Kiss and Run (2002)

Emma has had little luck as an actress: she receives nothing but rejections at auditions. To secure a basic income, she works at a video rental store. Max (played by Ken Duken), who spends a great deal of time there, is one of her almost-daily regulars. He makes his living as a medication tester and admits to Emma and other customers that he prefers porn to any other kind of film; he has already driven a few customers away from the store this way. Max and Emma have known each other since childhood, but they are not a couple. While Emma has neither heard from nor seen her lover Dominik for several hours, Max carefully avoids showing any feelings for her. The viewer learns almost in passing that Max’s best friend Christo is about to marry his fiancée, Malia, but the two are having problems: sex has simply disappeared from their relationship. The same seems to be true of the two teenagers Banu and Leo: they just can’t make sex work—or, if they do, it is only with themselves. Shortly before Emma celebrates her 25th birthday, posters inform her that the video rental store where she works has been sold. A tanning salon is to open in its premises. Then, when she gets stuck in an elevator with Max, she suddenly feels old and decides to make a change in her life. She also realizes that she actually loves Max very much, more than one normally loves a friend. She has developed feelings for him and can no longer deny them to herself. They have become so clear to her that when her beloved Dominik calls, she abruptly ends the phone conversation with the words, “No time.” At the end of the film, Max and Emma enter into a romantic relationship.