Milk director Gus Van Sant’s latest fillm Restless debuted to positive reviews when it premiered at the French festival Cannes and, based on the latest trailer (which you can watch below), it may live up to the buzz. Starring Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are All Right) and newcomer Henry Hooper, Restless is a whimsical romance, simple and elegant with enough heartbreaking moments I can already tell will require a few packs of tissues.
How does Restless rise above every other young love movie popping up year after year? Here are six elements from the trailer that click together to form the perfect romantic drama equation:
1. Henry Hooper Looks Like a Total Weirdo
I don’t know why Hooper’s Enoch Brae is dresses like Andy Warhol when he rides the bus, but that seems to be the case and appears to only be the beginning of his eccentricities. Lots of character-driven dramas aim for the quirk these days, but Restless shades its characters with a third dimension. I knew off-beat loners like Enoch when I was in high school, they exist.
OK, maybe I was one of those off-beat loners, but still. Few people could get away with the name Enoch and even fewer people could come off feeling alive while owning it.
2. Meeting at a Funeral
Perhaps it comes for a love of Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude (a movie that needs to jump to the top of your Netflix queue if it’s missing from your movie-watching lexicon), but watching Enoch court a similarly dysfunction, macabre lady like Wasikowska’s Annabel is bizarrely heartwarming. We all dream of meeting our perfect match and the beginnings of Enoch and Annabel’s relationship kicks off in the most appropriate way possible: a rehearsal of condolences.
3. Mia Wasikowska Is the Most Adorable Person Ever
Even when she’s being loaded into a CAT scan machine, the 21-year-old Wasikowska has the ability to turn herself into the most adorable thing since Internet cat videos. Whether she’s waving hello, shyly showing off her new outfit or muttering news that she has a terminal illness, she does it all with her distinct smirk and big Bambi eyes. Perhaps she was genetically engineered to melt hearts, I don’t know — but it’s working.
4. Simple Kisses
You’ll find a handful of “Best Movie Kisses” lists on the web, but most of the memorable locking of lips are big, sweeping gestures — kisses you’d never experience in real life. Rentless isn’t about whether or not Enoch and Annabel will fall in love. They do and it’s obvious, thanks to a few choice pecks, smaller moments of affection that make the fact that Annabel is experiencing something life threatening that much more harrowing.
OK, I’m going to need those tissues already.
5. Hiroshi, Enoch’s Kamikaze Pilot Ghost Friend
Adding to the fancifulness of the duo’s budding relationship is the fantastical element of Enoch’s best pal, a dead Japanese soldier that follows him around, lends him advice and occasionally plays him in Battleship. How Hiroshi fits into the big picture of Enoch’s difficult situation isn’t given away by the trailer, but its impact is evident.
6. They’re Just a Great Couple
If Restless turns out to be two hours of Enoch and Annabel strolling about fields and riding bikes in hipster garb, I’ll be perfectly content. We exist in a particularly cynical world and, every once in awhile, it’s reassuring to know that people are still capable of falling madly in love with one another. There’s nothing wrong with bonding over tweed
Watch the trailer below:
Source: Yahoo!
