Gus Van Sant's 'Restless' finds power in hope
Mia Wasikowska and Henry Lee Hopper in Sony Pictures Classics' 'Restless.'
Friday Sep. 30, 2011 There are things in a teen romance such as "Restless" that moviegoers will never find in the "Twilight" saga.
Unlike that glossy franchise based on Stephenie Meyer's novels, "Restless" doesn't come with vampires, werewolves and young lovers making goo-goo eyes at one another 24/7.
No, this little romance from indie hipster Gus Van Sant straddles life, death and doomed teen love with more grace and less melodramatic goo.
Van Sant's eloquent, whimsical filmmaking touch is all over this story about a boy who crashes funerals and a girl who coaxes him back among the living.
These kids have their problems.
Annabel, played by "Alice in Wonderland's" Mia Wasikowska, is dying of cancer and has three months to live.
Her new pal Enoch (Henry Hopper) has just lost his parents in a car crash. He also talks to a dead kamikaze pilot (Ryo Kase). The ghost is his only friend until he meets Annabel.
Still, cancer and death aren't the stars of this show. Not by a long shot.
"Restless" is a story about life. It's joyful. It's gentle and bumbling at times, just like its young heroes.
In Van Sant's capable hands, "Restless" finds power in hope and in two kids who steal a little happiness when others are too afraid to try.
Wasikowska, Hopper are believable
Van Sant's quirky directorial style, which coloured films such as "My Own Private Idaho" and "Drugstore Cowboy," is hard to miss as "Restless" begins.
When audiences first meet Enoch he's lying on the pavement drawing a chalk outline around his body, much like a murder scene.
Death is Enoch's obsession, as this gesture explains. But Enoch doesn't fear it. He's too young and inexperienced to know any better.
The same is true of Annabel, a vivacious bird-enthusiast Enoch meets at a funeral.
Anyone would be smitten by this girl. She's cute. She's smart. She's got a vintage wardrobe to die for. Even so, Annabel has to work hard to make this distant loner befriend her and love her.
The performances from Wasikowska and Hopper, the son of the late actor Dennis Hopper, are pitch perfect. There are no sappy histrionics here and no overblown confessions of their true feelings.
No, this shy, tender romance blooms because Annabel insists her cancer be ignored. That demand sounds unrealistic. Even Enoch's kamikaze ghost buddy warns him to tread carefully.
But Van Sant's actors go about their business with disarming calm.
They're never troubled by their situation, as adults know they should be. They're never encumbered by time's march or its eventual end for Annabel.
The film's script, penned by Jason Lew, isn't perfect. Some moments feel a little like "Love Story" meets "Harold and Maude." Some try a little too hard to make Enoch and Annabel feel more hip than hurt.
But when these teens finally take that plunge into grown-up love Van Sant makes that tentative yet thrilling leap ring touchingly true.
Three stars out of four.
No, this little romance from indie hipster Gus Van Sant straddles life, death and doomed teen love with more grace and less melodramatic goo.
Van Sant's eloquent, whimsical filmmaking touch is all over this story about a boy who crashes funerals and a girl who coaxes him back among the living.
These kids have their problems.
Annabel, played by "Alice in Wonderland's" Mia Wasikowska, is dying of cancer and has three months to live.
Her new pal Enoch (Henry Hopper) has just lost his parents in a car crash. He also talks to a dead kamikaze pilot (Ryo Kase). The ghost is his only friend until he meets Annabel.
Still, cancer and death aren't the stars of this show. Not by a long shot.
"Restless" is a story about life. It's joyful. It's gentle and bumbling at times, just like its young heroes.
In Van Sant's capable hands, "Restless" finds power in hope and in two kids who steal a little happiness when others are too afraid to try.
Wasikowska, Hopper are believable
Van Sant's quirky directorial style, which coloured films such as "My Own Private Idaho" and "Drugstore Cowboy," is hard to miss as "Restless" begins.
When audiences first meet Enoch he's lying on the pavement drawing a chalk outline around his body, much like a murder scene.
Death is Enoch's obsession, as this gesture explains. But Enoch doesn't fear it. He's too young and inexperienced to know any better.
The same is true of Annabel, a vivacious bird-enthusiast Enoch meets at a funeral.
Anyone would be smitten by this girl. She's cute. She's smart. She's got a vintage wardrobe to die for. Even so, Annabel has to work hard to make this distant loner befriend her and love her.
The performances from Wasikowska and Hopper, the son of the late actor Dennis Hopper, are pitch perfect. There are no sappy histrionics here and no overblown confessions of their true feelings.
No, this shy, tender romance blooms because Annabel insists her cancer be ignored. That demand sounds unrealistic. Even Enoch's kamikaze ghost buddy warns him to tread carefully.
But Van Sant's actors go about their business with disarming calm.
They're never troubled by their situation, as adults know they should be. They're never encumbered by time's march or its eventual end for Annabel.
The film's script, penned by Jason Lew, isn't perfect. Some moments feel a little like "Love Story" meets "Harold and Maude." Some try a little too hard to make Enoch and Annabel feel more hip than hurt.
But when these teens finally take that plunge into grown-up love Van Sant makes that tentative yet thrilling leap ring touchingly true.
Three stars out of four.
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