Experiments In Film: Once It Started It Could Not End Otherwise (2011)

Remember all those fond memories you possess regarding high school, particularly those you can recant based solely on opening your yearbook.  Well, Kelly Sear's recent experimental narrative aims to rethink every word, image and heartfelt sentiment a person attaches to their yearbook.  Her film Once It Started It Could Not End Otherwise, is part found material art and avant-garde ambient filmmaking.  Clearly borrowing from Peter Tcherkassky, Sears's work illuminates a paranoia that even the best crime thrillers fail to maintain.  It posits the very real existence of some dark secret at an unnamed high school without ever providing the viewer with a certainty, making it a textbook horror film in a yearbook setting.  It is so unusual, bizarre and lacking logic that viewers are thrown off by every image, only to be driven further away by each image in negative and the subtle, yet constant movement of the cut out images pasted over still photography.  It is something so absolutely realized that to dismiss it as a hodgepodge of black and white imagery over colored images would be a grave and ignorant mistake.

The film approaches the facade of middle class ideologies in its narrative, suggesting that beneath the veneer of a happy high school setting something dark and disturbing occurred.  This event, while never named, apparently has lasting effects on those involved in its occurence.  Sears clearly intends to evoke conspiracy theory in her work, implying that even the most seemingly secure of settings possess their own dark and inexplicable occurrences.  Through genius editing, a brooding soundtrack and a keen awareness of what viewers understand as disturbing, Sears is able to make a peaceful high school yearbook into a thing of violence and infidelity.  Each blown-up image that Sears depicts is more and more unsettling as we are given tidbits to a vague story that suggest something grotesque.  While it may seem like a drawn out exercise in ambient terror, Sears work clearly asks a question about trouble hiding behind the veneer of normalcy and to what extent we as viewers allow such travesties to occur.  It is something so astute in its darkness that to pass up viewing it would be to play into the precise issues posited within the film.

For more information on Kelly Sears, or to watch Once It Started It Could Not End Otherwise, click on the images below:

Top Ten Thursdays: 1998 In Film

The blogosphere, or at least the blogs I follow, appear to occasionally offer lists of the "best years in film."  I listen to these lists being amazed by years that genuinely do offer a lot of great movies.  As such I am dedicating the top ten thursday lists for the remainder of the month to years that I find to have a large amount of great films.  I will begin with 1998 with brought moviegoers first-time offerings from a group of now well respected directors as well as great films from those who were already well established.  The list while numbered is easily maneuverable and not necessarily reflective of my personal favorites.  Although number one is certainly the best film of that year.

10.) What Dreams May Come

I remember being told in Sunday school that this film was blasphemous, which resulted in me not seeing it for sometime while I grappled with my religion well into college.  Now that I am a full on Atheist it was a pleasurable experience to watch this film a few years ago and I am mesmerized by both its visual style as well as its honest approach to world religion.

9.) Dark City 

I stumbled upon this gem after reading a list of best bluray releases, and I was quickly sucked into this dark neo-noir world.  The films claustrophobic and evasive imagery still haunts me.

Review Here

8.) The Truman Show

Religion really seems to be a thing prevalent in the works of 1998, Peter Weir's study of a man whose entire life is a reality show had a fair amount of religious overtones, particularly Ed Harris playing a Godlike figure controlling the life of a wide-eyed Jim Carrey.

7.) Life is Beautiful

People were baffled when Beningi racked up awards at The Oscars, but to be honest if your heart does not break when watching this movie, it is probably because you do not have one.

6.) Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Could you imagine a world without Robert Downey, Jr. playing Sherlock Holmes.  Well thanks to this directorial debut by Guy Ritchie you will never have to.  This film is in a close second to Snatch as my favorite work by the British director.

5.) Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

I could pick just about any line from the film as my favorite, but I think this one sums it up best: "I was right in the middle of a fucking reptile zoo!  And somebody was giving booze to these god damn things!"

4.) Rushmore 

 Perhaps the most critically acclaimed of Wes Anderson's films, Rushmore is brilliant, if only for Bill Murray jumping into a pool whilst holding a cigar and a glass of scotch.

