Restless

Director: Gus Van Sant
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Henry Hooper, Schuyler Fisk and Ryo Kase
Releasing in cinemas: 1 December  2011
Rated: MA 15+

Mia Wasikowska, after her stint in Wonderland, goes down another rabbit hole in this oddball teenage romantic flight of fancy from Gus Van Sant. In the most quirky relationship since Harold and Maude, a death-obsessed young man Enoch (Henry Hopper) meets the angelic Annabel (Wasikowska).  Enoch enjoys the dubious sport of crashing other people's funerals. He greets with the cheerful question  “Been to any good funerals lately?” But it seems Annabel is equally into the burial circuit. They become colleagues in the art of haunting funeral services or cemeteries.

Enoch is unable to get over his parent's car crash death: he berates their tombstone, “Do you like being dead?”.  He spends much time talking to his ghost friend Hiroshi Takahashi (Ryo Kase), incredibly a Japanese kamikaze pilot killed during WWII. Yes, a little bit weird, and we're never sure if the dear departed Hiroshi is simply a figment of Enoch’s overworked imagination.

Annabel, despite being ill with cancer, has the patience and sweet charm to try to bring Enoch out of his requiem-ridden lifestyle. Annabel's sister Elizabeth (Schuyler Fisk) becomes concerned at her increasing attachment to this “funeral chasing, dropout, with no car and a dead friend”. When treatment for Annabel's brain tumour fails, she learns she has only three months left. The romance between the teenagers steadily blossoms, even though Annabel has to admit,  “same old, same old – still dying.”

Versatile filmmaker, musician, scriptwriter and painter Gus Van Sant, who gave us My Own Private Idaho, Paranoid Park and Milk, directs Restless from Jason Lew's adaption of his own play. Van Sant does a tightrope walk between weird teenage love story, and schmaltzy fantasy verging on black comedy. The film is saved largely by the sensitive performance of Mia Wasikowksa (Jane Eyre), who’s wonderfully vulnerable and ethereal as the girl on borrowed time.

We're spared the harsher side of cancer - unlike Burning Man, it's glossed over. Chemotherapy is apparently in the past, suggested only by a 'Mia Farrow' short haircut (an actress Wasikowska rather resembles, wearing funky vintage clothes for her part in the film). Somebody terminally ill has never looked more lovely, even in their last moments. 

Henry Hopper (Dennis Hopper's son), in his screen debut as the fey, obsessed Enoch, captures the complex emotions of his character, smoothly working with the excellent Wasikowska. Together they give life to the sadly fragile, curious romance. Expect to see more of this young man. The strangest member of cast is Ryo Kase (Letters from Iwo Jima) as Hiroshi. Dead kamikaze pilots (complete with flying helmet) are in limited demand, yet his presence in the last scenes of the film gives warmth to the inevitable conclusion. Kase brings both a low key humour and empathy to the part, his uncertain existence in reality emphasised by lens focus and clever editing.

Those who can remember will no doubt see references to Harold and Maude, and indeed Love Story.  Restless falls short of both, yet at times becomes moving, even profound, as it explores this whimsical adolescent relationship set in the Twilight Zone. Directed with quiet intensity by Van Sant, the film is given a touch of luminous sheen to skin tones by his cinematographer Harris Savides. The camera captures beautiful images along the way. The visual style, softly radient for most scenes, sharpens at the Halloween sequence to strong effect. Dannny Elfman's music ripples along in the background supplementing the atmosphere.

Gus Van Sant's latest film can’t be claimed a total success - certainly there will be some who will find it all too twee and off with the fairies. However it’s a work from a major director, with the lead performances right on the button. Perhaps this would provide a gentle reward for those less cynical or deeply romantic at heart. 

John Bale