Restless (2011)

Featured Audience Ratings

• ♥˩ƳИИ &

  
  Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Henry Hopper, Jane Adams, Schuyler Fisk, Ryo Kase, Rachel Cotton, Chin Han Director: Gus Van Sant Summary: After she is diagnosed with a disease that will soon claim her life, a young girl (Mia Wasikowska) strikes up an unusually strong friendship with a boy… More
  Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Henry Hopper, Jane Adams, Schuyler Fisk, Ryo Kase, Rachel Cotton, Chin Han Director: Gus Van Sant Summary: After she is diagnosed with a disease that will soon claim her life, a young girl (Mia Wasikowska) strikes up an unusually strong friendship with a boy (Henry Hopper) who deals with the problems in his own troubled family by attending funerals. Gus Van Sant directs this touching drama. My Thoughts: "I really enjoyed the movie, it's story, it's character's, and the way it was told. Enoch is a quirky dark soul that has been crashing funerals and not doing much living. When he meets Annabel, she awakens him again and he starts living as she struggles with holding on to do the same. I really loved Enoch and Annabel together. I just thought as character's, they were really written for each other. Both are unique and spunky individuals who played off of each others quirkiness with such ease. It's really hard for me to like romance flicks, but this one won me over. I got drawn in by the tone of the film. It may not move fast enough for some though. The acting is great. I really love Mia Wasikowska. She is one of the great young talents out right now. This is my first time seeing Henry Hopper (Dennis Hopper's son) in a film, and he was fantastic. Showing great humor, loneliness, anger, and saddness. I loved him as Enoch. It's a sweet endearing film. A movie I would love to watch again."

• Lorenzo v

  
  <i>"Who do you live for?"</i> The story of a terminally ill teenage girl who falls for a boy who likes to attend funerals and their encounters with the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot from WWII. <center><font size=+2 face="Century… More
  <i>"Who do you live for?"</i> The story of a terminally ill teenage girl who falls for a boy who likes to attend funerals and their encounters with the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot from WWII. <center><font size=+2 face="Century Schoolbook"><b><u>REVIEW</u></b></font></center> Director Gus Van Sant is renowned for films that explore the lives of lost or outcast characters, and reveal their strength and beauty. And his latest film Restless is no exception. The film tells the story of two free-spirited teenagers - Annabel (Mia Wasikowska) and Enoch (Henry Hopper). Annabel is suffering a terminal illness, whilst Enoch splits his time between attending stranger's funerals and talking to the ghost of a kamikaze pilot named Hiroshi (Ryo Kase). As they fall for each other, it becomes clear that they are exactly what each other needs, and their lives revolve around making the most of each moment together. Based on this summary you could be excused for thinking that Restless might be too melancholy. But I think it is more a celebration of life. Don't get me wrong, the film certainly does tug at the heart-strings, but there is an appreciation and acceptance of the fleeting nature of life that overwhelms the sadness. Van Sant has created a beautiful film with vivid images and masterful direction. It's also quite quirky due to its interesting characters, script and film score. The performances are very good (especially from Wasikowska) which I think add to the strong emotions elicited in the audience. Annabel's zest for life is especially inspirational. In this sense Restless is so much more than a love story. It certainly makes you appreciate life and loved ones, and this is what I really liked about the film.

• Lewis C

  
  Mia Wasikowska seems to be drawn to these quirky indie movies, and she should be because she's good at them. She's the best thing about Restless, a drama about an emotionally wounded young man, a dying young woman, the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot, and birds.… More
  Mia Wasikowska seems to be drawn to these quirky indie movies, and she should be because she's good at them. She's the best thing about Restless, a drama about an emotionally wounded young man, a dying young woman, the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot, and birds. Unfortunately, she's not the main character. That's Enoch, played by Henry Hopper. He's just not right for the role, and veers between unlikable and uninteresting. Restless also seems a bit unfocused, as well, as if the concept wasn't properly expanded by the writer into a full story. It starts off with promise, only to lose some of my interest on the way to the mishandled ending. As a result, the movie just isn't everything it could have been. I liked it, it's just hard to not be somewhat disappointed by the wasted potential. There are resonant moments throughout the story, but there are just as many scenes that just seem hollow or misplaced. Restless could have been very good, instead it's just okay.

