It is quite hard to truly understand the intention of a short like “Restart.” It feels ambitious, yet also falls completely flat. Perhaps it suffers from its limited runtime, or conceivably it just lacks any sort of palpable intrigue.
“Restart” Screened at the All Asian Independent Film Festival
The plot revolves around a survivor (Zhu Qing Zhang) who, in 2099, lives in complete isolation. It is 23 years after a war which ravaged humanity ended, therefore, supplies are scarce. We are shown such struggles to find food and shelter, before a dramatic reveal of a potentially murderous robot, the Executor Z-208 (Xiao Ling Ping) occurs.
If it sounds interesting, it is because it should be. However, Zhong Xiao Ting's narrative feels bland, ineffective and occasionally rather silly. Instead of offering any threat, the robot is a pseudo-companion, reading poems from the likes of William Shakespeare to a speechless scruffy man. Elsewhere, there is bra flinging, party cans and general messing around, all of which fail to add any sort of endearing quality to the proceedings. The ending does offer some semblance of promise, with the assurance of a revival in humankind, something which grabs attention, but one must wonder why such a premise did not take centre stage in the first place.
It is difficult to discuss the acting, which is so minimal that it takes a backseat to the numerous montages of wasteland, that a proper evaluation cannot be made, but Zhu Qing Zhang does a good enough job of ensuring he does not stand out for the wrong reasons. Technically though, the film is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the cinematography of Li Si Ying is astute, offering a realistic backdrop of a war torn world. On the other hand, the sound effects used throughout are borderline terrible, exaggerated to a baffling degree and effortlessly able to take away from whatever is going on during the movie.
All in all, “Restart” is an effort which could be improved upon with a tighter script, more engaging plot, and a bit more life.
