The French criminal thriller Restless on Netflix marks the directorial debut of cinematographer Regis Blondeau, who is best known for his work as a cinematographer. In the film, a crooked detective gets into much more filth than he bargained for.
The fact that Thomas (Franck Gastambide) buried a body in the grave of his own mother wasn't even the first thing he had to worry about, as it turns out…
The Gist
Police lieutenant Thomas Blin (Franck Gastambide) is a crooked officer in a seaside French town. For his paltry cop income, Thomas and his sidekick Marc smuggle drug shipments through the port facility using bribes, and his commanding officer looks the other way, as long as it doesn't escalate. Until Internal Affairs shows up, it's a viable system.
It's time for Thomas to leave his mother's side in the hospital's funeral room and head to the precinct. To avoid IA, he has to keep his money hidden In the meanwhile, he runs over a pedestrian in the street with his automobile.
He crams the corpse into his trunk in a desperate attempt to save himself. As he gets even more desperate, he manages to get the corpse into his mother's coffin as well.
Thomas believes he's out of the woods now that Marc and rookie detective Naomi (Tracy Gotoas) stepped in to protect him from IA, but he soon finds that the man he hit was a wanted smuggler called Barcelo.
Who, then, is more eager to sign Barcelo? Untrustworthy drug officer Marelli (Simon Abkarian), claims to know everything about the hit-and-run. To make matters worse, Marelli bullies Thomas into bringing him Barcelo's lifeless body back to him for examination.
Under increasing stress, Thomas is obliged to act irrationally. He actually excavates Barcelo. Then there's the matter of his partner, who can't believe things have gotten so bad.
“We're hardly model cops, but this is absurd,” Marc says. Whatever the case, it's all Thomas can do to keep Marcelli from murdering him as he works feverishly to devise a plan to turn the tables on him.
Is it possible for this corrupt officer to defeat the even worse cop and yet go away unscathed?
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What Movies Will It Remind You Of?
Remakes are nothing new, and Restless is no exception. A Hard Day, a dark comedy/cop thriller from Korea, was released in 2017.
At the Cannes Film Festival in 2014, Kim's Seong-film hun's Hard Day was nominated for an award.
Then it was recreated in the Philippines and China, where it was renamed Peace Breaker and starred Aaron Kwok of Project Gutenberg and Cold War renown.
Our Take
Restless is quite deliberate in putting its components where they belong. But once it kicks into gear and starts moving like the dirty cops versus even dirtier cops thriller it's aiming to be, there's a kind of glee in getting to root for the dirty lawman who's stepped into an even bigger pile of shite than he ever created personally.
In other words, once it gets moving like the dirty cops versus even dirtier cops thriller it's aiming to be, there's a kind of glee in getting To get there, you have to concede that the individual who made the decision to conceal a body within the casket that belonged to his own mother is truly a fine human being who is due some leeway from the spectators.
.But once Thomas gets embroiled in his battle of wills with Marelli, a man who flaunts his nefarious deeds like a trench coat, Restless becomes a game of cat and mouse in which the stakes are too high for failure. Restless has its dark thriller elements in place enough to make up for its sluggish beginning.
The film features a great fight scene in the middle that includes the classic “face stuffed into toilet” cam, some trickery involving handguns and C4 explosive charges, and a shocking death blowdown at the port facility that was re-created wholesale from the film that was being remade.
Our Call
STREAM IT. The cat-and-mouse game played out in Restless between a corrupt officer and his even more corrupt cop rival is satisfying enough to forgive the film for the problems it has with its pacing and its tone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Movie Restless Based on a True Story?
The Real Story Behind the Miniseries “Restless” Hayley Atwell plays the role of Eva Delectorskaya in the miniseries The Restless.
Rufus Sewell plays the role of Lucas Romer, Michelle Dockery plays Ruth Gilmartin, and Charlotte Rampling plays an older version of Eva.
William Boyd took it from his own work, which was itself only tangentially based on true events, and he adapted it for the screen.
