Restless is about Nicky, a kind, considerate, decent, hard-working carer, who is kept awake by her new noisy neighbour until she eventually starts to lose her shit.
Loved this movie. Loved how it manages to trace all the ripple effects of this mundane and downplayed problem without ever being heavy-handed about it. It explores how it affects Nicky physically, psychologically, how it drains her of patience, leaves her with nothing of herself to give to others, makes her resentful, spiteful, darkens her spirit. How it makes her feel like people see her as doormat to walk over, and her kindness and politeness as an invitation to exploitation and mockery.
And if all that sounds miserable, I should also say, it’s very funny. The drama walks hand-in-hand with dark humour, as she tries to cop-off with a boring traffic warden just to use him for a bed to sleep in for the night. Desperately trying to listen to the soothing tones of a directed sleep meditation podcast while dance music thrums incessantly in the background.
Lyndsay Marshall is excellent in this, and keeps believable the extremes of Nicky’s reactions. Aston McAuley is also to be commended as the noisy neighbour, Deano, a role which has the difficult job of not simply descending into stereotype, but is kept still feeling fully human.
Deano is also an interesting character, despite being the out-and-out villain of the piece. He moves in and immediately starts up with all-night ragers. He’s not a considerate man, but when Nicky first comes over to ask him to turn the noise down, he is initially friendly. He’s been “away” and is celebrating being back with friends. He has that just-out-the-jail excess, which combined with the cocaine he’s on, makes him not the most thoughtful person. The real problem comes when the next night she threatens to phone the police. BIG MISTAKE. It’s the one thing you never do, mark yourself out as a grass.
I really like this film because it isn’t often you see movies with ordinary working class people as leads, unless it’s in the regulation mold of British class struggle period pieces. Restless is a nice change of pace, balancing drama and humour, that will leave you cheering at the end. Go Nicky!