Sex Weather

A one-night stand turns into something more substantial in writer-director Jon Garcia's two-hander. After a couple wakes up in the morning, Darrel (Al'Jaleel McGhee), a director visiting from out of town, expects to gather up his belongings and leave, except that he can't find his cell phone. Sydney (Amber Stonebraker) grudgingly allows him to stay until he hears back from the ride-hailing service they took to her basement apartment. Initially, she's irritable and he's apologetic. While he waits, they ask each other the sorts of questions they probably should've asked before they got together. As they talk about sex, relationships, work, and social media, their defenses start to melt away. Both participants, who've known each other for a few years, regret that the night didn't go better, so they try a few new things (nothing too explicit). Garcia sums up their differences by the fact that Darrel, who just premiered his latest film, prefers scripted material, whereas Sydney has been working in reality television. He doesn't see the attraction, but she prefers the security of a regular paycheck. As the hours pass, they eat breakfast, order takeout, and talk some more. If they don't ignore race—she's white and he's black—it's also never the focus of their conversation. Garcia's film follows in the wake of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Andrew Haigh's Weekend, which also dealt with youthful characters at similarly transitional places in their lives, and the actors have a relaxed and convincing rapport. Recommended. (K. Fennessy)