3.) Pi

Yet more religion, this time in the form of Darren Aronofsky studying Jewish mysticism gone awry.


Review Here

2.) The Big Lebowski

If you really think about it, Dudeology is its own religion, or at least it is certainly a cult.

1.) The Thin Red Line

My high school history teacher once told me this is the greatest war movie ever made.  I would be hard-pressed to disagree.  If it were not bad enough that Malick was snubbed at this years Oscars, it was a sad case of history repeating itself, because his 1998 film faired no better at the 71st Annual Oscar's either.












Honorable Mention


Pleasantville
Saving Private Ryan
SLC Punk

Guys Like Me Are Born Loving Women Like You: Young Adult (2011)

I had the highest hopes for a film that was written by Diablo Cody, she is perhaps the only writer who I have come to know by name excluding Aaron Sorkin and it took multiple movies for that to become the case.  Given this, I was thoroughly excited to see her name attached to Young Adult, as I knew it would be a witty, hip narrative that required a vast cultural awareness to appreciate.  While this can certainly be said about the narrative, it still manages to fall short as a film.  I felt the film to lack several layers of believability and any amount of sincere honesty.  I cannot blame this on the acting, because each actor delivers their character with skill and subtlety and void of the self-reverence present in Cody's previous film Juno.  I am more inclined to blame the films overall lack on the filmic composition of the narrative, we are given little back story throughout the film to understand the characters, but nowhere near enough to empathize with them, regardless of their various levels of pity.  Simply put, Cody tries so desperately for us to find her characters troubled, yet endearing that it becomes obnoxiously obvious to the point that their self-loathing, particularly the main character, is disgusting.  I applaud Cody for removing the wit of her work from the script, as it would undeniably serve as a crutch, yet she as a writer has not evolved enough to find a replacement for the wit and the Young Adult suffers heavily from this failure.

Young Adult follows a ghostwriter named Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) who is having an existential crisis concerning her impending 30th birthday and the realization that her former boyfriend was having a child.  As a result undertakes a quest to return to her small town of Mercury, Minnesota to flaunt her popularity and win back her high school sweetheart Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson).  Mavis, a functioning alcoholic, who spends her days knocking back buckets of Ben & Jerry's and watching reality television thinks, that her plans will happen instantaneously and that everything in Mercury will be precisely as she left it a decade ago.  When she enters the now suburban city, she is disgusted by its corporate consumption and seeks out shelter in a popular local pub named Woody's.  There she runs into Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt) a former classmate of Mavis's who was badly injured by classmates who beat him up after falsely assuming him to be gay.  Mavis in a drunken stupor explains her plans to Matt who instantly dismisses her reminding her that Buddy was married with a child.  Mavis ignores his warnings and schedules a meeting for drinks with Buddy, who agrees to the date simply out of kindness.  It is at this point in the narrative that viewers realize how far gone Mavis is mentally.  Her meeting with Buddy is clearly awkward and brief, yet Mavis is assured that she has won back her former lover and agrees to meet up with him again to see Buddy's wife Beth (Elizabeth Reaser) play a live show with her band, aptly named Nipple Confusion.  In the process every thing falls apart for Mavis.  She wrecks her vehicle, has an awkward confrontation with her mother and drunkenly sleeps with Matt before waking up to realize the delusion she is facing.  She leaves Matt's room and after having a talk with his younger sister about the place of her life in relation to Mercury and drives off to return to Minneapolis.  It is implied that Mavis finishes her book with a new and bold perspective on life, one that is completely distanced from her past.

