanda Kathleen Ward	...	Annie Jacobs
Ben Whalen	...	Danny Baker
Autumn Harrison	...	Alice Malone
Tsubee U	...	Becca Liang
David Luna	...	Mike Ramirez (as David Anthony Luna)
Kelly Caballero	...	Nicole Hernandez
Ryan David Tsang	...	Ryan Hsu (as Ryan Tsang)
Melissa Maldonado	...	Saverine Camila Bejo
Hannah Balagot	...	Agnes Vanhove
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Brando Boyan	...	Billy Hammond (as Brando B. Bojanic)
Justin Equina	...	Daryl Caron
Miranda Franklin-Wall	...	Anita McDormand
Alicia Goff	...	Anne Marie
Heather Hoang	...	Ramona Wong

Storyline

After engaging in a sexual act with a stranger, J. Harper Lee, a detached and newly out-of-the closet young man, arrives to a soirée planned by his best friend, Annie. Throughout the night, as he catches up with close acquaintances and struggles to hold back his feelings for his straight friend, Danny, Harper agonizes to build a façade of belonging in a world that is not meant for him. As midnight approaches, Harper exploits himself in a brief sexual encounter to mitigate his loneliness and disconnection only to realize that he must come to terms with his identity in order to find his place in a hetero-normative world.

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Plot Keywords:

coming of age | gay | identity | asian american | masturbation | 

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Genres:

Short | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 May 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Harper: To the Sunrise Part III

Filming Locations:

Huntington Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DTF Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

32 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally the sex scene was conceived without any nudity in order to not exploit the actors. It was Cinematographer, Andrew Ng, insistence to showcase Paul Yen's bare posterior to "make" the scene more realistic. To the Director's surprise, Paul Yen agreed.

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Connections

Follows Inbetween Nights (2011)

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Soundtracks

Beach Kings
Written by The New Division
Performed by The New Division
Courtesy of Division 87

User Reviews

A lemon...not lemonade

The script, although having potential, fails in its execution when it isn't forthcoming or clear regarding the nature of the conflict that exists between the two main characters Danny (Ben Whalen) and Harper (Paul Yen); which is the critical part of this film. The film instead only makes vague references about a conflict that occurred between Danny and Harper through a third party conversation, but it does not provide the viewing audience with the critical information needed to understand the nature of this conflict thereby leaving the audience in the dark and confused.

This short film lacks the ability or creativeness of bringing a dull and uninteresting script to life. The script isn't very original or unique and has been done before with much better results. It is about a self loathing, miserable character Harper who has an attraction for his best friend Danny who happens to be straight. Sound familiar? For some reason Harper's character believes that he is owed Danny's affection if he tries hard enough. It is this premise of the film that fails miserably as it goes against all logic: that you cannot change the sexual orientation of any person, no matter how hard you try. It would be more plausible and believable if Danny himself was in denial of any feelings he has for Harper, but in this film, this is not the case as Harper himself has admitted that Danny's straight.

The cinematography's framing was awkward, with out of focus actors blocking half the screen in many of the shots which I found were distracting and having a negative impact on the scenes using this form of imagery.

The film wasn't a complete failure as Paul Yen did the best he could to develop his character and the rest of the cast including Ben whalen and Amanda Ward, also delivered convincingly good performances. When you have a lemon for a script to work with, sometimes it is impossible to turn it into lemonade.