The Quiet Arrangement
The setup is simple- the wife of prominent lawyer Walter Briggs (Kevin M. Hayes) is kidnapped. They want a million dollars, or she’s gonna die. Where have we seen this (or something like it) before?
It’s not quite as simple as that, though. Briggs is a mob lawyer, and the million dollars was, well, not ill-gotten, but certainly not on the up and up. The next thing we see is the transaction, which leaves Briggs and another man dead.
All of this is seen in the first 10 minutes of the film. For the next 97 minutes of David C. Snyder’s twisty and moody thriller (shot in Pittsburgh), we see all of the different pieces that go into going from one scene to another. From all angles. Cops, criminals, and in-between men, all off whom have a different piece of the puzzle.
This is Snyder’s first film. Visually, it looks like the work of a seasoned pro, as he uses evocative lighting, interesting angles, and a constantly moving camera that keeps the suspense and story in overdrive. Add to that a touch of mood-affecting underscore and you have a compelling and consistently watchable film.
In terms of performance, however, some of that “first-timer” syndrome does comes through. More in individual line readings than in the film as a whole- and it’s not limited to one actor but a few of them- but there are moments when it’s hard to believe the actors are playing real people rather than line readers.
Still, such moments are the only real issues I can have with a movie that always brims with confidence and originality. We’ve seen the individual elements before, but rarely put together so inventively. Nothing is really as it seems with any of these characters and their lives. Their motivations sometimes go against what we expect. Their reactions to changing circumstances are what drive the narrative, and never feel contrived. There’s not a lot out there, even on the indie circuit, that plays with our expectations of how things will work out better. Some might call it beginner’s luck. I say it’s lucky just to be able to do things your way, even if you don’t have big budgets and big stars as safety nets. I’d rather be able to work eithout one. Hopefully it works out as well as this does.
