RESTLESS, directed by Gus Van Sant, screenplay by Jason Lew

“Restless”
2011, 93 minutes
Directed by Gus Van Sant; screenplay by Jason Lew
Starring Henry Hopper (Enoch Brae), Mia Wasikowska (Annabel Cotton), Ryo Kase (Hiroshi Takahasi).


“Restless” is about death and living.  Parts of the screenplay are wonderfully thought provoking.  Many other parts are undeveloped and cliché.

It is eighty-three degrees today, October 4, 2011.  Minnesota.  Doesn’t make sense.  The ticket seller at the Lagoon Theater gave me a big bright smile.  She begged me to buy popcorn.  “I won’t have anything to do if you don’t”, she said.  “No thank you,” I said.

As it turned out, I was the only one in the theater.  Alone again.  I talked back to the characters and joined their conversations.  I changed seats and walked around.  I watched the movie standing up. I heard the jackhammer at the construction site next door when things got quiet.  I yelled things like, “Enoch, you dumb bastard.”

It’s hard to make a good film about death.  This one was also about living and loving.  It bored me at times, and it made me think at other times.  It made me remember when loved ones of mine passed away.  The clichés, formulas, and expositional dialog bored me.  There were also moments of saving grace that were fresh and interesting.  For instance, the long take, high angle scene on asphalt where Annabel and Enoch drew a crime scene chalk outline around their bodies and talked; the play acting death scene that wasn’t a death scene after all; and Annabel’s memorial service.  The imaginary character of Yoshi worked sometimes and sometimes didn’t.  In the end when Yoshi appeared to Annabel to help usher her into the next world, his character made sense and had a function in the narrative whole.

My memorial service is partially planned.  Happy music by the Beatles will be played on a good sound system.  My oldest son will read from my personal dictionary that I have used since 1975.  I circle every word I look up for spelling or meaning.  He will read all these words I have circled over the years.  This collection of words is meaningful because I used them.  It will be better than any sermon I have ever heard, or words spoken by a stranger officiating at a funeral service, or reading from the scriptures.  No officiating will be allowed at my service.  I prefer chaos.  These words strung together and read aloud will be the cosmic poem of my life, and may turn out to be the best thing I have ever written.

I left the theater teary eyed and feeling good about “Restless” the movie.  The same ticket seller was outside the Lagoon scraping old posters off the wall with a putty knife.  I guess when only one person goes to a movie she has time for this type of maintenance.  I doubt it was in her job description.

I walked back to my car.  A middle age woman fell on her bicycle in front of me.  It was a gentle flop with unknown causes.  A mess of her belongings spilled out of the blue plastic crate on the back fender.  She looked a little scruffy, maybe homeless, maybe just eccentric.  She was unhurt.  People ignored her and her bike and the mess. 

“Are you okay?  Do you need any help?” I asked.  “No, I’m fine.”   She stood up like nothing happened.  I helped her pick up a newspapers, candy bars, receipts, and a crumpled dollar bill.  “Thank you,” she said.  She avoided eye contact.  “Is there anything else I can do?” I asked.  She got on her bike and road away.