Young Adult is a decent movie, but I cannot begin to attempt to analyze the varying problematic portrayals within the film.  The film is drenched now with what one would call "first world problems," a phrase made popular by the rise of tumbler based websites.  These problems refer to anything that is a seeming inconvenience to an individual that are reflective of their obvious comfort, for example a person complaining about their favorite restaurant changing the menu would be first world in that a considerable part of the global community struggles to gain proper, if any, nourishment.   While the film's examples are by no means this extreme, they certainly are rather arbitrary.  Mavis complains of her job as a ghostwriter and her lack of hip restaurant choices to the people of Mercury when it is clear that her lifestyle far exceeds any of those she encounters, particularly that of Matt who has become a cripple based solely on fictitious rumors spread by ill-willed teenager.  Her job and lazy lifestyle are the thing of dreams as made apparent by the longing gazes of the women she encounters in the film, making her complaints seem bitter and illogical.  Similarly, Mavis is self-destructive, abrasive alcoholic who is never judged in the narrative for her actions.  Instead, the film simply ends with her comfortable in her own shoes, implying that her truly destructive ways are in the past, along with the people she inevitably destroyed.  Aside from suffering from Trichotillomania there is really no explanation to Mavis mental state, thus making her actions simply bitter and hateful, not acts of a person who is suffering mental instability.  While it may seem this way, Mavis is an unkind person who never receives narrative punishment for her problems.  This is perhaps the inherent flaw in the film that explains is ultimate lack of enjoyability.

I know my critique makes it seem unwatchable, but the film is not terrible.  If anything, you should watch it just to see the excellent performance by Patton Oswalt...trust me it will surprise you.  It is still in the cheap theaters making it worth a theater going experience.

Recorded At A Subsonic Level Is A Mantra, Lose...Lose...Lose: The Cooler (2003)

2003's The Cooler had all the makings to be an incredibly popular film, whether it be the quotable dialogue, the lavish scenery of Las Vegas or the excellent acting of both William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin.  Yet, when it comes down to it the film simply does not deliver what one would expect to be an extraordinary film.  The Cooler is great in its own right, but fore a multitude of reasons everything appears contrived and forced, making its watchability decrease considerably, not to mention the original cut of the film was reedited due to demands by the MPAA, which felt the films depictions of sexuality to be far too graphic.  Ultimately, The Cooler becomes a run of the mill Las Vegas story that the viewer will recognize through the other gambling movies of days gone by and the scenery that is so familiar to filmic and cultural history that even though it is cleverly executed and well spaced still seems like nothing more than b-roll footage from a travel channel expose on casinos.  Perhaps, the best word to describe a film like The Cooler is, despite masking itself in what should be a stellar film, average.

The film centers on Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) a down-and-out cooler for the Shangri-La casino.  Bernie, who is apparently the unluckiest man alive, serves as their financial control by passing his luck on to players winning big at the casino partially as a means to make money, as well as a way to pay back past debts to the casino's owner Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin) who broke Bernie's knee in a fit of rage only to offer him a job as a means to assure a financial return.  Bernie, finally free of his debts, explains to Shelly that he is leaving the city for something new and no longer desires to work as the casinos cooler.  This news upsets Shelly, as it comes simultaneously, the introduction of a group of men demanding that Shelly change his casino tactics to reflect modern times, as opposed to his mafialike tactics.  As a result, Shelly hires one of the casinos drink girls Natalie (Maria Bello) to feign interest in Bernie in order to give him a reason to stay in the city.  Initially, Bernie is confused by the advances and assumes he is being tricked, however, when Natalie continues to pursue him, he invites her into his world.  Natalie, easily wins Bernie over with her sultry ways and unyielding advances, but much to Natalie's surprise Bernie's good nature and honesty begin to take hold of her.  The two fall madly in love and all appears fine, until it becomes apparent that Bernie's recent luck with Natalie is affecting his job as a cooler.  Enraged, Shelly takes it upon himself to break the couple apart, however, no amount of physical punishment or ill-will can separate the couple and after some confrontation they come close to leaving.  Unfortunately, due to some other bad decisions and an attempt to protect his punk son, Bernie accrues a larger debt making it impossible to leave without Shelly following.  In one last hurrah, Bernie tries his hand at craps, betting eighty thousand dollars on a single game.  His luck having changed allows him to win and he is able to leave the casino debt free and in possession of a substantial amount of cash.  Shelly is left to face his fading empire with rather fatal results.

