Rondo is a 2018 comedy thriller about a kinky proposition that turns into a chain of murder, sex, and revenge.
Right from the start, it’s clear that Rondo isn’t going to be a normal film. A disembodied narrator (voiced by Steve Van Beckum) comes along here and there, unfolding the unusual story, keeping us up to date while attempting to make sure we know exactly what’s going on, but it’s odd. There’s Paul (Luke Sorge), a neurotic war veteran whose sister Jill (Brenna Otts) sets him up to see a therapist (Gena Shaw), who in turn ends up prescribing a secret kinky arrangement with a password to get in, which has him crossing the lines into a criminal underworld where he meets Lurdell (Reggie de Morton) before it then spirals all out of control.
Rondo is bizarre, though it’s the execution more than the story. Narrators aren’t new of course, but here it’s unique with characters saying out-of-the-ordinary things being only the tip of the strange iceberg. For the most part, there’s some memorable dialogue, especially from the therapist, though most are peculiar and straddle a line between not knowing whether to laugh or just feel disturbed. It’s an odd feeling.
Experimental perhaps, with things like the narrator talking as characters just sit there while the camera zooms into their face, Rondo has something of a stylistic flair, but it does beg the question of why we can’t we just get the dialogue itself. Naturally, in terms of performances, Rondo goes over-the-top. Undoubtedly, it is deliberate and its low-budget aura seems to push them to be so.
Rondo will appeal to a certain climatic niché. It’s weird in both good and bad ways, not quite as unique as it believes itself to be, with its dark humor not always landing as it should. If you know anything about music, rondo is a theme that repeats within the piece and the film embraces this reference, snowballing its own variations with different character in similar scenarios and increasing mischief. It’s a harmless film, an indie film with a lot of heart but it’s not for everyone.