Right from the opening shot of a softlylit neighborhood in the dead of night, viewed from the hood of a weirdly eerie car, safe forced me to look closer and stare, no matter how strangely paralyzed and uncomfortable i would feel as a result. Revisiting the disturbing summer movie the swimmer, fifty years on. Case in point is the 1995 movie safe which marked a huge breakthrough for its director todd haynes and lead actress julianne moore. When covid19 became a national crisis and people across the country were forced into social distance in their homes, i pictured the final scene of todd haynes seminal 1995 film insurance. Revisiting the disturbing summer movie the swimmer.
Queer filmmaker todd haynes debut feature poison dazzles as a multifaceted cinematic triptych, three segments. Watch safe on the criterion channel stream of the day. Beneath the glassy surfaces of nearly every todd haynes movie lives a woman pressing against them, about to break out. Quaid is frank whitaker, top sales exec in a company meeting the voracious needs of american consumers for the latest in gadgets and appliances. The karen carpenter story 1987, which chronicles singer. Safes central theme of environmental illness essentially, unexplained allergic reactions to pollution, chemicals. Julianne moore and dennis quaid effectively inhabit their roles in far from heaven, an engrossing flashback to an affluent northeastern suburb, hartford ct in 19578. Haynes considers the movie a primer on how to live with as much. However when she herself learns that her mind has been erased she is shocked and decides to return the evidence of everyone mind erasures back to them. With julianne moore, xander berkeley, dean norris, julie burgess.
Todd hayness masterpiece safe is now a tale of two. Ed tomneys eerie score swells with acoustic and synthesized sounds, expertly invoking both suspense and melancholy. Safe is a britishamerican psychological drama, written and directed by todd haynes and starring julianne moore the 1995 production was voted best film of the nineties by the village voice film poll, and was described by critics as the scariest film of the year, a mesmerizing horror movie and a work of feminist countercinema set in 1987, it follows carol white, a. California housewife carol white seems to have it all in life. A profoundly unsettling work from the great american director todd haynes, safe functions on multiple levels.
When i started to see the context of the movie, everything fit. Todd haynes on the unsafe world of safe the dissolve. To put that another way, this is a horror movie in which the menace is entirely invisible. Finally, the safe script is here for all you quotes spouting fans of the julianne moore movie by todd haynes. In the process, haynes asserted himself not only as a highly skilled, unconventional auteur but also as a savvy chronicler of latecentury fear and dread.
When a wealthy yet timid housewife cant get over an illness, she discovers she is allergic to common toxins and household products. Todd hayness 1995 masterpiece, safe, begins with the camera crawling at something like the speed limit through a meticulous stretch of twilit upscale suburbia that a. You feel as disoriented as the protagonist, a young housewife suffering from 20thcentury disease. Safe, the elegantly unnerving new film by todd haynes, is all.
Haynes first gained public attention with his controversial short film superstar. What the style of todd hayness safe can tell us about. As her allergies accelerate and her health declines, she seeks refuge at a retreat for the environmentally ill but she soon discovers that the retreat is a sham run by a phony newage guru. Todd haynes joined us during a retrospective of his films to discuss his 1995 masterpiece safe starring julianne moore. Safe is a 2012 american action thriller film written and directed by boaz yakin, produced by lawrence bender and dana brunetti, and starring jason statham, chris sarandon, robert john burke and james hong. Todd haynes beautifully precise and intelligent second feature, safe confused critics when it debuted, in 1995, as it didnt follow the conventions of american cinema. Hayness perspective is one of existential culpability. Moore, in a nearly unplayable role, is amazingly vivid and touching. A profoundly unsettling work from the great american director todd haynes. This revelatory drama was named the best film of the 1990s in a village voice poll. The movie starts out dealing with one problem environmental poisoning and ends up attacking another a blissedout cult that charges big dollars to suffering people, who pay to hear the leader blame them for their troubles.
Yearning to watch safe on your tv, phone, or tablet. Todd haynes safe grips you with its air of antiseptic malevolence and leaves you gasping. Statham plays luke wright, an excop and former cage fighter who winds up protecting a gifted child who is being chased by the russian mafia, chinese triads, and. There are no monsters or homicidal maniacs hereinstead, the films horror emanates from an abstruse place where suburban drudgery gives way to a selfinflicted, existential crisis. In the second installment of his series about films that resonate in the.
