6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
Annabel Cotton is a beautiful and charming terminal cancer patient with a deep felt love of life and the natural world. Enoch Brae is a young man who has dropped out of the business of living after an accident claimed the life of his parents. When these two outsiders chance to meet at a funeral, they find an unexpected common ground in their unique experiences of the world.
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Henry Hopper, Ryō Kase, Schuyler Fisk, Jane Adams (II)Romance | 100% |
Supernatural | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
BD-Live
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
In death, as in life, I will remain forever yours.
Death is the natural and unalterable destination of life and the only certain thing in this world (even taxes aren't quite up there). It's also the
one debate, the single scientific curiosity, that will never be settled or resolved, though it's certainly the one thing that personally effects every living
being on the
planet, and the one thing that every sentient being contemplates. With so much activity surrounding it, so much brain power devoted to it, one can
only wonder how it remains the true great mystery beyond the cold physical facts that surround the process of death. Restless is Director Gus
Van Sant's (Good Will Hunting) take on death as seen through the eyes of two unique
individuals, but death is but the prism through which the film truly celebrates life. It's dark and sometimes even macabre but at the same time
peaceful and pleasant.
It nicely balances the realities of death, even if it does so through two grossly unconventional characters. Restless plays with an unusual
brand of metaphysics, but through its quirks, novelty, and somewhat abstract approach to death, it becomes a relatively strong picture of coping with,
understanding, and accepting the known truths of life's greatest mystery.
Life and death.
Restless isn't a traditionally "pretty" movie by any stretch of the imagination, but Sony's 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer appears to handle the film's darker, softer stylings well enough. Indeed, this is a fairly soft, muted, sometimes murky-looking movie. It occasionally favors a slightly warm palette, even through a general dimness that never really showcases any vibrance. Flesh tones are a hair warm and pale, but blacks are fair, if not a touch murky here and a bit washed out there. Fine detail is never really exceptional. Clothing textures fare best -- Annabel's sweater, the patches on Hiroshi's flight suit -- but faces often look pasty and nothing is strikingly defined. The image sometimes struggles with its display of slight color gradations; faces in some of the lower-light scenes produce banding, uneven color transitions. This isn't a movie that would be used to sell TVs, but the transfer does appear representative of how the movie is supposed to look.
Restless features a fair DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. One can probably surmise that this will be a track of the reserved variety; there's no action or dynamic sound elements, but Sony's presentation suits the material nicely. The opening title music plays as expected, nicely spaced and with good clarity, a balanced low end, and a bit of surround support. Light ambience is strong; the opening funeral features words that echo about the listening area noticeably well, while general background noise -- laughing, chatty funeral goers -- plays with a good, immersive presence. Natural and unnatural ambience alike -- chirping birds, the rattly interior of a traveling bus -- do well to help the listener get a feel of what's happening in each environment. A handful of more pronounced effects are handled very well; a distant train whistle, for example, plays with a very natural flair. Dialogue is the track's centerpiece, and it plays without hitch through the center channel. Though it lacks flair, this is a positive, balanced soundtrack that serves the movie very well.
Restless contains several short featurettes and a silent version of the film.
Restless is a strong film of understanding and acceptance. It's about love, a love of life, a love of time, a love of the good rather than the embracing of the bad. It's subtle but very effective, exceptionally crafted, and very well acted. It's unusual, perhaps not for all audiences. It's not a traditional tearjerker, in large part because it's so very effective in its message on celebrating life rather than mourning death. Sony's Blu-ray release of Restless features good technical presentations and a fair number of extras. Recommended.
2020
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1987
Includes "Him", "Her", and "Them" Cuts
2014
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Como agua para chocolate
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