Cannes Review: Restless Is Cute with a Dollop of Drama

B-: Undeniably sweet and tender, a platform for two young and talented actors.

We’ve seen it before: boy meets girl while crashing a funeral (you may recall this was Will Ferrell’s method in Wedding Crashers). But in this case the particulars are a little smudged, the boy doesn’t really want to be pursued, and the girl is hiding something. A big spoilery something. They meet, things are alternately funny and somber, and the elements were in place for a solid dark comedy, or a slightly tougher to pull off romantic comedy. What eventually transpires is a bit of both, stuck somewhere in the middle, with a few tonal missteps sapping some of the hard-earned tension as the film nears its conclusion.

Mia Wasikowska (as Annabel) and Henry Hopper (as Enoch) are the aforementioned girl/boy pairing. He’s moody and sour, she’s light and airy. It’s been done before, but director Gus Van Sant has a particular gift with organic and eclectic modern-day romantic pairings (Good Will Hunting).

Still, they are both lost young souls, and because of this it makes sense that they’d find each other. The on-screen chemistry is there; you could see a real life couple like this getting into shenanigans, and Wasikowa’s work in particular stands out at praiseworthy.

One of the more interesting facets of Restless is Enoch’s imaginary friend, Hiroshi (Ryo Kase), a ghost who was a World War II kamikaze pilot. Hiroshi provides counsel to Enoch during some tough times, and he also injects elements of levity and wonder into the film. Strange moments take place around Annabel and Enoch’s courtship, three- and four-person conversations where only two of the people are real. Moments like this make Restless feel vibrant and vital, but they’re more prevalent in the first hour of the film. When they go, so does the momentum.

Unfortunately, Restless can’t quite find purchase when it pivots toward a more serious tone. It’s at this specific moment that it feels like a film that’s been done, and done well, over the past five decades. You want to root for Annabel and Enoch, but their more serious moments also feel the most forced. When Restless was going well it felt like the warped love child of Napoleon Dynamite and Almost Famous. When it’s not it feels manipulative and melodramatic.

Still, there are plenty of nice moments in the 90-minute effort. Van Sant makes good use of Sufjan Stevens’ “You Are the Rake” during tender interludes, and the Beatles’ “Two of Us” makes a nice appearance as well. Danny Elfman’s score is subtle enough that I didn’t even notice it, but that means it didn’t distract from the material either. A quasi-win.

Restless is the sort of film that’s easy to enjoy, but relatively easy to forget. It’s undeniably sweet and tender, and a platform for two young and talented actors. If it had stuck with a central theme, minded its tone, and nailed the ending? We might have had a contender. As it stands, it’s a perfectly pleasant way to pass an hour and a half, but not much more than that.

Grade: B-

Source: film.com

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