The Cooler, while not an incredibly meaningful movie, does have one thing going for it.  The film is an excellent example of game theory as it concerns film criticism.  I will attempt to elaborate on game theory here a bit, but Fredrik on Film provided a far more substantial bit a few months back, concerning the theory.  In essence, game theory posits that life as it exists is a series of games in which rational people engage one another in outcomes in which they will either win or lose with an assumption that the net amount will result in equilibrium.   This excludes, however, those who are adapted to play certain "games" better or have disadvantages that will assure their constant loss at a game.  These two sides of the coin are represented in this film through Shelly and Bernie respectively.  Shelly is a hardheaded businessman who has a set of methods that appear to work for him in the long run, whether it be his brutal means of dealing with cheaters or his clinging to archaic means of casino running with the promise that the customers will be loyal.  He knows how to win the games he engages in, yet as the film proves, he is due for a loss and the equillibrium hits Shelly heavily given that the odds had for a considerable time been in his favor.  The same works for Bernie although his case is the opposite, it appears as though nothing that Bernie engages in is fruitful, yet with time and the help of other rational game players, such as Natalie, Bernie is able to accrue a few wins and help out his equilibrium.  One could look at game theory as a rationalized version of karma, except that good or bad deeds have nothing to do with out come, but that a person is destined to an average number of wins and losses over their lifespan, regardless of their ethical engagement in said life.  The Cooler, as well as many film noir masterpieces, provide the most fruitful examples of the game theory as it relates to film.

The Cooler is an enjoyable film, it will not blow you away with excellence, yet it is not a burden to watch.  This is a straight-out rental movie and one of many concerning the brutal, Darwin fueled world of Las Vegas.

Please, A Lady Never Admits Her Feet Hurt: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

The more Technicolor films involving Marilyn Monroe I watch, the more I realize their rather grand influence on the whole of cinema.  Whether it be the obvious examples like the cultural knowledge of a song like "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend," or less obvious things like Howard Hawks making a veritable lesson plan on how to direct a musical.  Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is as much a textbook example of how to make a musical as it is something entirely detached from its lavish and extravagant predecessors.  It is easy to attach an explanation to its lasting success, because simply put it is one of those rarely made films that are in essence perfect.  Ignoring the possibilities for social criticism, all of which can be chalked up to the societal standards at the time of the films release, there is hardly a flaw to be found in a film like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.   I found myself relishing in the glorious colors, zany dance numbers and down right hilarity of the script more than I tend to for musicals of this era.  It is certainly a feat of filmmaking and easily one of the best films to emerge from America in 1953.  However, what is perhaps the most important attribute of this film, like The Seven Year Itch, is its ability to help me detach myself from the cultural ideal of Marilyn Monroe to better understand her as the marvelous actress she was, without the lingering tragedies of her life off screen.

The film opens unabashedly with two showgirls performing on stage. These women are Lorelei (Marilyn Monroe) a woman who is almost entrepreneurial in her quest for wealthy men and her friend Dorothy (Jane Russel) who is longing to find an intimate relationship with a man that is both meaningful and void of false pretenses.  The duo is about to engage in a trip to France that is sponsored almost entirely by Lorelei's beau the foolish and rich Gus Edmond (Tommy Noonan).  Before the trip, Lorelei hopes that Gus will propose to her only to discover that he plans to hold off his asking.  While boarding the ship we are shown Gus Edmond Sr. (Taylor Holmes) demanding that private investigator Ernie Malone (Elliot Reid) watch over Lorelei to catch her in an act of infidelity.  Ernie agrees to this task but also admits to an instantaneous attraction to Dorothy, who he begins to engage with the moment they both are on the ship.  Once the ship sets sail it is apparent what the two girls are after, Lorelei is after a new suitor and Dorothy is on a quest for love, which seems impossible despite having a ship full of male athletes.  Ernie continues his quest to frame Lorelei, a task that is proving rather simple given her recent attraction to a wealthy diamond tycoon appropriately nicknamed Piggy (Charles Coburn), despite the ever-invasive presence of his wife.  However, Ernie fails to efficiently trap Lorelei in the act of infidelity, because of his preoccupation with Dorothy who becomes aware of Ernie's double life quite quickly.  Lorelei succeeds in convincing Piggy to give her a diamond tiara which belongs to his wife, an action with dire consequences as it results in both Lorelei and Dorothy's banishing by Gus to the streets of Paris with not money or residence.   Trying to free himself of trouble Piggy manages to steal back the tiara, although this does not happen before Dorothy attempts to pass as Lorelei in court, making a complete mockery of the judicial process.  Piggy manages to free the women of their assumed guilt by appearing at the courthouse with the tiara.  The women leave court and are later approached by Gus's father who is irate with Lorelei for her desire to marry his son, although Lorelei in a moment of brilliance states that her desires are no different from men wanting to marry a pretty girl, it is a matter of social status.  The film then closes on a rather high note in a double wedding of Lorelei to Gus and Dorothy to Ernie, implying that, despite their new relationships with men, the girls will still engage in their wily ways as independent women of the world.

