Tribeca 2024 – Film Review – Restless (2024)

A cake-baking empty nester locks horns with an anti-social party beast in this engrossing kitchen sink horror drama with layers of dark comedy.

Weary caregiver Nicky (Lyndsey Marshal) alleviates the stress of a broken system with a wholesome routine of classical music, yoga, relaxation tapes, and bakery. That is until serial dickhead Deano (Aston McAuley) moves in next door and shreds her precious self-care with a relentless barrage of shit both musical and canine. As Deano and his entitled entourage of bass-obsessed druggies pump up the volume in the party house  Nicky slips further into the desperate arena of sleep deprivation. Confused and angry she draws a line in the hedonistic sand and resolves to put pay to their selfish sessions of weeknight wankery.

Jed Hart’s searing debut has its roots in personal and anecdotal real-life experience, and it shows. Anyone who has ever suffered the virulent infection of mega-twat neighbours will watch his film checking off a bingo card of empathy whilst slavering for the sweetness of cathartic revenge by proxy.

It’s all there, the scorched earth desecration of peace and the never-ending imposition of a booming playlist for someone else’s good time mocking your life as it flushes down the sewage pipe of frustration. The lengths sought for delicious pockets of respite, and the fog of paranoia unleashed from the shadows of intimidation. The hellish tractor beam, dragging innocent bystanders into the self-centred swamp of other humans self-medicating their problems away, and of course, the total lack of meaningful protection from the authorities.

Lyndsey Marshal‘s Nicky is a woman treading water after losing her mother and her son’s escape to university. It’s her mum’s old house Deano is desecrating, so they were close, and one phone call is all we need to know how much she misses her boy. Marshal gives her character a stoic dignity that helps us root for her fiercely when she begins to show the gross unpleasantry she is capable of when pushed. You may never eat a neighbourly chocolate brownie ever again. Much of Nicky’s personality is revealed during her interactions with local admirer Kevin, a superb turn from Barry Ward. She underplays her attraction to his bumbling kindness and Alpha male posture with a demeanour of thinly veiled ‘settling’. She even arranges a date with the sole aim of engineering a peaceful night’s sleep.

Aston McAuley is amazing as Deano, a pound shop Conor McGregor living the nocturnal lifestyle of a cocaine-powered parasite. McAuley gives this tracksuited tosspot an edge of arrogance that makes us hate him enough that any level of comeuppance is legitimate. Deano blames personal mental trauma for his destructive behaviour whilst inflicting worse on Nicky, a narcissistic gambit beyond irony. Typical of scumbags like him, his lack of empathy has left him bereft of any emotional anchorage and drifting into delusion.

For Nicky, the parties in themselves are not exactly the problem. It is more the nonchalant disregard for her entire existence that grinds her gears and in the end, it is a John Wickesque trigger that sends her over the precarious edge. When Nicky finally decides to fight fire with fire, and heap chaos on chaos, the audience is on board enough to forgive any incredulity.

Restless is a fine debut that lives within its budget and speaks to all who have ever felt hopeless in the face of oppressive neighbours. More than a revenge horror, it’s about courage and conviction and the painful catalysts needed to coax our lives from complacency.

★★★★

Tribeca Film Festival / Lyndsey Marshal, Aston McAuley, Barry Ward, Kate Robbins, Denzel Baidoo, Ciara Ford/ Dir: Jed Hart / Haus Pictures / Cert. TBC