Rendezvous

writer/director

A man goes on a date with a woman, Erica. And for him, it seems to go well. He calls to follow up with her for another date, but she seems non-committal though polite. He persists in his hopes of a romance with her and hopes to solidify his position with her in some way or another.

From Omeleto:

“Written and directed by Colin Wang, this dreamlike short drama is a psychological study of a man lost in his own life. Though he's the source of the narrative momentum in the film, he is an enigma. The visuals of the film situate him in a lonely urban milieu, the moody, hazy cinematography capturing him as he takes the train, works at his job as a parking lot attendant, and buys a coffee in a shop. Even in close-up, he often is framed almost abstractly, as a mass of shadow and smudged color amid a cityscape of alienated motion.

This approach -- which echoes classic thriller/mysteries from 1970s Hollywood, like "Klute" or "The Conversation" -- makes for a cerebral, sometimes distant film, one that takes its time painting mood and atmosphere and feels more like a visual ethnography at times. But as it ambles along, following the man as he wafts through the everyday routines of his life, it also lays the groundwork for a deeper mystery.

Actor Ben Sarat plays this anonymous man with an understated sense of disconnection -- intent on Erica, but also somehow oblivious or severed from a feeling of groundedness. He has few conversations outside of the ones we hear on the film's soundtrack, and though he has the down-to-earth demeanor of a blue-collar worker in the city, something about him feels almost ethereal, as if he's not quite of this world. That sense of separateness and alienation starts to take form and meaning, though, as the man's seemingly simple search for love reveals itself to be indicative of something else entirely.

In the end, "Rendezvous" doesn't offer concrete answers for its central mystery, though its pieces, put together, paint enough of an outline to get a sense of a profoundly troubled, lonely soul, the kind that lurks at the margins of a civilized society. But only a large anonymous city can harbor these souls with some degree of autonomy, freedom and privacy, allowing them to float side by side next to others with a firmer grip on reality. The film's final scene reveals itself not to be an ending, but more like the turn in an ongoing cycle, and lingers like an overheard conversation that haunts the memory, never quite tethered but always floating in the background.”