Have you ever been reluctantly handcuffed to someone just long enough to develop an intimate connection? No? You should try it sometime, especially if you’re going to be at a big European music festival where you’ll end up being forced to eat, drink, sleep and go to the loo together after dancing to your favorite bands and falling down in the mud.
That’s pretty much the premise of Tonight You’re Mine, an indie film set at Scotland’s T in the Park music festival. As the singer for The Make, an indie synth rock duo that is playing one of the festival’s main stages, Adam (Luke Treadway) is the subject of much adoration. From female fans to political activist filmmakers, everyone seems to want some of Adam’s attention. The Dirty Pinks, on the other hand, are an up-and-coming all girl punk band playing one of the festival’s smaller tents.
The dirtiest of the Pinks is front woman Morello (Natalia Tena), who looks for the wrong kind of attention from Adam when she starts some behind-the-scenes shit only to have a security guy handcuff them together in hopes that they can work out their differences. To Adam and Morello, it seems funny until the security guy races away on his golf cart and they realize they’re stuck with each other for a while. For the rest of us, their inability to coexist even when attached at the wrist is what makes the film entertaining.
For the next day or so, Adam and Morello are literally inseparable. And Morello’s defiantly humorous bad attitude does little to entertain Adam’s supermodel girlfriend (Ruta Gedmintas) or Morello’s dweeby banker boyfriend (Alastair Mackenzie). As this situation forces certain things to fall apart in other aspects of their lives, their physical bond develops into an emotional one that makes them realize it was only a matter of time before things deteriorated between them and their significant others anyway (though being handcuffed to an attractive stranger probably wasn’t the way either of them planned on breaking the bad news). And while Adam and Morello’s relationship is developing organically (well, as organically as you can expect considering their contrived situation), their bandmates and friends are desperately trying to find the kind of connection that Adam and Morello have been inadvertently forced to find. Maybe if they just had some handcuffs, they could find the love they’re looking for.
Watching two people who don’t initially like each other convincingly and gradually fall for one another is usually a bit sappy. But because of the setting and circumstances involved here, it’s actually pretty fun to watch. And needless to say, the awkwardness of being literally inseparable makes for some uncomfortably comical situations that are likely to either bring two people closer together or make them want to run rapidly in the opposite direction as soon as the cuffs are off. But with a title like Tonight You’re Mine, you can probably guess what happens after Adam and Morello find the key.
Tonight You’re Mine. Directed by David Mackenzie. Starring Luke Treadway and Natalia Tena. Rated R. www.tonightyouremine.com