• Carlos M

  
  This is a typical indie drama full of indie clichés from beginning to end, but with a Gus Van Sant taste to it. An irritating film that tests the viewer's patience and capacity to stand a protagonist who is so selfish, immature, ill-mannered and obnoxious. Not enough, the… More
  This is a typical indie drama full of indie clichés from beginning to end, but with a Gus Van Sant taste to it. An irritating film that tests the viewer's patience and capacity to stand a protagonist who is so selfish, immature, ill-mannered and obnoxious. Not enough, the conflicts are all artificial and ridiculous.

• Liam G

  
  With annoying characters and proving tedious throughout, Gus Van Sant's ''Restless'' is just so dull to watch with uninteresting characters and no reason to care about anything going on.

• Walter M

  
  In "Restless," Enoch(Henry Hopper) is a teenager who lives with his aunt Mabel(Jane Adams) in Portland, Or but does not go to school. Instead, he hangs out with Hiroshi(Ryo Kase), a ghost, who he consistently loses to at Battleship. Otherwise, Enoch attends random funerals… More
  In "Restless," Enoch(Henry Hopper) is a teenager who lives with his aunt Mabel(Jane Adams) in Portland, Or but does not go to school. Instead, he hangs out with Hiroshi(Ryo Kase), a ghost, who he consistently loses to at Battleship. Otherwise, Enoch attends random funerals and is noticed at one by Annabel(Mia Wasikowska), a fellow teenager. At first, he just wants to be left alone but after she bails him out at another funeral, the two become friendly, as she confides that she is not just a volunteer at the hospital... "Restless" is a wildly uneven movie that never quite finds the right combination of pathos and literal September-December romance. A lot of that comes from the movie's message of celebrating a person's life after they have died but that's very hard to do with the young who have not lived as much.(There is a neat rejoinder to this line of thinking in the 1999 movie "Last Night.") In fact, a more solemn tone would have worked better considering how damaged Enoch really is. If one wants to look at the characters symbolically with all of the anachronistic names and clothing, then Hiroshi is not the only ghost. See, he is dead, Enoch was dead and Annabelle will soon be dead.

• Glenn G

  
  Did I just see a cutesy movie about death or the second coming of HAROLD AND MAUDE? The answer is a little of both in Gus Van Sant's latest outing, RESTLESS. As much as there is to admire here - the lovely cinematography by Harris Savides, the sweet music selections dominated… More
  Did I just see a cutesy movie about death or the second coming of HAROLD AND MAUDE? The answer is a little of both in Gus Van Sant's latest outing, RESTLESS. As much as there is to admire here - the lovely cinematography by Harris Savides, the sweet music selections dominated by Sufjan Stevens, and the perfectly pitched characterization by Mia Wasikowska - there are also many drawbacks - -the somewhat blank lead performance by Henry Hopper (son of the late Dennis Hopper) which feels more like a modeling audition tape for Bruce Weber than a real, and the imaginary friend motif which gets old really fast. Luckily, the big revelations of our central characters are revealed early on, as my fear was these would be 3rd act "surprises". This film has a lovely, gentle quality that some will say is twee, overly precious, and downright annoying. It has everything detractors will hate in films like these: soft focus, leaves changing colors, awful lead character names (Enoch Brae and Annabel Cotton - really????), and enough haute couture to make you wonder where these kids get their money for outfits they're just gonna soil anyhow when they spend inordinate amounts of time in the woods or lying around their own chalk outlines! Man, this sounds like I hated this movie more than I did. We're watching Gus Van Sant in a more linear mood - kinder, gentler, reflective. Ok, it sounds like he made a Maxi-Pad commercial instead of a film. Some will say he did. Overall though, I was pleased to see a joyous film about such a depressing topic.

• Laurence C

  
  Mincing and shallow to an alarming degree. Van Sant's aim is to capture fleeting moments of life, but the only reaction he managed to elicit in me was an urge to go shopping for fashionable new clothes. Symbolic dialogue sucks. Wasikowska doesn't.

Read all 8 featured audience ratings