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Safe Movie Review - Buy Movies - Rent Movies
Think about the impact it would have on your life if you could not eat your favourite foods, wear your best clothes, watch your most loved TV programmes, play Halo on X-box or play Championship Manager on PC. How would you feel if you could not earn a crust because you were unable to work or gain an education because venturing to the outside world could result in an illness? Suppose living in your own property was making you sick? Safe takes a look into the horrendous impact both psychologically and physically this can have on life as we know it. In 1995 a writer/director whose best-known work was a controversial movie called Poison (which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival) and a beautiful actress whose biggest role to date was playing Dr. Anne Eastman in The Fugitive worked together and subsequently released Safe, a drama/thriller where Mother Nature and Planet Earth has decided to turn against us because of the way we treat our environment.
Carol White (Julianne Moore) plays a homemaker (housewife to the UK readers) who seems to have everything in life she could possibly ask for, a husband and family, a nice home, good friends and a healthy life until she slowly develops a hypersensitivity to her ‘normal’ everyday existence. Being with her friends, eating out, sitting down watching TV or even making love was becoming uncomfortable. After hyperventilating, vomiting, persistent nose bleeds and many snubs from her GP’s who claim her symptoms are psychosomatic and stress related, Carol decides to take herself away to a commune where there are ‘others’ like her. However when she gets there the therapists come across more as religious preachers leading a sect, where they seem to control and brainwash the patients. Are they doing this for the well-being of the patients or is there a hidden agenda?
Todd Haynes slow moving but very interesting film is superbly written and directed. Set in the mid 80’s it is interesting to reminisce and relive, or for others, to witness some of the appalling fashion, outfits and hairstyles that existed then but also to hear some of the classic tunes that possibly saved the 80’s from being a complete disaster. This is a movie non-reliant on CGI and SFX but heavily dependent on strong performances which helps the progression of the story. Julianne Moore is terrific as the suffering housewife helping us to feel sympathy for her as her life starts to fall apart as she struggles to deal with her allergies. Xander Berkerley as Carol’s husband, Greg, is a more than able support for Julianne Moore. His performance as the husband who struggles to understand and deal with what his wife is experiencing is very understated but at the same time extremely impressive.
Safe is probably the film responsible for Todd Haynes and Julianne Moore becoming well-respected names in Tinseltown. Velvet Goldmine was Haynes next project whilst Moore has gone on from strength to strength and appeared in films such as Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World, The Big Lebowski, Boogie Nights and most recently the disappointing X-files rip off, The Forgotten.
Safe, as mentioned earlier is extremely slow moving but the way the central character develops along with the story is what makes this movie so riveting. Unfortunately it still seems to be an uphill struggle to get this style of movie made in Hollywood. Movies where we care about the characters and have good stories that are not secondary CGI and SFX are want is wanted and Safe falls into this category. If you prefer action movies and special effects over character acting and strong performances this movie isn't for you. Leon Nicholson
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