I had the fortune of reading a few insightful articles regarding Gentlemen Prefer Blondes after viewing the film.  Both were excerpts from an older edition of Issues In Feminist Film Criticism, which focused on how positive the film was concerning its images of women.  One would be surprised to discover that the individuals that authored these articles found the women to be positively portrayed.  It would seem that the overarching patriarchal dominance that closes the film would nullify any sort of liberated image, but this is not the case when the film is taken as a whole.  As one article argued through a Marxist lens, the film is about trading commodities, and the character of Lorelei should not be seen as a woman using her body sexually for money, because it was simply a respected job for a fifties era woman.  Lorelei should be seen as an entrepreneur who engages in business transactions, all of which she gains financial advances, without ever officially giving up her commodity, which is in this film her body.  The other article discusses the two women's relationships to the filmic space, noting that they both dominate it throughout the film and serve as the focal point for most every scene in the film.  Take for example the dance and song number in the swimming area, it is clear that Dorothy dominates the men in the scene and is aggressively pursuing sexual power, a truly liberating act for women in this era.  Finally, I have mentioned The Bechdel Test on here before concerning women's images in films and it may surprise you that this film passes all the sections of the test, something films still fail to do, but something that rarely happened in 1950's films.  It is amazing to section a movie like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in such a pro-feminist place, because when one looks at a movie poster or simply recollects this era in Hollywood it is easily assumed that this occurrence was impossible.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a majestic film from the fading years of Hollwood grandeur.  It is a Technicolor masterpiece that has tragically yet to be released on Bluray.  Given this, a regular DVD will have to suffice for this must have film to any respectable collection.

You Destroyed Your Spirit In A Waste Of Shame: Red State (2011)

Kevin Smith has always brought a certain level of serious societal criticism to his films, whether it be a his hilarious romp through the fallacies of organized religion in Dogma or his clearly autobiographical look at lost love in Chasing Amy.  Smith, however, always manages to keep his films staunchly comedic endeavors, rarely going wholly dramatic in his approach.  This fact is what helped to make his newest film Red State something completely out of the ordinary.  Instead of being a comedic film with dashes of drama, Smith's 2011 film is the complete opposite and its very much an action/drama film that is light on its comedic hits.  One could quickly assume that a director completely stepping out of his comfort zone would produce dire results, yet to my surprise Red State is a very watchable film.  It will never make the short list for the best Kevin Smith films by any means, but it is an excellent change of pace for the director, particularly given his apparent decreasing relevance to contemporary indie discourse.  Regardless, the film is fully realized and a fresh take for Kevin Smith, not to mention given its clearly liberal leanings it was not entirely difficult for me to enjoy its scathing attack on the illogical horrors exacted by religious fundamentalist extremism.

