Film Review

Story of a second chance and a first meeting.
New York Waiting, a deeply heartfelt and sensitive movie of discovering the true love. Written and Directed by Joachim Hedén, the story runs two central characters; Sydney and Amy both from outside the New York City (Florida and San Francisco) with 'A Day of Waiting' in their hand, unexpectedly meet at a coffee shop in Manhattan. Since they will be leaving each other forever within the next 24 hours, they both agreed to guard themselves and keep their time together simple. And the movie discovers the consequence of these two strangers hanging around in the New York City, forming deep connections that reached beyond the ordinary without even knowing each other's names.

In the opening screen we see an emotional breakup of Sydney (Chris Stewart) and his ex girlfriend Coreen (Katrina Nelson), a slow motion black & white shot without any sound in the back ground. Silence speaks much louder in these moments I suppose. Ever since his breakup, Sydney were unable to put all the pieces together of his heart and after almost a year he decides to go for a crazy bet. He just blinded himself from all the arguments and wanted to give their long lost relationship a second chance. He sent Coreen (who is in Santiago) a plane ticket to New York and a plea to meet him on top of the Empire State Building, on a given day during the sunset! Then he arrives in New York, without knowing whether Coreen will show up or not. Before leaving for New York, he also threw away his cell phone in the ocean, allowing only one way out to this crazy romantic adventure.

On the other side, Amy arrived in New York from San Francisco to see her boyfriend who seemed well intentioned in his manners, but easily distracted by his business deals and other beautiful women around him. Amy ignored his inattentions and behaved that everything is in the right place. But when Amy eventually discovered other women knocking at her boyfriend's door, Amy felt like it's been enough and decides to turn the corner. She walked out early in the next morning, tried to re-schedule her return ticket to San Francisco but found that she'll be stuck in the New York City for 24 hours to catch the next available flight. 'You are looking at a pretty much 24 hour homeless person' Amy describes her situation to Sidney when they met at the coffee shop.

Up to this point of the movie actually portrays the background that brought both Amy and Sydney together in New York City. Then they wander the gorgeous streets of New York questioning their love lives and decisions while secretly wondering if they're falling in love with each other. Sydney didn't realize that his crazy passion to his love and the beauty of doing that crazy bet comes to a total astonishment for Amy, totally opposite experience she had in the early morning. On the other side, Sydney was amazed discovering that someone else (Amy) did the same, what he was trying to do for Coreen! We even see Amy asking Sydney what he will do if that Coreen never shows up and Sydney answered 'I don't want to go and do this with a Back Up plan in mind'. The answer only made Amy to love him more.

The movie eventually approaches towards its final moments. Amy took her flight back to San Francisco; Sydney went on top of the Empire State Building. But the ending was completely unexpected. Coreen didn't show up eventually, but Sydney met someone else with a message 'Until yesterday, I never met one of you …..'. A long montage shot with recite from a letter turned the whole story in a totally different direction.

New York Waiting pushes its audiences to slow down and experience the metaphors of finding true love. With an excellent camera work and dreamy music this movie guides its audiences to follow their heart. I rarely had such a level of completeness and satisfaction when a movie hit its credit screens. It's a charming watch and recommended for all.