We started making the movie in 1993 or 1994, and i was quite lucky because. Released this month on criterion bluray, todd haynes 1995 science fiction masterpiece safe was voted the best film of the 1990s in a village voice poll, and its lost none of its relevance today. He locks himself in the igloo, thinking of it as a safe place, and most likely will not work. Case in point is the 1995 movie safe which marked a huge breakthrough for its director todd haynes and lead actress. Finally, she has a complete collapse when visiting a store that is fumigated with pesticides. Where haynes intended allegory about the aids epidemiche set the film in 1987 for a reasondoesnt register as strongly now as it did then, the vague environmental. Find movie and film cast and crew information for safe 1995 todd haynes on allmovie. Safes threatening environment is emphasized by hayness lingering use of sound, heightened here on the dvd. Not finding any relief in doctors, she just wants to find a safe place. Hero, horror, homo, all inspired by jean genets novels with his texts sporadically materialize on the screen as inner beacons, are intertwined altogether yet each is bestowed with a sui generis visual style that speaks volumes of haynes eclectic idioms. He is considered a pioneer of the new queer cinema movement of filmmaking that emerged in the early 1990s. The original trailer in high definition of directed by todd haynes and starring julianne moore, xander berkeley, dean norris, julie burgess and jodie markell. Case in point, another previously unstreamable masterpiece was recently made available to watch right now.
Safe is a britishamerican psychological drama, written and directed by todd haynes and. After the formal acrobatics of poison, his 1991 feature debut, writerdirector todd haynes applied his rigorous, philosophical aesthetic to the venerable genre of the disease film with safe. A profoundly unsettling work from the great american director todd haynes, safe. Moore has to serve as the anchor for a movie that haynes himself has described as latent horror.
Directed by todd haynes, the film oozes an uneasy and restless mood of paranoia and genuine commentary, practically fighting off the. Todd haynes was always interested in art, and made amateur movies and painted while he was still a. I am thankful i live near new beverly cinema as it has long since proven to be a great film school for movie buffs like me, and it has allowed me to watch movies i might otherwise not have bothered to watch when they were first released. Instead, todd haynes, the writer and director, has something more insidious up his sleeve. I know, i know, i still need to get the cast names in there and ill be eternally tweaking it, so if you have any corrections, feel free to drop me a line. Todd hayness safe is the movie you should stream tonight. T odd hayness envirodisease masterpiece safe might just be the most terrifying film of the last decade. Safe was hayness attempt to take on the discourse of recovery. Safe touches on so many nerves at once that to reduce it to any one strand of contexts or meanings is to peel the movie apart beyond use or recognition. This script is a transcript that was painstakingly transcribed using the screenplay andor viewings of safe. And you think you know whats going to happen on screen.
This revelatory drama was named the best film of the 1990s in a village. Finding a streaming service to buy, rent, download, or view the todd haynesdirected movie via. Director todd haynes may have made his name with a series of sly, sublime, and popsavvy new queer cinema profiteroles like poison, velvet goldmine, and superstar. The miracle of this film is that somehow todd haynes makes it compelling to. From the very start of todd hayness 1995 masterpiece safewhich is. Todd haynes rewrites the hollywood playbook the new yorker. Julianne moore, xander berkeley, peter friedman, mary carver, james le gros, todd haynes, lauren zalaznick, christine vachon, chemical films limited.
How todd haynes safe shows the realities of living with. Safe was their first project together, but the degree of trust that the two already have in one another is evident throughout. Safe 1995 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Watch safe on the criterion channel stream of the day indiewire. Brilliantly executed at first by writer and director todd haynes, safes drama tapers off into an ambiguous ending. I love julianne moore and she is always perfect in her craft but this film is. While the film offers a poignant look at the fragility of the human mind, caution should be exercised in the films propagation of new age philosophy. Todd haynes highly ambitious 1995 ecopsychological study may not quite live up to the weight of those very ambitions, but, for me at least, the film still represents an engaging, innovative piece of cinema. I dont think youll find a more provocative little number than safe, which creeps under your skin like a rash. The original trailer in high definition of directed by todd haynes and starring julianne moore, xander berkeley, dean norris, julie burgess and. Safe has been described as a horror movie of the soul, a description that director todd haynes relishes. The karen carpenter story, but in recent years hes resurrected the forgotten genre of what old hollywood called womens pictures.