Red State is rather bizarre in its plot, but one that seems entirely possible in American society.  The initial portion of the film focuses on three boys Travis (Michael Angarano), Randy (Ronnie Connell) and Billy-Ray (Nicholas Braun) who are unpopular in their high school, making their quest to get laid seemingly impossible.  This quest is overshadowed by their community dealing with the absurd protest of the Five Points Trinity Church at a recently murdered gay student's funeral.  Despite this, the boys are able to chase down a possible sexual encounter via a craigslist style website for sex.  Planning ahead, the group is able to get one of their parents car and travel to the location in the country outside of their small suburban town.  On the way to the encounter, they accidentally sideswipe a car which is occupied by the town sheriff and a gay prostitute.  In a panic, the group flees the scene and continues on their quest.  They quickly reach their point and find their meet-up point, which happens to be a trailer occupied by a woman named Sara (Melissa Leo).  The nervous boys adhere to Sara's demands without question, which includes downing multiple beers before stripping.  It is at this point that Sara chastises the group for attempting to engage in sodomy.  Befuddled the boys begin to lose consciousness and pass out, only to wake up to haunting spirituals and a realization that they are victims to the previously mentioned Five Points Trinity Church.  Witnessing the murder of a gay man at the hands of the church led by the maniacal, yet eerily friendly Abin Cooper (Michael Parks) the boys try to escape.  Their efforts seem futile, but luckily, the upset sheriff has sent a deputy to search for the car, which leads him to the Five Points compound.  The deputy after realizing that the situation is quite suspicious attempts to call in reinforcements, only to be shot by a member of the church.  This shooting leads to the sheriff, despite threats of blackmail by Abin, to call in the help of the ATF.  The film then enters into its second act, which focuses on Agent Keenan (John Goodman) who is a specialist in the plots and going-ons of Five Points, particularly their accrual of weapons and explosives.  Attempting to make the confiscation and removal of members from the location amiable, Keenan sets a stakeout point, only to have the sheriff ruin the plan by shooting one of the fleeing boys leading to a full-on shoot out, which leaves many killed in the process.  After much fighting and a constant changing of plans by the government the member of Five Points evacuate their facility after hearing what sound to be trumpets.  Thinking these sounds to be the act of God, Abin walks up to Keenan defiantly only to be subdued with a headbutt.  The film then cuts to Keenan at a federal hearing to justify his actions, in which he is scolded on camera, only to be told off camera that his actions were perfectly reasonable, if not hilarious, and would result in his promotion.  The film closes with Abin jailed for engaging in intended terrorist activities, with an ironic assumption that the gay acts he loathed so much would be enacted upon him frequently in jail.  It is in this closing shot that we get the most Keven Smithesque jab of the entire film.

So this film is not initially what one would expect form Kevin Smith, with that being said it is still easy to pick up his little offerings throughout the film.  The first and foremost is the raunchy characters, while they are not on the level of Jason Mewes, the young boys foul mouth and sex-crazed minds immediately place the film in the world of Kevin Smith.  Second, the film is incredibly detailed both in its narrative and in its physical world.  The characters statements, including the seemingly insane ramblings of Abin are realized and quite reflective on what an individual in such a role would say.  Furthermore, Smith's attention to details with his set is one of his best creations to date, from the civics classroom covered with quotes, pictures of presidents and reminders to the church complete with a large metal cross, children's drawings and food for a post-rapture world, this is a world that exists as a plausible reality.  It has always been a concern of Smith since his filming of life in a convenience store to promote believability and Red State certainly adheres to this notion.  Finally, and perhaps the hardest to connect between the collective works of Smith are his moments of prophetic clarity in his works.  Perhaps the most prolific of these occurs in the diner conversation between Ben Affleck's character and Jay and Silent Bob, in which Bob breaks out of his muteness to explain the woes of love and how every individual has to "chase" their own inaccessible love.  This moment of clarity occurs in the closing of Red State during the interview between Keenan and the government agents, in which Keenan realizes that the blaring horns, which actually from a practical joke played by neighboring college students, were so unexpected and illogical that such a thing as divine intervention occurs in the world, even if the source is not literally divine.  It posits the possibility of karmatic punishment and reward, without directly tying it to a deity.  It is a profound moment in a film about hateful and ignorant blindness, and one that could only come from the mind of Kevin Smith.

Just like my previous review of Restless, Red State is another great film for the year of 2011.  It is certainly not Kevin Smith's best, but one well worth owning nonetheless, particularly given the gritty beauty of the bluray release.

