When you lose someone, grief can become a prison for you. This is the part where you need to learn how to let go of someone. The art of letting go isn’t easy to master, but it can be a healing process for you—a process that can bring you peace and acceptance.
When someone leaves you, with reason or without one, it’s your heart beating for them wishing to see them again. If the person was close to you and you experienced an emotional bond with them, it’s going to be much harder to reach a level of acceptance.
In the movie “Restless” 2011, Enoch is bitter. After losing his parents in a car accident (which he survived), he is "restless"—angry and stuck. He crashes strangers' funerals, and that’s where he meets Annabel. Even though she has brain cancer and knows she has months left, she is not in denial. Quite the opposite—she loves life, and that’s why she is in love with the works of Darwin and with biology.
Hear this from me: Don’t misunderstand this movie as just another cancer movie. This isn’t a love story about a person who has cancer. It is about Enoch learning from her. Annabel teaches him that death is not an enemy to be studied but a natural part of life to be befriended. He teaches her that it's okay to be angry and scared.
Enoch has a problem with saying goodbye. He clings to grief as an identity. His imaginary friend “Hiroshi” is a sign of unresolved guilt. Hiroshi is Enoch's mirror: a soul who cannot move on.
“Restless” (2011) is a story about learning to say goodbye. It shows us that grief does not have to be a prison, that joy is not denial, and that love is possible even when the death clock is ticking.
I will write about movies directed by Gus Van Sant. His movies are special to me because they all depict how running away from reality can ruin and destroy someone.
This post is dedicated to dear Mehrdad.
1405/02/28 - Monday - May 18, 2026 - 10 : 57 : 50 PM
