Overview
How to Meet Girls From a Distance isn't your usual rom com; it's a whole lot more fun. It's even more impressive when you know the time pressure the team were under to make it. After winning the inaugural Make My Movie competition, the filmmakers had $100,000 to play around with and six months to complete the project. Given this momentous task, there are bound to be visible flaws in the writing, acting and editing, right? Wrong. This film is smart, funny and well-crafted.
Toby (Richard Falkner) is a graphic designer in Wellington. He's single and his best friend's a lesbian who he once tried to pick up. He's sensitive and creative but is a disaster when it comes to the ladies. Toby decides what he needs to do is get to know a girl, then meet her. He thinks doing a bit of background research will help but this soon escalates. Before he knows it he's gone from taking surreptitous photos of his new crush Phoebe (Scarlet Hemingway) to following her home and going through her rubbish. It's clear he's become a stalker. Crucially though, Toby's sweet gentle nature allows the audience to have empathy for him despite the highly questionable things he does.
On the side Toby has been receiving dating advice from relationship therapist, Carl (Jonathan Brugh), paid for by his mother who is concerned by his datelessness. Carl is the showman of the film. He provides tonnes of fabulous one-liners and the bulk of the comedic relief. Thankfully, HTMGFAD doesn't fall into the standard rom com trap of predictable scriptwriting and superficial characters. Here people are flawed but genuine - you can't help but love them. Carl demonstrates he's more than a mere caricature of a sleezy dating coach and Toby learns that taking chances are much more likely to get him what he wants.
There are lots of laughs and surprises along the way, look out for a hilarious gag involving acronyms near the end. This is a well-balanced film with a wickedly upbeat soundtrack and heaps of heart. So, does Toby end up getting the girl? Sorry, you''ll just have to go and see it to find out.
Click here to read the Concrete Playground Q&A with Richard Falkner and director Dean Hewison.