Safe
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Movie Reviews of Safe
Movie Review: too close to home
Summary: 4 Stars
I can never make up my mind about Julianne Moore. She is undeniably talented, but sometimes I just don't like her. In Safe, Moore is astounding as a woman who comes to suffer from mysterious "environmental illness". The illness grows progressively worse, and she seeks help from a variety of conventional and homeopathic doctors. The root of her problems don't seem clear, and doctors tell her she is not really sick. She drives herself crazy wondering what is wrong with her, wondering why people don't believe her. Watching her struggle and frustration was interesting because Moore embodied this frustration perfectly. At the same time, though, I felt the whole story hit too close to home for me because I had a close relative go through a similar crisis of identity/health/depression, and being the helpless bystander to what appears to be imaginary illness is incredibly difficult and frustrating. Xander Berkeley as Moore's confused husband is excellent, acting both as a concerned husband but one who runs out of options and does not understand where his wife is coming from nor necessarily who she is or who/how she needs him to be. He never quite reaches a stage of total indifference, but he is frustrated because he does not have a clue what he can do nor what she is going through. As such, this was an interesting look at dynamics in marital relations, and indeed in human relations (how people behave toward others... most perceived Moore's character to be a hypochondriac, and this colored the way they behaved toward her, for example). I would recommend this movie, although I would not say it is an uplifting choice.Movie Review: Lost at home
Summary: 4 Stars
I did enjoy "safe", but it is a little strange.
I have always been "comfortable in my skin". I've never felt like my job was my indentity, and I guess a crucial part of my belief system is that any one can do any thing at any time as long as they accept that they can.
What really struck me about this film is that it's the story of someone who really is lost, even though she is surrounded by all of the trappings that are "supposed" to mean that she has a perfect life. Carol White bought into the American dream of the 1980's (...which, sadly enough, is not too far from the current one).
To expand on that thought: the average person in this country equates a successful life with having lots of nice "things" and lots of free time to do whatever they please. In reality, humans can cope with anything EXCEPT for a lack of things to cope with.
Whether or not Carol was really sick is anyones guess... I personally think her lack of stress played a bigger part in her illness then anything else. It also seemed that Carol sensed that if she did take the time to get to know herself, that she would become a completely different person, and that person would conflict with the life that she was living.
I found the relationship between her and her husband interesting. He was trying to help, but at the same time, you could see that he was sort of standing back to see how the whole thing played out, to see if he was gonna need a new wife(!).
this movie leaves you with a lot to think about.
Movie Review: Where the Stepford Wives Began
Summary: 4 Stars
Julianne Moore does another fabulous job as an LA housewife exposed to the hazards of suburbia. The film is dark and stale adding to the creepiness of its message.Moore's housewife is lifeless, she exists in LA going from post office to dry cleaners to aerobics class. She sips milk while her Spanish housecleaner does all the actual work of keeping up a home. She does her "wifely duties" with the same boredom with which she lives. Her world is protected and safe but she somehow ends up ill (is it real toxic poisoning or just a cry for attention?) and it all gets chalked up to stress.....what stress could she be having? The creepiness lies in how easily she gets programmed by all the others in her life. With no direction of her own she exists as a mere robotic representation of what she is supposed to be. How many of those do you see in a day?
Moore soon becomes so strangely ill that she can't even perform her meaniless tasks. This eventially lands her in a cultish type retreat where she is supposed to get well. Without her own backbone she flounders around influenced by everything external and open to all sorts of advice except what works. So we learn two messages in one movie, first be your own person and second that our environment may in fact be causing more undiagnosed illness than we imagine. Find your own influences before the Jones' get you down and above all stay SAFE!
Movie Review: Safe
Summary: 4 Stars
This isn't a movie where the heroine struggles against all odds to triumph over her illness as the audience learns facts about it. It's a bleak look at how society fails those who are different or have a problem, then tells them it's their own fault and if they would just do some positive thinking then they'll be fine.
Carol's illness is real, and serves as a metaphor for her alienation from society. Our modern world makes her sick on many levels, but no-one will help her, only blame her. I don't think the movie is as ambiguous as some claim: it's clear that we're meant to sympathise with Carol, and not with her bored husband, uncaring doctor, and greedy self-help guru. If we admit that Carol is really sick, then what does that say about the world we live in?
Kubrick fans won't mind the slow pace; fans of dark satire will enjoy Hayne's harsh take on modern life and self-help cults.
Movie Review: Brilliant, dark, disturbing, important
Summary: 4 Stars
This film demonstrates Todd Haynes' cinematic mastery even more so than his newer, more critically praised film "Far from Heaven". His ability to create extreme levels of unease and tension in his audience with seemingly simple scenes is amazing. This film is satiric at times but the satire is so dark you'll more likely cringe than laugh. This film has a similar theme to American Beauty but rather than attempting to be hip and sugar coated this film goes straight for the jugular. No punches are pulled in this shocking and profoundly disturbing vision of the claustrophobic monotony and falsity of life.