“Rendezvous” by Mitesh Patel

In a historical moment like this, marked by uncertainty and sudden social upheavals, we need films like “Anti-Coronavirus” to rework and understand our place in the world and regain a stability that has been lost for too long. This is also the role of cinema: to reflect, through the narrative, the world around us and to highlight feelings, passions and fears common to all men. Also for this reason “Anti-Coronavirus” is a fundamental film. The director, Mitesh Patel, goes up against the tide of the ruinous wave of infections that afflicts our world and returns to patient zero, to tell us about the first, shocking moments of his life after the infection. What are the moral and affective implications of an infected person? What is the line between guilt and innocence? In short, at the base of this fascinating drama there are questions and emotions felt by all of us. The depth and sensitivity with which these themes are treated make this film a universal film, as well as necessary.

Randal Lee Smith’s screenplay traces the subtle human bonds with precision and skill, like threads that bind the protagonists in one great choreography. Relationships become a metaphor for contagion: it is impossible to take a single step without affecting the life of those around us. While the film is a vivid social and psychological representation of these uncertain times, there is also an element of pure entertainment and fascination for the story. Patel is skilled and refined in telling this story with the right timing and with a shrewd gaze, which through the lens of the camera directs our eyes on apparently invisible details. The camera movements are sinuous, wide, and alternate with narrow perspectives of the faces, equally vast for the range of sensations that the protagonists are able to express. The technical departments are impeccable and the director’s vision takes shape in a harmonious staging, discreet but elegant, always relevant and at the same time placed at the service of the protagonists and the action. Thanks to this wise connection between form and content, Patel’s film reaches those levels of artistic and technical quality necessary to make a film unique and memorable.