Restless (I) (2011)

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.

Director:

Gus Van Sant

Writer:

Jason Lew

Stars:

Henry Hopper, Mia Wasikowska, Ryo Kase

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Henry Hopper	...	Enoch Brae
Mia Wasikowska	...	Annabel Cotton
Ryo Kase	...	Hiroshi Takahashi
Schuyler Fisk	...	Elizabeth Cotton
Lusia Strus	...	Rachel Cotton
Jane Adams	...	Mabel
Paul Parson	...	Edward
Thomas Lauderdale	...	Minister
Christopher D. Harder	...	Funeral Director
Morgan Lee	...	Driver
Kenneth L. Peterson	...	CT Technician
William J. Eggleston	...	X-Ray Technician (as William Eggleston)
Chin Han	...	Dr. Lee
Jhon Goodwin	...	Nurse Goodwin (as John Goodwin)
Kelleen Crawford	...	Nurse Laura

Storyline

Annabel is a terminally ill cancer patient and is quietly awaiting her death spending her time studying nature. Enoch is struggling to recover from the death of his parents and spends his time attending funerals with his only friend - a ghost named Hiroshi who was a WWII Japanese kamikaze pilot. Just as Annabel's sister is trying to cope with Annabel's impending death, Annabel and Enoch fall in love. They both finally have a reason to live, but is it too late to have a life together?

---

Plot Keywords:

funeral | japanese | ghost | kamikaze | death | 

---

Taglines:

Who do you live for?

---

Genres:

Drama | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief sensuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Facebook [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 April 2011 (Egypt)

Also Known As:

Untitled Gus Van Sant Project

Filming Locations:

Portland, Oregon, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$15,467 (USA) (16 September 2011)

Gross:

$163,141 (USA) (16 December 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, 360 Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS (as Datasat Digital Sound) SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Schuyler Fisk, who appears in this film, is the daughter of Sissy Spacek. Both this film and Badlands, which Spacek appeared in, feature the piece 'Gassenhauer' by Carl Orff.

---

Quotes

Enoch Brae: [to Hiroshi] How is it you win everytime?

---

Connections

Referenced in Estrenos Críticos: Mientras Duermes, Contagio, Sin Salida (2011)

---

Soundtracks

"Annabel's Wake"
Written and Performed by Jordan Dystra and Danny Elfman

User Reviews

Restless

A Febiofest screening, nothing signposts that 3 years after multi-Ocsar nominated (including 2 wins) MILK (2008), Gus Van Sant will cook such a cancer-ridden romantic flick grappling with a soul-healing recovery of a parents-bereaved boy after his short relationship with a dying girl although death has been a persistent topic all through his omnibus.

The over-simplified structure may impede Gus from a more spacious platform to perform his mastery, and precipitating an out-and-out snub from all sorts of awards consideration and the disastrous box-office turnover is fatal to destroy its investor's confidence, a total domestic grosses of $164,000 versus its $8 million production budget, which is a far cry not only from MILK, but also much lesser than its indie-alike PARANOID PARK ($490,000), signals that only Van Sant's loyal zealots showed their precious appearances in the cinema. Although smaller the scale, the film still holds steady its stunning visual mode, with bountiful layers of spiritual remedies to cure any scarred heart.

Plot-wise, there are nothing really popped-out, only the Japanese ghost-friend deployment has its exquisite enchantment and exotic luster, but is far from sheer original, which also coincides the film's suffering from the paucity of a one-of-a-kind uniqueness once one can notice among Van Sant's better works (say, ELEPHANT 2003, GOOD WILL HUNTING 1997, and MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO 1991), the story tends to be more lachrymose while marching on the unavoidable finale.

The two leads are basically serviceable, the tenderfoot Henry Hopper, who had just lost his father Dennis Hopper (1936-2010), is inappropriately in time for the role, handsome boys are never amiss in Van Sant's work. By contrast, a burgeoning Mia Wasikowska is the main magnetism on-screen, a product only cannot be stemmed from fiction as it's too ideal to be real.

Personally the film pleased me in a gently soothing method, but it is Van Sant in its very comfort zone without challenging too much of himself.