A beautiful, married woman, Alice, opens a closet safe and extracts a special locket which contains a mysterious, glowing object of great value. Together with her lover, John, they conspire to betray her husband and to sell the locket for an astronomical sum.
At the rendezvous in a posh mansion, she comes across a special package which contains sexy, provocative lingerie and the promise of romantic adventure. But as she searches the house for John, a sudden and terrifying realization leads to a tense cat and mouse pursuit and ultimately a violent, ironic fate.
Smith wastes no time building suspense, especially in the moments as Alice, dressed in vulnerable, provocative clothing searches the house for John and hears a nostalgic, ominous song which beckons her. Polished visuals by cinematographer, Mike Panzcenko, Jr., are complemented by clever use of sound or lack of it. The musical score by Mark Koval enhances the scenes without being overstated. Production values are topnotch, and computer generated, pyrotechnic effects are effectively rendered.
The film, whose tone of betrayal echoes such noir classics as Jade and Body Heat, reflects Smith’s cinematic background including the tense editing of Alfred Hitchcock and the static, impersonal mood of Stanley Kubrick.
Anouk Dutruit shines as Alice, the femme fatale, whose sultry beauty belies her greed. The film essentially focuses on her point of view and pulls in the audience as complicit participants to a crime ã la Hitchcock. Ken Arnold is appropriately menacing as Alice’s husband while Michael Davis registers in a brief turn as John.
Naturally at twelve minutes, the running time only allows for a bare minimum of storytelling. It actually could be considered one important sequence of a feature. One wonders what Smith can do with a larger, feature length canvas and a bigger budget. How about expanding The Rendezvous to its full concept as a more complex narrative? We could learn more about the background of its protagonists. How did Alice and John meet, and where did the ‘great whatsit’ locket come from? Is it some exotic gem, a source of unworldly power, or a mystical artifact? Its enigmatic secrets allude to Quentin Tarantino’s glowing attaché case in Pulp Fiction and even Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly with its memorable black box. Perhaps the locket is nothing more than a MacGuffin, a Hitchcockian plot device.
The Rendezvous is a fine exercise in emotional tension that demands repeated viewings to study and appreciate Smith’s command of his craft. In a way The Rendezvous is a classic tragedy in modern trappings complete with immoral subterfuge. Consider this a nice stepping stone to bigger and more ambitious endeavors from a rising talent.
*** of **** stars
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