What it is really like to live in Los Angeles, post Covid
I found the first hour and a half of this to be compelling but I think due to years of thinking this was a slasher movie based solely on the poster, I thought it kind of sputtered out at the end. (I'm a constant victim of my own misunderstanding) Still, I’m very impressed by Todd Haynes ability to flood his worlds with such depth, visual and otherwise. Every single inch of the frame is deeply considered, and because Safe is shot with such a made-for-TV flatness, you are able to investigate every shot, unshackled from overbearing camera direction. (I know that sounds like a backhanded compliment, but I mean it in it’s truest most praising form)
And while I do also generally appreciate Haynes’ tendency to show and not tell, and maybe I’m just a babbling idiot that needs his opinions spoon fed to him, I wish he would be just a little more biased in his storytelling. He creates such deep, layered, complex characters and like some cruel, mad scientist he just sets them loose on each other. A less high-minded director might have this particular movie end with some sort of event that damns the treatment center, but Haynes leaves you to chart the pro’s and con’s and make up your own mind. And while I have my own opinions, the more you go back and interrogate individual scenes the complexities of the story and it’s morals rise to the surface. Was Carol better of at the center? Was her Husband, frustrated as he was, supportive? Did Peter have some alternative agenda or did he really want what’s best for his patients? Were Carol’s own doctors being negligent in not trying to tackle her obvious mental health issues?
Even with all this proposed ambiguity, I do think Haynes’ finds the whole retreat process a bit predatory, but he inspires such a sympathetic performance from Julianne Moore that you can’t help but be a bit on the fence with your own take. Either way, if every director/actor partnership gave half the effort of these two, the world would be a better place.
Honestly, writing this all out made me realize I like this movie a bit more than my initial reaction. I’m gonna have to go ahead and revisit in a year or two.
Also, Julianne Moore looks kinda like my mom.
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