Safe

Rating:
Summary: Depressing Study of Mental Viruses and Institutionalization
Review: Nice shot composition, great performance from a young Julianne Moore (however, will her domestic-housewife-in-a-dilemma act get old?), and with a menacing realism, this movie is painful: If the fast forward button hadn't been invented I would have never have finished this one. I believe Haynes was making a statement about mental illness and institutionalization (that it doesn't work), and by substituting an environmental virus for mental illness, Haynes makes his audience feel vulnerable. But despite how successful it was in reviling and depressing me, I hated sitting through it, so I have to give the lowest recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: Visually pleasing, but what a waste!!
Review: I wanted to like this movie, I was intrigued and it was visually beautiful, but it was so heavy handed and asked too many questions without giving any answers. How many shots of car exhausts or aerosol dispensers does the director need to make his point? Why is everybody around the main character so devoid of any emotion or compassion? Why is her life , so full of material possessions, so empty? Why is everyone at the retreat either crazy or entraced by the charismatic figure who runs the place? Surely there are people affected by this disorder who don't end up living like the bubble boy. I like Ms. Moore, but she plays this role with a "deer in the headlights" look. I don't understand all the rave reviews, I give this turkey one star.

Rating:
Summary: are you allergic to the 20th century?
Review: Safe is a minimalist examination of heightened suburban experience told through steadfast stillness and quiet. Long shots and quiet environments make for a gracefully flaccid examination of human neuroses. Sterility is a virtue in a film concerning the virus of civilization.

Here, Julianne Moore exhibits masterful physical control in her interpretation of Carol White, an upper middle class suburban wife. Often dieting, she works out with friends, cares for her stepson, designs her home with the most modern and acceptable of furnishings, and experiences 1980s femininity. As she begins to exhibit strange flaws of health, nuances of her character begin to arise, and the film glides into examinations of society and the toxicity it can present.

It is soon discovered that Carol is allergic to her environment, prompting her to seek medical and alternative assistance to alleviate her ailments. It is decided that she will attend Wrenwood, a New Age community dedicated to the façade of assistance while manipulating the patients to believe their ailments are of their own doing. Soon trained to inflict guilt upon themselves for becoming allergic to their own environment, Carol and the other patients slowly become dependent upon Wrenwood, convinced of a helplessness and inability to survive independently. Finality is realized as she expresses empty love to the sickly vessel in her prison mirror.

Safe is an understated film with great directing, effective and often interesting lighting, wonderfully stagnant camerawork, and superb acting. Societal critiques are abound in this film that is sure to cause one's mouth to gape open while viewing. It divulges a story with steady, meditative rhythm and stillness through carefully specific cinematic devices. As an otherwise perky character endures a demise into paper-like fragility, Haynes composes a film of depth, of maturity, and of effectiveness very seldom seen in modern cinema.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Psychological Drama with Lingering Effect
Review: Carol White (Julianne Moore), a homemaker, lives a life without doing the daily chores of a housewife as the family maid takes care of household tasks. In essence Carol has only one responsibility: her leisure time. She tries to fill her free time with aerobics, beauty salon visits, and new acquisitions for their safeguarded home. These activities do not provide an outlet for Carol's own identity as she is a mere trophy wife. Eventually Carol's body begins to rebel against herself through nausea, headaches, and nose bleeding. The family doctor examines Carol and he finds nothing wrong as her physical miseries worsen. Carol is sent to a psychiatrist, but her subdued persona does not cooperate. Carol's health continues to deteriorate as she discovers an organization that enlightens people about environmental illness. Environmental illness is an over hypersensitivity to pollution, pesticides, and all other toxins in the environment that exist in foods, perfumes and make-up among other things. This means that Carol must remove herself from civilization and the world in which she lives. Carol departs for a new age health sanctuary, Wrenwood, where she begins her recovery. Initially Carol improves physically, however, as she comes across a closely located highway her health begins to decline again.

Safe has a lingering effect as it slowly moves forward as Haynes purposely displays each scene in order to build a deep understanding of Carol's identity. It becomes an exploration of Julianne Moore's character as Haynes dissects Carol's psychology through meticulous direction of every scene. When the scenes are edited together it leaves the audience with a profound insight of Carol's illness. This insight offers a disturbing experience as Carol's decisions continue to affect her negatively both physically and socially. Julianne Moore's performance enhances the distortion of her character's mind as she performs brilliantly, which leaves the audience with a fascinating cinematic experience.

Rating:
Summary: Anything but safe.
Review: Safe - movie, 4 stars

Named by the Village Voice as the Best Film of the 1990s, this resounding social statement a-la-TV-movie-of-the-week is certainly anything but what its title suggests. Director Todd Haynes has the reputation of pushing limits and making audiences strangely uncomfortable, and this film is no exception.

San Fernando Valley, circa 1989. Carol White (Julianne Moore) is living her perfectly stereotypical upper-middle-class life when suddenly she becomes sick. When she has allergic reactions to all sorts of chemicals around her, her husband (Xander Berkeley) and doctor think it's all in her head. However, the hopelessly reserved Carol knows her "environmental illness" is legitimate, uprooting herself and moving into the chemically-sterile community of Wrenwood, New Mexico. There, she is treated for her mysterious illness by self-help guru Peter Dunning (Peter Friedman) and his bright-eyed cohorts; however, her health continues to decline.

The film's statement is quite difficult to detect upon first viewing. Certainly, the plot is extremely reminiscent of many TV-movies of the 80s and 90s, all showcasing a new disease of the week. However, it eventually becomes apparent that the film is not a commentary on environmental illness.

Performances in the film are all at best adequate, with the exception of Moore, who is undeniably brilliant. Her detatched, sad carriage and demeanor arguably echoes more loudly than the film's social statement. Of course, she depends heavily on her subtleties as usual, and when she's onscreen, it's difficult to pay attention to anything else. Her birthday scene, toward the end of the film, is particularly moving.

Haynes's direction is seemingly bland at times-- one may feel as if he's watching a horror movie on Valium. However, Haynes's complexities eventually show through and what we see is a brillantly sincere and deep commentary on a rather provocative question: Is anyone ever really safe?