Sony Classics’ new Restless trailer allows me to repost my initial Cannes impressions of Henry Hopper — the 19 year-old son of the late Dennis Hopper — who stars in Gus Van Sant‘s film: “The movie is somewhat precious and Harold and Maude-like, but I sense that Hopper has more in his quiver than what the material has asked of him. He seems to be holding back for some reason. Which, to me, feels interesting.

“Hopper projects interior currents that have been thought through, or at least don’t seem too acting-school instinctual or showoff nutso. He has a reasonably steady, patient, almost Montgomery Clift-like vibe, which I would describe as bothered and vulnerable but not childish, and connected to some kind of integrity or value system — there are lines he won’t cross.

“There’s a sense of intelligence and discernment in Hopper. He doesn’t seem to be handing the role of Enoch — a kid who’s survived a car crash that took his parents’ lives and thereby has a morbid curiosity about death and ghosts and whatnot — in a manner calculated to appeal to dim-bulb teenage girls. And he’s good looking in a Clift-like way (similar bone structure, narrow nose).

“I don’t want to overdo this but he has…well, a sharp but oblique quality that could grow into something.”