Cassandra Nicolaou is a writer and director with a talent for exploring the inner lives of her characters. Much of what she creates is on the surface: an equal part lies beneath the facade and reveals personal histories through the looks in eyes and the silences she encourages form her actors.
Affluent mid-thirties Sarah (the very fine Michelle Nolden) is off from the city for a rendezvous with her lover Sam, complete with special grocery shopping and wine cases to supply them for a little getaway in their isolated mountain cabin in the woods. But when traffic snarls slows her luxury vehicle to a stop and her temper is frayed, two street kids approach, pull the squeegee scam and when rejected by Sarah, they sulk on the sidewalk and Sarah, remorseful for her behavior to them, offers them money. They accept the money and jump into the car, brandishing weapons, and treat Sarah like a hostage, instructing her to drive them out of the city. Desperate but cool, Sarah receives a cellphone call from Sam, indicating the remote cabin meeting - and the atmosphere changes. Now the girl, Jenna (the beautiful and talented Katharine Isabelle) and the boy, Jackson (Kett Turton, another fine young actor) are in complete control, and the three head to the cabin. Once in the picturesque cabin by a lake Jenna and Jackson tie Sarah to a chair and go about trying to find all possible cash and goods to steal from Sarah.
The 'kidnapping' gradually unveils secrets on the part of all three and slowly the trio, isolated and after attempted escapes by Sarah, begin to bond. The events then fall pall mall, video tapes of Sarah's private life reveal an aspect Jenna never suspected yet longs to understand and experience, Sarah and Jackson play a cat and mouse game that includes a degree of intimacy, an 'intruder' appears with dire consequences, and the film tumbles to a painful ending for each of the trio (now duo).
The film begins and ends with a voice over stating 'There are two kinds of people in the world: those who need to be rescued, and those who want to rescue.' And the plot in retrospect examines that statement thoroughly. Writer/director Nicolaou has the integrity to incorporate gender identities, childhood needs and adoption policies, and the differences in reference points between those with money and those on the street in subtle ways, careful to not make judgments but to only reveal similarities. The cast is very good and if the script is a bit repetitive in phrases over used, that is the way young people communicate and to script it otherwise would make the dialogue false. This is a fine little thriller, more for the mind but also for the physical violence aficionados. For this viewer, this is an underrated movie.
