Restore Point [Fantasia International Film Festival Review]
You know when you’re playing a video game and your character dies, it comes back to life roughly where it left off? Restore Point imagines that being possible in real life. This dazzling sci-fi thriller from the Czech Republic was one of the absolute high points of the 2023 Fantasia International Film Festival. Fans of Minority Report and Blade Runner are going to lose their minds over this movie.
The story is set in Prague during 2041. Scientists have figured out how to resurrect people who die violent deaths via a process where everyone “backs up” their lives daily to a corporate-owned cloud service. The company behind it is on the verge of going public when seeming disaster strikes. Its head researcher, David Kurlstat (Matěj Hádek), is found murdered, along with his wife. These slayings appear to be the latest work from a terrorist group called the River of Life that believes resurrections are immoral.
Detective Em Trochinowski (Andrea Mohylová) is looking into the case. It’s personal for her, as her musician husband was also killed by the River of Life. Her investigation faces multiple hurdles, from an uncooperative CEO to an intrusive Europol agent. The biggest complication comes when she discovers Kurlstat was secretly restored. His memory has a blank spot, but he still becomes crucial to untangling the mystery of who initially murdered him and why.
Restore Point has an ingenious concept that’s backed up by an intelligent script. Every new development – and there are many – makes sense and grows organically out of what came before. One layer fits perfectly on top of another, so that the internal logic never falters. The story has plenty of thrills, including shootouts and pursuits, yet uses those elements to explore ethical/moral issues related to the idea of rebooting people who have died. It sounds good on the surface; underneath, not so much.
Director Robert Hloz gives the movie a captivating look. There’s a skyscraper that splits near the top, bending over like the McDonald’s arches, a crime scene protected by holographic police tape, and a video monitor that masquerades as a painting. Those are just a few examples of the imaginative sights. A couple futuristic elements are wild. Most, however, build on the tech we already have, imagining it several progressions down the line.
Top-tier performances from the cast, Andrea Mohylová in particular, bring weight and meaning to the visual style. Restore Point is a compelling mystery that pulls you in with a hooky premise, then holds you with its taut, idea-driven story.
Restore Point is unrated, but contains adult language and some graphic violence. The running time is 1 hour and 51 minutes.
