RESTORE POINT is a first-rate neo-noir set in a near-dystopian near future. The year in 2041, and the social and economic unrest plaguing Middle Europe has resulted in such violence that a new civil right has been bestowed on its residents. Anyone found to have been killed as a result of violence is guaranteed a resurrection. Filmmaker Robert Hloz doesn’t waste any time in this lean and brutal film trying to explain how this is done because in the scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter. Instead, he focuses on what the implications are for people who can come back from the dead, but with one catch. Their bodies are restored via a straightforward medical procedure, but their consciousness is restored via a backup that cannot be more than 48-hours-old. It’s a catch that allows for several quandaries, and one that leaves plenty of room for ethical musings that will trouble you long after the credits have rolled.
The heroine of the piece is homicide Detective Em Trochinowska, played with melancholy reserve by Andrea Mohylová. Her latest case is a married couple murdered together, but in wildly different manners. She was strangled, then respectfully laid out with hands folded. He was stabbed dozens and dozens of times and then left in situ. Even stranger, his back-up has been erased and hers hasn’t been updated in months, rendering it unusable. With the murder resulting in permanent deaths, the case takes on a new, more serious cast that leads to Rohan (Karel Dobrý) Founder and CEO of the company that perfected resurrection, and who is trying to convince the public that privatizing his company will be for the good of everyone, not just his own bank account and lust for absolute control. It also leads to a movement that views resurrection (non-religious) as an affront (non-religious) to humanity and wages a very specific type of terrorism in order to advance its cause.
Hloz’s vision of the future slyly incorporates advances in technology, particularly AI, seamlessly into the story, but also in ways that surprise and delight amid the darkness of the story. It’s a darkness echoed in Trochinowska, who echoes that darkness with the loss of her husband to the terrorists, making her all the more resolute in her desire to crack this case all. It’s a cause for concern with her captain (Jan Vlasák) and her partner (Václav Neuzil), though whether that concern is for Trochinowska’s well-being, the police force’s reputation, or something more sinister becomes as much a mystery as who murdered that couple.
In classic noir fashion, Trochinowska will find herself tapping the seamy underworld for assistance, confronting suspects who speak in riddles, and infiltrating what may or may not be the terrorists cover group. The mood is low-key, and the suspense simmers in a literate script that never tips its hand as it drops tantalizing clues and brutally challenges our notions of crime and punishment. Leading the excellent cast is Mohylová, whose hooded eyes see everything, whose diffident demeanor hides as many secrets as any of her suspects. Yet it’s also a performance that connects emotionally, if only for the sense of loss Mohylová conveys along with a razor-sharp mind and the fearless attitude it engenders.
As in all good noirs, RESTORE POINT has twists that you will never see coming. Hloz is a master of powerful understatement and visceral shocks. This is a film to be savored, dissected, and enjoyed on every level.
Your Thoughts?