American film is in sad shape. It’s true that Barbie and Oppenheimer made crazy amounts of money. It’s true that Top Gun: Maverick did the same, as well as Avengers: Endgame and Anyone But You.* I promise you that every year that movies are released, there will be a few American films that make all the money.

American film is still in sad shape, because major studios don’t know what audiences want. For the most part, their decisions are reactive as opposed to proactive. I think we’ll see the rom-com come back in a big way because a) when times are stressful, audiences like pretty people having fun but mostly because b) Anyone But You made a trainload of money. Even the sure things like the mighty Marvel Studios are seeing their films underperform.**

Since the studios don’t know what brings in the Benjamins, they panic and either say “no” to riskier/intelligent fare or spend massive amounts of money for no good reason. Luckily, there are foreign filmmakers out there making awesome movies with reasonable budgets. Want ridiculously cool action? Check out the Crime City series from South Korea, starring the wicked awesome Ma Dong-seok. Want science fiction noir? I hope so, because we’re talking about Restore Point, a clever film from the Czech Republic that honors the genre with real intelligence.

By 2041, the line between life and death has blurred. A Constitutional*** amendment has passed guaranteeing citizens to a natural life. If someone dies unnaturally, they’re able to be revived with one caveat. That is, a backup of your memories. As a result, you’ll come back and be fully cognizant to the point where your memories were last uploaded. 

This technology is developed by the brilliant scientist Rohan (Karel Dobry), and his Institute of Restoration has seen to it that everyone carries handheld technology and are reminded to back their brains up every forty-eight hours. As you can imagine, not everyone is thrilled by this innovation. River of Life is a terrorist group (though they undoubtedly think of themselves as freedom fighters) that has targeted everyone and everything attached to the Restoration tech.

That’s where we meet Detective Em Trochinowska (Andrea Mohylova). She’s acutely aware of River of Life’s activities, since they killed her husband. It also seems likely to her that they killed David Kurlstat (Matej Hadek) and his wife Kristina (Katarzyna Zawadzka), since David is, I’m sorry, was the head of Restoration’s research department.

As Em begins to investigate, it all seems pretty cut and dried. Until she interviews Rohan and finds him to be less than forthcoming. Then she learns David is alive, and that Europol Agent Mansfield (Vaclav Neuzil) is extremely interested in her case. There’s more to it all than Em initially suspected, and she’ll have to uncover the truth of David’s life, death, and resurrection.

If you’re someone who feels antsy toward watching a movie in a scary foreign language, allow me to quote the Bible with, “Be not afraid.” If you liked future-noir type-stuff like Blade Runner, I promise you’ll like Restore Point. Director Robert Hloz has spent what sounds like the princely sum of $45 million Czech koruny, but with my handy-dandy currency converter, I find out his movie cost somewhere in the neighborhood of two million dollars. The end result is a movie that’s slick, moves well, and looks like it could have believably been made for one hundred million bucks. First, Hloz uses CGI cleverly as he adds futuristic skyscrapers to Prague’s existing skyline, and drops in holograms and Minority Report-esque screens. Along with that is smart set design that contrasts the sleek surfaces of the rich with the grime of the poor. Hloz shoots his chase scenes with energy and clarity, and he knows to slow down for character moments or to ponder the themes of the film.

The film shares DNA with movies like Dark City and Blade Runner beyond the visual aesthetics. Screenwriters Hloz, Tomislav Cecka, and Zdeneck Jecelin drill down into heady concepts. How much do memories influence who we are and how we behave? How does living life change if you know you can be “rebooted” if you drop dead from a heart attack?**** They also utilize some of the old noir tropes, such as the investigator with a broken heart. I’m fine with that. The screenplay isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel, and it doesn’t need to. Instead, we have a smart story that’s well told.

By and large, the cast is playing variations on noir archetypes, which I’m good with. As Em, Andrea Mohylova is playing one, the Cop On The Edge. I liked that she plays the performance notes with more restraint and subtlety. Instead of histrionics, we see Em’s pain through hunched up shoulders and a stiff gait. Mohylova’s dramatic scenes feel real, and when she’s chasing a suspect or falling into filthy water, she throws herself into the physical acting.

The more I think about it, the more I think I’m wrong. Maybe the problem isn’t that American studios don’t know what audiences want, but that American movies are only made on the extremes. Either you’ve got a $400 million blockbuster or an indie film that cost fifty bucks. Until American studios get their act together, smart and efficiently budgeted movies like Restore Point will show them how it’s done.

 

*It’s true! Anyone But You has a $25 million production budget and has so far made $152 million worldwide. That makes it an honest to God smash hit.

**Is it because, over time, they’ve moved away from genre experimentation and closer to a single formula with similar jokes/characters/situations? Nah, couldn’t be!

***Not the American Constitution. Yes, there are other Constitutions.

****The film doesn’t specifically get into how the Restoration tech works, or what happens if, say, someone gets their head blown off. 



Tim Brennan
Tim has been alarmingly enthusiastic about movies ever since childhood. He grew up in Boulder and, foolishly, left Colorado to study Communications in Washington State. Making matters worse, he moved to Connecticut after meeting his too-good-for-him wife. Drawn by the Rockies and a mild climate, he triumphantly returned and settled down back in Boulder County. He's written numerous screenplays, loves hiking, and embarrassed himself in front of Samuel L. Jackson. True story.  
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