Falling Overnight starring Parker Croft and Emilia Zoryan
It’s official. I have a weakness for a good romance that takes place during a day (night). Before Sunrise and Forget Me Not, and most recently, Falling Overnight proved that.
However Falling Overnight is a lot more similar to Forget Me Not than Before Sunrise with its premise:
1) The guy has a horrible disease.
2) Guy has earned enough money pre-disease to sustain himself.
3) He meets a girl who is full-of-life, starts spending time with her.
4) As they spend the night together, they start falling for each other.
5) He becomes conflicted over whether to tell her.
6) He tells her.
7) She…well, I won’t give away the ending by saying how either woman reacts.
Of course both movies are so much more than these sentences, but I just wanted to point out the things in common. Now of course there are a lot of differences too: the setting, ages of characters, the dialogue, the guy’s disease, girl’s life…
And there’s always room for another heartfelt drama/romance.
Falling Overnight Plot:
Elliot (Parker Croft) is a young guy suffering from a brain tumor and is set to have an operation the next morning. He runs into Chloe (Emilia Zoryan) at the shop she’s working for and she gives him an invitation for her art show that evening.
Elliot eventually goes, and they decide to spend more time together. Neither of them seems willing to end the night and they form a stronger bond than Chloe’s friends realize. Elliot will eventually have to share his secret, and it will be up to Chloe to decide where they go from there…
*
Simple. Heartfelt. Well-acted. I am happy that it was appreciated at many festivals, but I do have my complaints. The movie could have used 10 more minutes, spent on just Chloe and Elliot. They often have a lot of Chloe’s friends hanging around, and it really isn’t that hard to ditch your friends for a couple of hours.
I get that it is one of her friends’ birthday, and she needs to be there and she does spend time with Elliot- but when it is time to confess, Chloe’s reaction seems so soon, so strong. She comments about it, and it is a good sign that the writers know this. But I needed a bit more time between them for that reaction.
And I definitely needed more time afterwards. That being said, the ending is great. It is not melodramatic or depressing (well, all things considered). It is sweet, realistic and gives us the chance to add our own thoughts.
But I guess even my complaints are complimenting the movie. I liked the characters, and I wanted to spend a bit more time revolving around them. Too many other characters might add realism when portraying the life of a social, friendly young woman’s life, but it does steal time from the connection we need to focus on.
All in all Falling Overnight is a sincere effort from director/co-writer Conrad Jackson, actor/co-writer Parker Croft and co-writer Aaron Golden. Croft is impressive with the sincerity he brings to the role, and impressively this is his first leading role, as well as his screen-writing debut. I have a feeling he might be my generation’s Edward Burns if he keeps it up, maybe even getting to direct later. Oh, and I really liked Emilia Zoryan- and it was her first role.
It’s worth a shot. Yes, if I have to pick one, I’d go with Forget Me Not because I think it established the connection between the characters better, and in the end I found Eve’s emotional outburst more timely and more realistic than Chloe’s.
But the later you tell a story, the bigger chance people will compare it what has been done before. But when the movie has heart, and the crew does a good job, it only adds to your recommended movies.
It’s only 86 minutes. What do you have to lose?
My favorite line(s):
Elliot: Gotta keep a pretty healthy sense of humor about shit like that or you go crazy. It’s like people talking like you’re supposed to live like you’re gonna die tomorrow…stuff like that. I mean if you think about it, it’s a very stressful way to live. You wake up and you just fucking freak out! Aargh! I’m gonna die tomorrow! I‘d better figure out what I’m supposed to do today because I’m dying tomorrow. I mean how are you doing man? I’m not great ‘cause I’m dying tomorrow.
Chloe: No. Don’t say that.
Elliot: Yeah, it is pretty morbid. But it helps.
Favorite Scene:
(you need to see the movie for this to make any sense at all!)
Where Elliot puts the dinosaur he made out of tinfoil on the dashboard.
Recommended One-Day Romances:
Before Sunset (sequel to Before Sunrise)