A not-so-clean criminal defense lawyer gets back home and finds out that his wife has been kidnapped. He has his own suspicions about the kidnappers, takes the gun and goes out to find if he's right. But the plot is much more quirkier than he expected.

And so it is for the viewer too. Luckily, director David C. Snyder keeps all the strings quite well in his hands. In general, The Quiet Arrangement is basically a violent and thrilling drama, with even some romantic elements. It is a beautifully crafted debut feature film, that has a little bit of Memento in it, but besides unchronological storytelling Snyder's film has its own strengths to show. Even the slow tempo doesn't make it boring, since the story gets you hooked from the beginning. To be straight, there is some minor flaws as well. The biggest problem of the storyline is a very common one in today's independent films: a lots of talk and useless/pointless dialogue, which is probably supposed to give some credibility to the characters. Unfortunately this is in many cases just the opposite – and often less is more. Damn you, Tarantino.

Uneven acting creates some credibility issues throughout the film, which is forgivable when every other aspect is handled with care. Then again, great performances by the lead couple (if there is) Kyle Jason and Christina Simkovich don't leave much to desire. There's even a small but nice role for Chuck D. from Public Enemy.

Technically, The Quiet Arrangement is fine. Snazzy camera work coupled with cool looking color filter effects generate a moody and dark visual look, that suits great to the melancholic atmosphere. There isn't too much background music, but this film doesn't need any. Snyder creates the original atmosphere only with interesting plot and interesting characters. Every aspiring film maker should try this kind of approach too.

The Quiet Arrangement is clearly one of the better low-budget independent films out there. Director Snyder and his crew have been brave enough to write complicated plot, mix up the chronological timeline and trust that the characters will be interesting enough. It worked!