What the *beep* ??
Man, it's 2am, I'm alone, just watched this thing. Man, I'm 28 but I feel like being 13 watching Phase 4 or somtehing. What a disturbing thing is this movie? I am so next to me... really intense...
good night
I now I will dream about this...
...and what's this title track, must be Eno... he is weird too
i agree, the film really got to me, just depressing more than disturbing i'd say...
definitely left me feeling unsettled though
I'm watching it right now - it really is one of the more disturbing movies I've watched so far.
shareI just don't see what people found so disturbing about this film. I found it slow, depressing, and bland. Her acting was the only thing that redeemed this for me at all.
People found this more disturbing than The Exorcist? The Shining?? Eraserhead????
It was mostly her sitting in therapy and having slow talks with people about loving herself. The man in the picture on the cover was just some guy who walks by in the background for 2 seconds. The beginning was intriguing up until around the part at the baby shower, after that her condition seemed the same for the rest of the movie, and so did everything else.
One thing that actively pissed me off was the guy in group therapy at the end, who told that woman who lived near a chemical plant/factory (or whatever) that made her & her husband sick that "you're the only one who can make you get sick, other people are NEVER to blame" and then cut her off to talk about something else. No one argued with him or told him he was being a total twat to that woman (there were no visible reactions either, like body language or disgusted facial expressions), and the movie ended like 2 minutes later. Pretty lame.
All in all, an excruciatingly slow two hours. Would not watch again.
Jesus, a "Phase 4" reference - I haven't thought about that movie since I saw it (when I was about 13 - I'm 35 now). You must be as much of a movie geek as I am.
Oh, and SAFE is one of my 10 favorite movies of all time.
Yeah, this was definitely one disturbing movie. It really hooked me.
BTW, for the OP, you're right, Brian Eno did make the title song. It's called "Slow Water".
just finished watching it too now for the first time. My god, it IS disturbing...But the thing is, I think i want too see it again. Is that weird? One of the best films I've seen in a long time. Haynes is a genius!
share[deleted]
yeah its like 4am and i just finished it and im like freakin out.
shareMMMMMMMMMMMMMMaaaaaaannnnnnn.
I was gonna start a thread but this one got there before i!
All i can say is...
THis film was intense...
As if you could literally reach out and wrap your hands around it!
Such a good thriller in that sense...
Its so minimalistic...but the message is so damned fine.
What a nerve!
I heard about this film (in australia)
when it was released at cinemas...years after it was made...
Got good reviews...
I have it on disc...
But in free to air television it came to me tonight...
I missed the first half ;( BUT i'll get the disc out
and actually give it a good run through.
Story/characters/locations/sounds.......real good film making here.
Kinda inspirational. (cliche?)
Back when it was running on Shiwtime every other day, I watched it over and over. One, because it is one fantastic piece of cinematography. Two-- something about a movie making your outsides match your insides. At the time, I was just divorced, and the whole premise of feeling like something was very wrong but nobody could do anything about it really spoke to me.
shareI also watched Safe late one night once, I went outside for a cigarette after it was over. I was standing in darkness outside, and all I could hear was the end credit music playing in my head. Needless to say I went back inside pretty quick.
I'm from Paris... TEXAS
It's one of the most disturbing films ever!
Even more than "Repulsion" or "The Exorcist", but more subtle.
I find it hard to believe that this incredible film is not better known...
It's the best thing Haynes has ever done.
Maybe people will catch up with the new BluRay ?
Agree with you, it's in my top 10 of all time
shareWow I have never read such a sincere thread that praised a movie so much as this. I need to watch it.
shareYes, it really is indescribable in a 'Don't Look Now' way. I've seen a lot of movies of this ambiguously toned ilk to the point where they don't phase me as much anymore, but this one hit all the right subtle notes. Not even in a consciously arthouse way in the vein of HBO's The Leftovers. The minimalist point A to B straightforwardness of the happenings leaves more room to the imagination because it's clearly fraught with something more, and naturally this is one of those movie's where lots of projection and slightly on point interpretation will occur. - Then again, I also viewed it through a more literalist lens. - It ties up no loose ends, and we keep groping around, waiting for some modicum of an archetypal structure, and it never really happens. Which makes for an intriguing experience of course. The New Age-y cult certainly does not unfold in stereotypical fashion and only fastidiously tells its hand, with its/their almost melodic insincerity. Incredibly finespun. Convincing.
It's a slow drip, and not altogether great. But well done for the most part. The Lynchian (if I can use that overused descriptor for a second) hostility-soaked weirdness atmosphere really unsettles you. On a gut level I can relate with this sort of malaise that one gets from the crushing, cold tedium of suburbia filled with people that are only half there, but icy all the same. There's a sterility even amidst the familiar. A slight tug of the foreboding (and oddly condescending) even among what would otherwise be safe. Tranquil humdrum haloed by something deeply amiss; a reverse-image American Beauty..sort of; 'Safe' seems less interested in finding something redemptive in this seamy underbelly--just presenting it. This comparison may not be the most apt, but a few minutes after watching it the feel of it vaguely reminded me of Rosemary's Baby.
What struck me more is how quintessentially early 90's the film felt (even though this was mid 90's technically, I guess). Does anyone know what I mean by this? Hard to put into words. Jacob's Ladder is another that embodies early 90's feel to me. And obviously Pulp Fiction and so forth.
Julianne Moore was good as mentioned, and I've never liked her much; or, put it this way: she's always screamed indifference to me. Did a fine job in the demure little deer-in-the-headlights housewife role, pint up and stricken by a loss in translation, similar to Mia Farrow. Though, her coughing jag was pretty unconvincing I have to say.