Restless (2011)

I found this film alright like Im not gonna say its the best because it was weird and uncomfortable at the same time. Henry Hopper's character Enoch Brae likes to crash into peoples funerals who he rarely knows and it seems like he is an antisocial person. It was rude of him to back away from Mia Wasikowska's character Annabelle, she is just so like a friend that anyone could have! Then when the pair of them became a couple (finally!), they had arguments that I didn't understand the reasons why they happened to fall out but they did.It was sad to find out that Annabelle had a few months to live because of cancer and Enoch will be soon losing her. Although, in the end, I felt they didn't make a big deal of Annabelles death. No one was even crying or wearing black clothes which was really odd and disappointing. It just doesn't make any sense! I would suggest anyone watching this movie to be prepared for disappointment and weirdness!

Enoch Brae (Henry Hopper) is a morbid teenager that enjoys attending funerals. He meets the teenager Annabel Cotton (Mia Wasikowska) in a memorial service and they start to see each other. Enoch has lost his parents in a car accident and lives with his aunt Mabel (Jane Adams). His best and only friend is the ghost of the Japanese kamikaze pilot Hiroshi Takahashi (Ryo Kase) and Enoch neither goes to school nor has a car. Annabel is terminal with brain tumor and lives with her sister Elizabeth (Schuyler Fisk) and her mother Rachel (Lusia Strus). She loves to read about birds, especially the water birds. Soon the unlikely couple falls in love with each other improving their lives."Restless" is a beautiful, romantic and sad movie about love, life and death. Enoch Brae recalls Harold, from "Harold and Maude", a teenager with a trauma attracted by memorial services. Mia Wasikowska is wonderful in the role of the sweet Annabel, a teenager terminally ill that loves life. The story is sensitive and their romance is heartbreaking. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Inquietos" ("Restless")

Mia Wasikowska seems to be drawn to these quirky indie movies, and she should be because she's good at them. She's the best thing about Restless, a drama about an emotionally wounded young man, a dying young woman, the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot, and birds. Unfortunately, she's not the main character. That's Enoch, played by Henry Hopper. He's just not right for the role, and veers between unlikable and uninteresting. Restless also seems a bit unfocused, as well, as if the concept wasn't properly expanded by the writer into a full story. It starts off with promise, only to lose some of my interest on the way to the mishandled ending. As a result, the movie just isn't everything it could have been. I liked it, it's just hard to not be somewhat disappointed by the wasted potential. There are resonant moments throughout the story, but there are just as many scenes that just seem hollow or misplaced. Restless could have been very good, instead it's just okay.

This underrated film was released just before Christmas in Tokyo. As a long time fun of the director, I enjoyed very much this beautiful film. It appears to be an ordinary boy-meets-girl story with somewhat quirky atmosphere, but inside I found the film is filled with homage to the Nouvellevague cinema. Among them, I remember the film "Cleo de 5 a 7" by Agnes Varda (1962), which includes discussions of mortality, despair and the meaning of life. I also felt the airs of Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. If you love the French films in 60s, I believe you will enjoy and appreciate it more. The line by Hiroshi (the Ghost) summarizes the theme of this film. "We have so little time to say any of the things we mean. We have so little time for any of it."