Restless (2011)

Directed by: Gus van Sant | 91 minutes | drama | Actors: Mia Wasikowska, Henry Hopper, Schuyler Fisk, Jane Adams, Lusia Strus, Ryo Kase, Chin Han, Kyle Leatherberry, Jesse Henderson, Austin Miller, Victor Morris, Colton Lasater, Sarah M Tucker, Ben Tucker

Director (and screenwriter) Gus van Sant clearly has a soft spot for young people living on the fringes of their generation: homeless people (‘My Own Private Idaho’), troubled geniuses (‘Good Will Hunting’), or degenerate murderers (‘Elephant ‘). The elegant ‘Restless’ focuses on the early love between Enoch (Henry Hopper, son of Dennis) and Annabel (Mia Wasikowska). Their curious romance takes place in the afterglow autumn sun, in tranquil cemeteries, in hospitals, in the nocturnal forest. And the cute-meet in-between takes place during a farewell service.

While the average teenage boy wonders how to crash into the most popular girl’s birthday party in class, the quirky Enoch sneaks into funerals clandestinely. He seeks not the nearness of the cake, but that of death. When an employee catches him (“You’re either the worst unlucky person on earth, or you’re pretending.”), Annabel offers him a helping hand. She won’t let go of him. In their black clothes and with their short blond faces, they make a cute couple. When they chat with each other, he casually leans against a wall and she does a balancing walk on a stone ledge. He the thoughtful wallflower, she the bouncy tomboy with a penchant for hats: puppy love for goths. “He’s quite different,” Annabel reveals to her sister Elizabeth (Schuyler Fisk). “Different can be quite good”, says Liz benevolently, but wary. Later, in a disarming scene, she will put Enoch to the test. Enoch himself tells his best friend Hiroshi (Ryo Kase), a Japanese Kamikaze pilot in full uniform, during a game of naval battle that Annabel “works with cancer children”. But she’s the one undergoing brain scans. Hence, perhaps, she takes her sketchbook to a local cemetery to map the wildlife there. Who knows in an effort to determine her own place in all of this. “So… how long?” Enoch finally asks her. “Three months”, is her answer. He: “You can do a lot in three months.”

In several ways this film evokes memories of Hal Ashby’s ‘Harold and Maude’ from 1971 – another deadly beautiful ode to life. Also in ‘Restless’ the irrevocable ending is softened by beauty (not least of the soundtrack) and joie de vivre. The fairy-like blush on Annabel’s cheeks remains in every situation – in countless outfits – as Enoch’s gravedigger cool comes to full maturity in her vicinity. Even a hospital bed here offers an unparalleled view over a silver river. Life is also beautiful when Enoch and Annabel are in each other’s vicinity, because they make each other intrepid and merge into one fantasy. They even look a bit alike. Their love in Van Sant’s hands is a light-hearted, tragicomic danse macabre, even when they wash down French fries with a milkshake. Wasikowska and Hopper manage very well together, but also receive support and understanding from a few strong supporting roles. See Ryo Kase’s resigned acceptance of the fact that Enoch’s attention is increasingly turning to Annabel. Schuyler Fisk convinces as Annabel’s down-to-earth older sister and Jane Adams (“Happiness”) manages to bring the little space she gets – at the dining table, in the hall – to life. She is Enoch’s silently concerned aunt, always kept at arm’s length by him.