Restless

Plot

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.

Release Year: 2011

Rating: 6.5/10 (4,157 voted)

Critic's Score: 47/100

Director:
Gus Van Sant

Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Henry Hopper, Ryo Kase

Storyline
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.

Cast:

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

Taglines:
Who do you live for?

Details

Official Website:
Official Facebook |
Official Facebook [France] |

Release Date: 6 April 2011

Filming Locations: Portland, Oregon, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $15,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $15,467
(USA)
(18 September 2011)
(5 Screens)

Gross: $163,141
(USA)
(18 December 2011)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

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:
So sorry for your loss.

Annabel Cotton:
[Mockingly]
So Sorry for your loss.

Enoch Brae:
Too formal.

User Review

A story about a boy who meets death, then a girl, and then love

Rating: 6/10


"Restless" is the story of a boy who is restless with the living side
of life and a girl, also restless with the living side of life since
she just wants to get on with her own impending death. Enoch (Henry
Hopper) is more interested in death since death claimed the lives of
his parents and the life he once knew. Annabel (Mia Wasikowska) is a
terminally ill cancer patient and instead of fighting her illness, is
content living her final days studying nature. Until they met each
other.

It's a story of boy meets girl, if you will. Except, these are not
conventional characters, so this is not a conventional love story. The
son of Dennis Hopper looks like he just walked out of the Cleary Estate
from "Wedding Crashers" (2005) as the misbegotten son with creepy
obsessions. The problem with this type of character in a drama is that
he isn't endearing enough and he certainly isn't there for us to laugh
at. Annabel doesn't hold her own life with much respect either (not
that she has much choice with her terminal illness and all) but either
way it's hard for us to care about her all that much too.

The most sympathetic character was Elizabeth (Schuyler Fisk, daughter
of Sissy Spacek), Annabel's sister, who has no father, an inept,
alcoholic mother who would be better off dead, and a dying sister who
is perfectly happy with the finality of her life. I felt bad for her.
The next most sympathetic character was Hiroshi (Ryo Kase). He was a
ghost. If the film is starting to sound a little odd, that's because it
is.

I certainly applaud the film for creating such odd characters with odd
responses to life as it goes on around them. But because the characters
were so far removed from anything I know, it was a little hard to fully
appreciate them. It's still interesting enough and well written for
those craving a small, independent movie about life, love and death.
Mostly death.