Rendezvous

On second and subsequent viewings Lelouch's famous blast through Paris throws up more questions than even the reviewers here have come up with. It's obvious by the time taken to reach landmarks that the camera vehicle never exceeds the magic 100mph. Having experienced a similar drive through the streets of Sydney back in the 1960s (in a then just released Mini Cooper S) I know how fast one seems to be traveling when close to road level.

The speed or lack of it isn't the point of the film, though. It's the combination of Paris circa 1976 and the masterful soundtrack which to my way of thinking wasn't dubbed as some would have you believe. The exhaust note and a few missed gear changes seem to indicate that all is on the up and up; the Ferrari has such a torquey engine that it would have been possible to carry out the drive in top gear. Only in a few spots does the engine really rev high and it's always in the lower gears.

Rather than look for faults, better to just sit back and be treated to the best 9 minutes combination of sight and sound you may ever experience.

What I'd like to know, though, are there other films of this nature around?

It's a typical take by Lelouch: the magic of cinema, surprises in the end, a "how they do this with a camera?"... If you have seen the Lelouch's short for "Lumiere & Co." it's the same thing always, it's a magician of nothing, but all that "nothing" is "brillant" in the way that he show it on the screen. A lot of thing, maybe it's not good at all, but we can't stop to see this movie, it's amazing, we are part of all the movie like in a "camera car" or "camera moto" (for me it's a moto) of Formula 1... I would like so much to see this short in a big screen, projected...

I think it's pure cinema.

Hmmm.....I won the DVD of this movie - and I was totally unimpressed. Less than 9 minutes long? No cast? (Actually, there are a couple, but more on that later), no effects? No script? Come on, what were they trying to pull???!?!?!

And then I watched it.

Car lovers, you HAVE to see this movie. A break-neck drive through a 1976 Paris dawn in what must have been one of the fastest cars around at the time. All sorts of rumours surround this film - was the driver of the car a hired Formula 1 Driver? - having seen it, this would not surprise me.........was the director immediately arrested following it's first showing? Again, this would not surprise me.

No script, No effects, No editing - yep, it was all done in one take, and the DVD supposes a reason for this - and only the briefest appearance by "Actors" for the surprise ending.......and it is a surprise - not for nothing does this movie have this title...

Watch it if you get a chance, but not before securely fastening your seatbelt!!!!!!!!!! The kind of movie that Cine2000 and IMax were invented for.....

I just saw the Ralph Lauren car exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. In the gift shop they had this movie on a loop. I'm ashamed to say I paid close to thirty dollars for a 9 minute DVD but that's a testament to how amazing this film is. Who cares if the car doesn't get into all 5 gears or that it isn't going as fast as it seems. It's still an amazing piece of film footage. Once you see it you'll know where they got some of the inspiration for the video games GTA and Midnight Club. I swear I've seen imitations of some of the footage in those games. This film should have been one of the ones mentioned at the beginning of 'The Player' where the security guy is talking about long single takes in movies during the long opening shot. I'm going to go watch it again.

I'd like to add, now that I've seen Ronin I know where Frankenheimer got some of his inspiration.

Seeing this film is like being catapulted into an IMAX version of a Peter Stuyvesant commercial, back to the days when men smoked and didn't wear underarm deodorant, cars had engine notes, clutches required leg muscles and women enjoyed being flirted with at the office (...and, yes, they actually did!). Rendezvous is a high-adrenaline, condensed style statement with an ending that could have only come from the maker of 'A Man and A Woman'. Underscoring it all is the sexiest soundtrack of all time (John Barry and Shirley Bassey notwithstanding), 12 cylinders and 4 litres of the Ferrari 365 Boxer driven by Lalouch's friend, racing driver Jacky Ickx. I love this film and the era it represents, particularly as I live in one of the most over-regulated, purse-lipped and 'responsible' societies in the world. For anyone that has ever owned, driven or just loved classic Italian sportscars, (and enjoyed raising a little bit of hell), Rendezvous is a must see. I can just imagine our hydrogen-car driving grandchildren shaking their heads in befuddlement as they tuck into their tofu and spring water. I'll be there to explain to them that if you don't smoke, drink, fornicate and drive sexy cars that they actually mightn't live longer...but it sure as hell will feel longer.