B-Side Guys

Nostalgia operates like a film projector in reverse, casting the present in the warm glow of imagined scenes. Kinger’s “In a Movie” captures this peculiar phenomenon with startling clarity—the way young love convinces itself it’s performing something larger than life, even as it unfolds in the most ordinary spaces imaginable.

The Pittsburgh-born songwriter constructs his narrative around the fantasy of cinematic significance, where teenage mischief transforms into movie magic through sheer force of wanting. His self-taught guitar work provides a foundation that feels intentionally humble—clean strumming patterns that mirror the simplicity of the memories being excavated. Producer Ben Greenberg wisely resists the urge to over-polish, allowing the track to maintain the slightly rough edges that make it feel genuinely lived-in.

Kinger’s vocal delivery walks a careful line between earnestness and self-awareness. When he sings about hearing music during conversation, there’s enough genuine wonder to make the moment feel real, yet enough distance to acknowledge the absurdity of the fantasy. This balance prevents the song from collapsing into pure sentimentality while still honoring the intensity of those formative experiences.

The imagery toggles between the mundane and the mythic with impressive dexterity. A beat-up car becomes a chariot, contraband sweet tea transforms into romantic prop, and the Fort Pitt tunnel serves as backdrop for borrowed movie moments. “I fall for you like I fall into cliches” serves as both confession and critique—acknowledging how young love often feels like performing familiar scripts while remaining powerless to resist their pull.

What makes the song particularly compelling is how it treats this cinematic longing as both beautiful and slightly tragic. The final image of being “the only ones on set” suggests that the movie was always just two people playing pretend, yet the performance felt real enough to matter. There’s something both comforting and unsettling about this realization—that our most meaningful moments often derive their power from their resemblance to stories we’ve already seen.

Kinger has crafted something that feels both deeply personal and universally recognizable, a song that understands how memory and fantasy collaborate to create meaning from the most ordinary material.