What a Saturday night treat! On February 1, 2014, our illustrious leader, Sue, won tickets to the premiere, Q&A and afterparty for Lust For Love, an independent feature film. However, she was not able to attend, so she gave the tickets to me...Yay! I have not been to an afterparty before....especially for a Hollywood premiere. Since the contest was for two tickets I invited my friend Cassandra to come along.

On a chilly breezy evening, the Lust For Love Premiere, Q&A and afterparty was held at the Harmony Gold Theater in Los Angeles, CA. Once there, we noticed the entrance was decked out with read and pink heart-shaped balloons to celebrate this amazing night. As we waited in line, many more guests started arriving as time came close to the screening of this romantic comedy film. Looked like a nice turn out.

This romantic comedy was fun and light-hearted filled with a lot of laughs. But, I'll get to my thoughts on it later.

After watching Lust For Film, a brief Q&A commenced.

After the brief Q&A with the cast and director, everyone exited to the lobby where the afterparty was being held. Serving beer and wine, everyone had the opportunity to chat with the cast and crew. Saturday premiere night for Lust For Love was filled with fun, laughs and good conversation.

Here's more about the film:

The awesome fact about this film is that this started with a group of friends who have worked together in the past and has gotten together to create and make this feature film; hence, the launch of the Kickstarter project to raise the funds to complete their project. The end result was that they successfully went over their goal...Yay! Check out the details of this awesome Lust For Love Kickstarter project, here!

Synopsis:

Astor's (Fran Kranz) happy tenacity spoils his one chance at love with his lifelong crush Mila (Beau Garrett). Convinced he needs more experience with women to win her back, he engages her ex-best friend Cali (Dichen Lachman) to teach him how to woo women. Together they dissect his failings, and Astor makes his awkward pick-up attempts. As Astor begins to juggle multiple opportunities, he discovers the source of the rift between Cali and Mila, and the trio are forced to confront their conceptions about love.

Cast:

Fran Kranz as Astor

Beau Garrett as Mila

Dichen Lachman as Cali

Enver Gjokaj as Jake

Miracle Laurie as Jenny

Karim Saleh as Franck

Caitlin Stasey as Trinity/Divinity

Felicia Day as Mary

Maurissa Tancharoen as Hazel

Written and Directed by:

Anton King

Produced by:
Anton King
Dichen Lachman
Jack Wylson

Director of Photography:
Adam Bricker

Executive Producers:
Joe Shapiro
Susie Owen
Steve Owen
Fuad Omar

l-r: Caitlin Stasey, Karim Saleh, Enver Gjokaj, Beau Garrett,
Fran Kranz, Miracle Laurie & Dichen Lachman

For an independent film with a limited budget AND gained support/backers on the Kickstarter platform, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and found it worth watching. Lust For Love centers around Astor, who pretty much is a dork when it comes to relationships. Seriously...he saves himself for his lifelong, childhood love. Seriously!!??!! When that opportunity to be with her (Mila) comes and goes, he turns to Mila's former best friend for help and advice on how to win her back. Throughout the film, Astor and Cali encounters many failures and triumphs as he tries to learn how to talk to women...oh yeah, those notorious pick-up lines! During all that time, Astor and Cali learns a "thing or two" about themselves. For being a romantic comedy, Lust For Love had it all...the light-hearted drama, humor and the laughs. It was apparent that the cast and crew had fun making this film.

My rating:

4 out of 5 stars

Lust For Love cast and director

Fran Kranz

Beau Garrett

Dichen Lachman

Anton King

Enver Gjokaj

Miracle Laurie

Karim Saleh

Photos by Cassandra Gomez

View more photos, here.

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Four of the actors from Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman (who was also a producer of the film), Enver Gjokaj, and Miracle Laurie reunite for a Kickstarter-funded project, written and directed by Australian filmmaker Anton King. Lust for Love premiered on Saturday, February 1 in Hollywood with many of the contributing Kickstarters in attendance.

Lust for Love follows Astor (Fran Kranz) as he seeks to win the heart of Mila (Beau Garrett), a girl he has loved since childhood. He seeks the counsel of her estranged friend, Cali (Dichen Lachman), and she begins coaching him on how to become a confident ladies' man, desensitised and apathetic towards rejection. Astor is an excruciatingly awkward character and his fumbling attempts to apply Cali's various pieces of advice to pick up womyn had me repeatedly hiding my face in my hands and laughing uncomfortably. Kranz delivers a tremendous performance that resonates with people's experiences of struggling with confidence and navigating the ins and outs of dating/relationships.

Lust for Love's focus is not a simple repeat of the "guy gets the girl" trope. The leads of this film are interesting, dynamic, and realistically flawed individuals. Cali is a cool modern woman with nothing to prove. She has a healthy appreciation for sex, but at no point is served up as a sexual object. She's not seeking romance or an archaic fairytale ending. Lachman's delivery is natural, understated, and it was highly refreshing to hear her perform in her native Australian accent. Then there's Mila, a woman who is just as lost as Astor and Cali when it comes to knowing what is truly best for themselves in the worlds of dating and romance. This journey of self-discovery and self-understanding is central to the film.

Despite the budget being small, this is truly a film worth watching. Enver Gjokaj plays arguably the funniest character of the film, Jake. If you didn't already know that Gjokaj has a knack for comedy, his performance will leave you wanting more of his comedic gold in future works. Additionally, Miracle Laurie brings warmth and brightens each scene in which she is present and the film's soundtrack seamlessly weaves the story together. Anton King has delivered a fresh take on the human experience. Indeed, Lust for Love breathes life into the increasingly tired and stale romantic comedy genre.

Lust for Love's general release will be on 7 Feb 2014.

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