Sundance Review: Restoration

Restoration is a good film. The characters are compelling; the story is told beautifully and artfully. The director was charming at the Q&A. Somehow all of those things should end up with me loving this movie, but unfortunately I didn’t love it, I just liked it.

What makes a movie resonate with its’ audience in a way they come away loving the film? There are many factors for me. First and foremost there must be a compelling story with believable dialogue and layered characters. Next, there must be some art to it (e.g. cinematography, mise en scene, musical score). Finally, there must be some self-identification; at the very least empathy for the explicated human condition on screen. This is where I struggled with Restoration.
The story hinges on a relationship between a father and son. The father restores antique wooden furniture. The son is a businessman. Here is how I read the movie. The father is a hard-working, short fused, independent man. He loves his son, but didn’t teach his son how to restore furniture when he was growing up. The father’s partner Max has run the business end of things poorly (perhaps spending profits/loans on prostitution rather than keeping the business solvent). The son has consulted with the father’s partner Max, and Max calls him his son. The property that the furniture restoration is on is worth millions, and the son wants to develop it into apartments and make some money. The son seems to hardly respect his father at all. He tells him that he’s nothing without his partner Max. He admits his motivations are out of greed: he wants an inheritance for his own child’s sake. He nearly smashes one of the most valuable pieces of furniture in the shop out of jealousy. Through all of this he makes the plea that even though he has made mistakes he’s still the father’s son. This sense of entitlement is so off-putting to me. He had very little redeeming qualities that made me hope for a restoration of their relationship. Even the restoration that does happen seems a fleeting one. The decision to sell the piano and close his shop only seems a temporary fix to a much larger issue. Quite frankly I think the father does a disservice to his child by not teaching him to become self-reliant. I try to relate this story to myself. I have not planned my life around waiting for some inheritance from my parents. I don’t treat my parents like garbage because they don’t succumb to my every whim. At some point adult children have to realize that a parental relationship is as much give as it is take.

If anything this movie makes me angry. It should make me feel a sense of peace. I should feel a sense of restoration, but true restoration can only be reached when both sides make an effort (and NOT smashing a piano is not an effort, that’s just being an adult). (3 out of 5)