In this unusually sweet, quirky movie from director Gus van Sant (MILK, PARANOID PARK, GOOD WILL HUNTING, DRUGSTORE COWBOY), Mia Wasikowska plays Annabel Cotton, a charming young patient with terminal cancer and a deep love of the natural world. Henry Hooper plays Enoch Brae, a young man who has dropped out of the business of living, after an accident took the life of his parents.
When these two outsiders chance to meet at a funeral, they find unexpected common ground in their unique experiences of the world. For Enoch, it includes his best friend Hiroshi (RYO KASE), the ghost of a Kamikaze fighter pilot. For Annabel, it includes an admiration for Charles Darwin and a keen interest in how other creatures live.
Upon learning that Annabel will soon die, Enoch offers to help her face her remaining days with irreverent abandon, tempting fate, tradition and even death itself. As their unique love for each other grows, so do the realities of the world closing in on them.
They are two misfits, bravely facing what life has in store for them, fighting pain, anger, and loss with youth, playfulness, and originality. They turn the tables on life, but no amount of youthful playfulness can stop the march of time.
RESTLESS plays one show only, 7 pm, Thursday, March 29, at the Empire Theatres Studio 10, 325 Prince Street, Sydney. Tickets $11, students $7.
