This is an interesting one.
'Rent-A-Pal' firmly establishes the timeframe of its setting, and the media broadcast that gives the year as 1992 is the least of it. The very old tube-style TVs, VHS, the station wagon, rollerskating rinks - to say nothing of video dating. A precursor to Internet dating, this very specific service nonetheless feels like such an oddity now - and is a throwback that handily lends itself to the atmosphere the film conveys.
This isn't a movie that can be neatly classified into any specific genre. One might reasonably call it a thriller, but it's one of the most understated, slow-burn thrillers I've ever seen. 'Rent-A-Pal' is more like a character study zeroed in on David (Brian Landis Folkins) as loneliness becomes desperation, then obsession, and worse. And Folkins portrays that descent, that gradual unraveling, with surprising, unexpected deftness.
There's a level of unyielding surrealism built into the feature as the friendship David forges with "Andy" (Wil Wheaton), and his growing fascination with the Rent-A-Pal VHS, takes over his life, and not just defies but escapes the boundaries of a recorded transcript. Wheaton has moved past acting to focus for some time now on his writing, but his turn as well-dressed Andy is irrepressibly creepy, and entrancing. It's honestly a joy to see him in this.
Throughout the feature, Jimmy Weber's score varies from tactfully understated to a little over the top - yet, somehow, perfect. Kathleen Brady's role as David's senile, elderly mother, Lucille, gives itself to an outstanding performance of the sort that is perpetually underappreciated. While our eyes are focused on David and Andy, Lucille remains in the background, a picture of swirling, unsteady emotion as her lucid moments come and go. Brady is to be commended for so capably fulfilling a part so essential, and so easily overlooked.
'Rent-A-Pal' is fascinating. Because it takes quite a while to feel like it's going somewhere, but by the time it does, we realize what the film has been doing all along. Only at the climax does the narrative kick up with a notable sense of suspense, but the tension has been boiling for so long at that point that the release is staggering. Through it all, Folkins' performance as David shows us a man who is losing himself. This is a picture that relies heavily on subtlety in its craft, and in its success, it is masterful.
Kudos to writer-director Jon Stevenson. This isn't a movie that's going to be for everyone, least of all those who are looking for a feature with a more driving narrative. Still, I started watching 'Rent-A-Pal' with no particular expectations, not even having heard about it previously, and in the end I'm blown away. This deserves to be seen by a far wider audience.
