What's That? A Film That Perfectly Captures The Ever Elusive New York Dating Scene?

Bad dates at Rintintin. Good dates at Cafe Select. Scrolling and swiping and running away from random men on the subway. New York is a most unique, wonderful, prickly place to seek, find, and then spend years questioning love.

Writer and Director Tim Latterner's screened his first feature film last week at The Angelika to a theatre packed with 85 of downtown's most annoyingly cool scene staples, with even more familiar faces joining for the late-into-the-night after party just down up the block.

Ever funny and refreshingly real, Wooloomooloo captures the elusive look and feel of a New York love story as actually unfolds in the wild - equal parts charming and awkward and inconvenient (I mean the struggle to keep any degree of passion alive after schlepping a date up the stairs of a seven floor walk-up is a seldom discussed tragedy that needs far more media attention, maybe even a celebrity telethon or 5K race).

In the words of Latterner, "It’s a romantic comedy I hope people can see themselves in. We’ve all been in our twenties and trying to navigate dating in New York, and we all have the funny (if awkward) stories that come from that trial-and-error process. 

"The film takes those stories and weaves them through the lives of three sets of people: the long-term couple everyone expects to get married, even though they know there’s problems brewing; the charismatic single friend who loves going out, but secretly would love a reason to stay in; and the newly-met couple who’s wondering if there’s more to this relationship, or if this could be the one. 

"A lot of the stories in the film really happened to me, and I’ve been each of the main characters in the film at one point or another. I think we all have."

Latterner shot the film around town over the summer at recognizable haunts, watering holes and - gasp - a string of real, unstaged, cramped and cluttered downtown apartments. Made sans budget, and filmed entirely on an iPhone, the result is a story filled with New York spirit at every turn.

"When I say it's an indie film, it’s very indie. We shot it on the iPhone 14 PRO, which shoots cinema quality with 24 frames per second and in 4K now. An iPhone, a gimbal, a boom mic, and a group of creative people working very hard toward a goal can accomplish a lot and make something great—which is what I think we’ve done. I’m quite proud of the way we made the film."

So what do you reckon, in the game of dating (and oh, it is game) are you a Sam, romantically wandering about in a rom com of your own making - "Can’t I just meet someone in real life, like in the movies? At a bookstore or something?" Or are you a Margot, a realist who knows the rules and came to win - "People don’t actually do that, nobody goes to a random bookstore hoping a random guy will hit on them - this isn’t 1982."

Keep an eye open for the next screening and find out for yourself...

[Still photos courtesy Wooloomooloo]