| SMELLS LIKE SCREEN SPIRIT |
"The narrative structure of Austin writer-director Jeremiah Jones'
debut feature is hypnotically transcendental, like a fever-speckled
lucid dream." |
| "The narrative structure of Austin writer-director Jeremiah Jones’ debut feature is hypnotically transcendental, like a fever-speckled lucid dream. The eerily tranquil cinematography (John W. Rutland) and soundtrack (Ben Lukas Boysen) further accent Jones’ slow and tactful pacing, which intensifies only when the horrible, yet never gratuitous, violence unpredictably creeps into the story. Of course we expect violence to come from the evil patriarch; but it is when his oppressed wife is forced to fight for her life that human and motherly instinct push the narrative into some really dark places." |
| AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN |
"The atmospheric film grabs the audience by the throat and refuses
to let go." |
"Confusing, haunting, disturbing. RESTIVE is all of those things,
as well as beautiful." |
| "The harrowing story of an abused woman desperately trying to protect herself and her son from her deranged husband and his maniacal friends, the atmospheric film grabs the audience by the throat in the first scenes and refuses to let go." |
| "A disjointed narrative is guided by incredible performances from its small cast. To say it is the best film ever made by a former University of Texas football player would be accurate, but that statement alone does not do justice to this inventive and horrifying piece of filmmaking." |
| "...a ninety minute panic attack." |
| "RESTIVE is a challenging, unpredictable film that never allows the audience to get too comfortable..." |
| "Out of the relentless chase that drives the picture emerges a lacerating exploration of the ties that bind which is almost impossible to take in all with one viewing. Not settling for grab-bag emulation of what inspired him, trading substance for exploitation, Jones' Texas set-gothic noir is an ambiguous psychological investigation of one patriarch's instinctual and uncontrollable capacity for violence and the survivalist instincts of his oppressed wife, rubbing raw against a cycle of guilt she is still unable to break even in the midst of fighting for her life." |
"A well-directed, intense, and engaging art thriller with a sane amount
of weirdness." |
| "Jeremiah Jones has crafted a brooding thriller that draws on DELIVERANCE and David Lynch in equal measures..." |
| "First time director Jeremiah Jones has crafted a brooding thriller that draws on DELIVERANCE and David Lynch in equal measures to deliver a rich atmosphere of impending doom, which is helped immensely by composer Ben Lukas Boysen’s discordant string arrangements. As the mother (played with a palpable sense of desperation by Marianna Palka) desperately flees clutching her son, the stark trees of the woods lean in oppressively and John W. Rutland’s superb desaturated cinematography makes the most of the melancholy desolation of the setting, giving the film an almost religious intensity." |
| "An intimate look into a chaotic home ravaged by domestic violence..." |
| "RESTIVE, is a film that delves into the world of a mother trying to escape the emotional abuse and tyranny of the man she loves. It is an intimate look into a chaotic home ravaged by domestic violence and the lengths a mother is willing to undertake, to stop the cycle of violence." |
| "Jones proves he’s an arresting talent to watch." |
| "An intense, visually-stunning tale of a woman’s flight to escape the past that has made her family’s life hell. To say that Jeremiah Jones’ RESTIVE is simply about domestic violence would be a disservice to the vision behind its creation. Although on one end, it does deal with the emotional turmoil of abuse, it also accomplishes much more through its startling depiction of the lengths to which a mother will go to keep her child from the same fate as hers. Along with powerful performances from Marianna Palka, Christopher Denham, Michael Mosley, and Ivan Sandomire, Jones proves he’s an arresting talent to watch." |
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