We Have So Little Time To Say The Things We Mean: Restless (2011)

I have distinct memories of watching Gus Van Sant's Elephant a few years back before I had become heavy in film viewing and critical analysis.  Despite this I remember reacting to it with awe, because I knew it was something different as far as filmmaking goes and was completely enamored by its presence.  Little did I know that Gus Van Sant was a prolific director or that he would go on to make the Oscar favorite Milk.  Needless to say, over the years I have come to appreciate Van Sant's work, particularly those dealing with the experiences of gay individuals, most notably and perhaps powerfully in his directorial debut Mala Noche.  However, when I heard about the plot for Restless I was a bit skeptical given that it was severely deterring from the usual themes of Van Sant's work in that the film concerns a heterosexual relationship.  The film though is something captivating and magnificent and certainly representative of the cinematic nature expected from Van Sant.  It is obviously inspired by The French New Wave as well as the work of Yasujiro Ozu, yet manages to contain a flair of Van Sant's honesty and approachability.  Like so many other works released in 2011, Restless suffered from competing with excellent films, this review is here to help shine light on a film that will certainly be overlooked despite being one of the better composed films I have seen in quite some time.

Restless is a love story of sorts focusing on a young man named Enoch (Henry Hopper) as he lives his life rather indifferently, playing the part of a voyeuristic funeral crasher.  Enoch's life is quite mundane and he only makes contact with his adoptive aunt Mabel (Jane Adams) who agreed to take care of him after the death of his parents.  Aside from Mabel, Enoch's only other point of contact comes from his relationship with the ghost of a WW2 Kamikaze pilot named Hiroshi (Ryo Kase).  Enoch seems destined to exist in a rather desultory life until he runs into a young woman at one of the funerals he crashes.  The woman, dressed rather androgynous, introduces herself as Annabel Cotton (Mia Wasikowska).  Enoch realizes almost instantly that Annabel is far different from any girl he has previously met.  It is clear quite quickly, however, that her difference stems heavily from her recent diagnosis with a cancer that has given her only a handful of months left to live.  Enoch, enamored with Annabel, makes it his quest to assure that she enjoy her last days of life to their fullest and help her to experience love, even if it is only momentarily.  This endeavor, however, is not void of problems.  In the process, Enoch is forced to cope with his own emotional pain of losing his parents, as well as accepting his unhealthy fixation with death, as is evident in his relationship with a non-physical entity.  Even Annabel is forced to make realizations about her passing, specifically the acknowledgement that those around her are suffering and that her own fears cannot allow her to ignore their pain.  Ultimately, Annabel passes, and in this moment Enoch transcends his past leaving Hiroshi, in a heartwrenching scene poetically filmed, and helps Annabel prepare for death.  In the films closing shots Enoch is shown preparing to speak at Annabel's funeral as a montage of memories flicker on the screen.  Instead of speaking, Enoch simply smiles as Nico's "Fairest of the Seasons" plays through the credits.  It is sweet, subtle and sentimental, without banging the viewer over the head.

I mentioned my initial concern coming into this film given that Van Sant was clearly stepping away from his traditional focus of homosexual characters.  The film certainly is not concerned with promoting a homosexual couple, although it is good to note the films large inclusion of gay actors.  With that being said, the film is quite preoccupied with focusing on unconventional notions of love and the view such love faces in a conservative society.  This has led me to reconsider Van Sant as a director who promotes multifaceted notions of romance.  While many of his films are about love between gay characters, it seems to be now, with the inclusion of Restless to his catalog, that Van Sant simply wants to focus on the fragility of love in the face of obstacles.  These obstacles to Van Sant are not simply societal norms; they can be incredibly tangible thinks like sickness, or philosophical issues like love of country.  Each are noted directly in Restless, whether it be Enoch's constant wrestling over committing to Annabel given her impending death or Hiroshi's longing for an unnamed girl who he failed to express his love to before dying at Pearl Harbor.  Incidentally, the scene in which Hiroshi's letter is read is easily one of the most sobering moments of filmmaking I have witnessed in years.  To Van Sant the tragedy of having your heartbroken is not as great as the one of never having been able to experience love.  It helps explain the closing scene of the film in which Enoch simply smiles, because one can try to explain the grandiosity and simplicity of love through words and images, yet as the closing montage reminds viewers, it is always a personal experience and one that betters a person.

I am infatuated with this newest offering from Gus Van Sant, again it does not stack well next to some of the other movies released in 2011, yet it is still spectacular.  I cannot stress enough that a copy is well worth buying, if only for the reading of Hiroshi's letter.